[ad_1]
Wind turbines are necessary to make Norway greener, elected representatives have decided. The reactions are enormous and more and more people are joining the fight against the wind. The storm hits Haramsøya.
– The last time the tow truck came and towed me
– Today the police have to take me
Published:,
HARAMSØYA / OSLO (E24): August 24: It’s a gray Monday morning. The waves hit the small island of Ålesund in Sunnmøre hard. Rain hits the gravel floor and rain jackets blow in the wind.
But activists don’t care about the weather. They will halt the development of the planned wind farm. The rain cannot erase the message from the posters.
That day the traffic ban will come into effect. It prohibits unauthorized access to the mountain where the eight wind turbines will be installed. People were already angry. Now they are furious.
Protesters have blocked the mountain road and are preparing for the police to intervene soon.
Hans Petter Thue, the carpenter, who also works as a missionary, received a new call: to stop the development of the wind farm in Haramsøya.
After blocking the mountain road with his car and locking himself inside it for 14 days, the 59-year-old man from Fredrikstad has become an unofficial front figure in the battle against wind turbines.
– We no longer trust the police. All respect is gone, says an old woman.
Protesters sing the national anthem during Thue’s arrest.
– This is an abuse! Damn, what the fuck are you! Damn! Another protester yells.
– What a shame, it is shouted in chorus from the activists who are at the top of the road.
– This is David versus Goliath. But remember: David won, says a woman in a red raincoat.
– This is not the end, says an older man.
Haramsøya isn’t the only place in Norway where there have been steep fronts between builders on one side and protesters on the other. Most of the activists belong to the growing organization “Motvind”. According to them, they have more than 17,000 paying members.
On social media, the debate is characterized by harsh language and personal attacks. The Minister of Oil and Energy, Tina Bru, is among those who have felt this in her body.
– They called me f *** e. I was physically prevented from entering my meeting with Østensjø Rederi. They told me it was a shame. That I ruined my life … he wrote in a Facebook post in June, which was later removed.
How do we get here?
Norway faces a dilemma: Climate targets require more electricity, but electricity production requires an invasion of nature.
At the same time, increasing resistance makes it difficult to expand sufficient capacity in Norwegian energy production.
If electricity consumption exceeds production, Norway runs the risk of having to import more electricity at higher prices. This could threaten Norwegian industrial jobs and lead to new investment in other countries with cheaper electricity.
– There was little visible resistance
Haramsøya is one of 14 places where wind turbines are being built in Norway today.
In 2009, a license for the construction of 16 wind turbines was granted to Haram Kraft AS. The municipality had initially said no to the wind farm, but accepted the project when the number of wind turbines was reduced.
– At the time, there was little visible opposition to the development of the wind farm, says Vebjørn Krogsæter, former mayor of Haram municipality, which is now part of Ålesund municipality.
But now the wind has changed.
After several rounds of complaints to the ministry, in March this year it was decided that the development of the wind power plant could begin.
Now eight wind turbines will be built, eight less than requested in 2009. The height of the wind turbines will be the same as requested: 150 meters.
The development at Haramsøya is an investment of NOK 400 million and the plant will produce 0.11 TWT per year, according to the developer.
In mid-May, the first construction workers from the developer Stangeland arrived. They are tasked with building the road to the top of the mountain where the wind turbines will be located.
It has not been an easy job.
– The goal is to prevent them from doing their job.
Since May of this year, both locals and visitors have been hanging around the mountain. To the best of their ability, protesters have tried to prevent construction workers from doing their jobs.
The goal is to slow down their work so much that development company Stangeland won’t have time to complete before the December 2021 deadline, according to protester Lill Karin Stålnacke.
– We have molested and bothered workers in the mountains last week, so they have hardly been allowed to work.
Stålnacke, who is a visiting protester from Sogn, emphasizes that they mean nothing personal to the workers. It’s about what they represent: “Terror of the Wind.”
Now she is here to demonstrate against nature being inflicted “irreparable damage”
– When we destroy the mountain, we can never get it back. It makes me very sad. What is even sadder is that this is done to achieve a short-term goal: money.
One of the activists kicks right in front of one of Stangeland’s cars. “Here come the cockroaches”
– As if there were no adults in the room.
After Thue’s arrest, the protesters go to “Bygdestova”. Coffee is served and cookies are distributed.
