-EU support to Nussir can be illegal

The highly disputed copper mining project at the Repparfjord has now received the EU Commission itself on the team, with the status of strategic project. With this, they can access funding through the EU system and the lack of capital may be resolved.

Nussir director Øystein Rushfeldt, the new owners Blue Moon, the Norwegian mining industry and other supporters cheer, but can they be cheering too soon?

There are many indications that both the Norwegian permits and the EU decision are in violation of laws and international conventions. One thing is that many are still questioning the legality of the permits of the Norwegian authorities. These have not yet been tried in court, but a parallel case now goes for the court of appeals on mining dumping to Førdefjorden.

However, the treatment of Nussir’s application for the status of strategic project beats all records. It is nine months since their application was sent to the European Commission, but no media or environmental organizations have managed to see the application. Such an application must be recommended by the Norwegian authorities, and it must be done once, but it is not possible to answer when, in what body and how it is justified.

Both the EU and Norway have the undersigned the Year house Convention About access to environmental information, general participation in decision -making processes and access to remedies in matters relating to the environment. This one is clearly broken in this case. The same is the EU’s own legislation on which the strategic status is based, Critical Raw Material Act. This sets in Article 6 as conditions for strategic projects that they are « Implemented sustainable, especially in relation to monitoring, prevention and minimization of environmental impacts …. Respect for human rights, indigenous peoples and labor rights. »

The result was hardly desired, for Nussir has refused access to the investigation. Nor does it indicate respect for indigenous rights when the affected reindeer herding have rejected the mining plan for 15 years and the Sami Parliament has gone against it with the overwhelming majority.

Ragnhild Enoksen and Svein Lund

Authors of upcoming

Book Fight for Nussir

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