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17 hours of lawyer for 2600 crowns an hour before VAT. That is the requirement that the municipality of Porsgrunn now requires the government to meet.
Dagbladet has obtained access to the claim, which amounts to NOK 44,200.
The background is the dispute over a possible landfill at Brevik in Telemark. On June 19 this year, the government, headed by the Minister of Climate and Environment, Sveinung Rotevatn (Liberal Party), denied the municipality of Porsgrunn access to a document related to the prosecution of the case.
But after receiving legal assistance, the municipality of Porsgrunn was confirmed that the government’s secrecy was based on incorrect grounds. It is these legal expenses that the municipality requires the ministry to cover.
Betente billion
The case concerns billions of crowns. The contentious question is whether it is justified to operate both a landfill and mines at Breivik. The case is of great financial significance to Norcem and Norwegian Waste Management (NOAH), owned by Bjørn Rune Gjelsten.
The municipality of Porsgrunn does not want a landfill in Brevik, but NOAH does, despite an independent committee advising against this.
The government postponed the case. The municipality of Porsgrunn wanted access to a NOAH document, but did not receive it from the ministry. The Minister of Climate and Environment, Sveinung Rotevatn (V), also told the Storting that the document could not be delivered to the municipality of Porsgrunn because it contained trade secrets.
May have had millions of income
– All possible twists and turns
The mayor of Porsgrunn, Robin Kåss (Labor Party) fought the decision and thus won in the end with expensive legal assistance.
– We believe that the ministry has used all possible twists and turns to keep this document hidden. First it took eight months before the document was registered, then we were denied access with a constructed justification, Kåss tells Dagbladet.
It turned out that when Kåss finally gained access, the document did not contain information that had to be withheld from the public, as Rotevatn claimed.
– The document was a series of arguments for a NOAH landfill to the ministry, with no trade secrets. If it happens that the government tries to establish a practice in which the arguments of commercial actors can keep their arguments secret, then it is a terrifying fact, Kåss continues.
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– Illegalities
The former Secretary of State for Labor makes harsh accusations against the government.
– It is an important principle for me that when the State engages in illegal activities, it has to pay the legal costs for it, he adds.
– What illegalities?
– Waiting so long to keep records is wrong. Had it done so, the state would have slapped the municipality of Porsgrunn. And then there is a false justification for the secrecy. It is simply an invention what Rotevatn came up with, says Kåss.
– Did he lie to you?
– I think if I had spent a minute looking at the document that was kept secret, I would also have understood that there was no reason for the secret.
Evacuate after a waste fire
Will apologize
Kåss hopes the ministry will change the money.
– We will both have the money, and we will have an admission and an apology from the ministry. It’s hard to be confident in root water when making decisions based on inaccuracies, he says.
The Ministry of Climate and Environment has presented the accusations to Robin Kåss. His response to Dagbladet reads as follows:
– We can confirm that the ministry has now received a claim for the coverage of legal costs from the municipality of Porsgrunn, and the investigation will now be considered further, says Secretary of State for the Ministry of Climate and Environment, Maren Herlseth Holsen.