– I am horrified that the larger community can do this against the will of a local community – there are not many of us here, says Randi Kjærstad Hagerup.
Hagerup has made the journey to Haramsøya from the neighboring island, Lepsøya.
– This is like a nightmare, he adds.
After a quarter of an hour, Thue enters to the applause of the congregation.
Hagerup runs towards him with a cup of coffee.
He is currently writing a master’s thesis on beach cleaning. Actually, it should have been delivered in June, but due to the daily commitment to save the mountain from “being destroyed”, it has had to postpone delivery until November.
– I can’t help but do everything in my power to try to stop this. Because this must stop.
– It’s like there are no adults in the room.
It is not just the locals and their supporters who find the situation demanding.
Posted on social media
In a meeting room five minutes from the demonstration sit those accused of “wind terrorism”: the promoters of the new wind project.
– We knew there was resistance, but this is extreme.
Terje Salte is Operations Manager for the construction project in Haramsøya.
E24 meets him and HSE coordinator Gunnar Skogesal at a construction barracks located near Bygdestova.
Salte has been posted with the name and image on the protesters’ Facebook page.
Below the image, opponents of the wind, among other things, refer to him as:
Whore man … bought and paid for
They do a well-paying job that few would accept. Let’s hope the money clears their conscience.
They want to go down in history as those who destroyed parts of Norwegian nature. (…) Money rules this mess.
Facebook comments about Terje Salte
– If we are not against wind energy, in their eyes we are against them, says Skogesal.
He wants to emphasize that they are only there to do their job.
The developers talk about situations where activists have blocked access to their workplace. Later that day, they again blocked the road so that the workers would not leave, they say.
– It often takes two to three hours to get in or out, because we have had to wait for the police who have to come by ferry to help us, says Salte.
At the barrier at the foot of the mountain road, a police car is ready to escort Terje Salte and Gunnar Skogesal to the construction zone.
Fear serious accidents
The two men drive towards the construction site. At the barrier at the foot of the mountain road, a police car is ready to escort them.
Both Salte and Skogesal emphasize that they feel sympathy for the protesters.
– They sincerely believe that their hometown will be destroyed, says Skogesal.
– Men, says Salte:
– We are really concerned about the method used by some of the protesters.
He touches his stomach and says:
– I know this. The worry that one day something will go very wrong. It gives me a real knot in my stomach.
Salte says they have experienced protesters appearing from slopes right in front of large dump trucks in an attempt to stop them.
– They are vehicles with very poor visibility and fortunately the driver has managed to see them. But with that strategy, it’s only a matter of time before a serious accident occurs.
– This case is not really worth anyone’s life. Not really.
You will appreciate the “creation of God”
Hans Petter Thue is finally sitting at home in his house. The police released him from the police vehicle shortly after, but he was reported for civil disobedience.
– It came out as expected
– Why are you willing to go so far for this case that they even review you?
– No, I mean, I think we should take care of creation, then. There are 25 species of birds on the red list that belong here, so it’s a disaster that they have to build wind turbines with such large propellers, says the father of five.
He says he got caught up in this “fight” when he realized construction workers were driving without permission on his private road.
However, there is uncertainty in this regard, according to TV 2.
But the case doesn’t just create community. It also creates a great divide in the local population.
– Unfortunately, there are examples of people here who have become girlfriends due to disagreement on this matter.
Take matters into your own hands
It is Thursday and three days since E24 visited Hans Petter Thue at his home in Haramsøya. Now he and 50 other protesters have gathered in front of the Justice Ministry in Oslo.
There are three and three holding banners with a picture of Thue’s arrest and the inscription “Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood.”
The weather is gray, but significantly warmer than in Haramsøya during Monday’s rally.
Rune Haaland, Motvind’s general secretary, leads the appeals. Haaland tells the assembly that Motvind will now send protesters who are willing to pay 8,000 kroner in civil disobedience fines, from Oslo and Stavanger to Haramsøya and Frøya to demonstrate.
When Thue takes over the microphone, the voice is low and fine. However, it is loud enough for the congregation to hear.
Rune Haaland, General Secretary of Motvind.
1 of 4
– On Monday, the police raised flags and showed which side they were on, he says.
– Instead of taking care of those of us who demonstrate legally, they take care of the workers, he adds, and the audience responds by shaking their heads.
– If Minister Mæland does not take responsibility now, we must take responsibility and continue to demonstrate until the workers have left, he concludes.
