The reindeer district must cover millions of expenses – E24

It was on July 8 that Jillen-Njaarke Reinbeiteistrikt applied to the court for a temporary injunction demanding the immediate halt of construction works in Øyfjellet.

The suspension was to last until a final judgment in a case regarding the validity of the license decision.

On Friday, the ruling came at the Oslo city sheriff’s office, and it was the developers behind the Øyfjellet wind farm who won.

“The request for a temporary injunction is not granted,” writes the Oslo City Sheriff’s Office.

This means that the construction of the wind farm can continue.

Must pay 1.76 million

The court also orders the Jillen-Njaarke reindeer herding district to pay a total of NOK 1.76 million in legal fees to counterparts Eolus Vind Norge Holding AS and Øyfjellet Wind AS.

This money must be paid within two weeks.

In addition, the reindeer herding district itself has had expenses of around 670,000 kroner excluding VAT to bring the case, according to the verdict.

– We are satisfied and happy that we can now focus more on development. And the developers still hope to find a way to coexist with the reindeer herding district, lawyer Jøran Sandvik in Haavind tells E24.

Haavind has represented developer Eolus in the case.

You should get help from Motvind

The reindeer herding district wanted to be exempt from legal costs, but the other party disputed it because the anti-wind energy organization Motvind had promised to help the district at any cost.

After an overall assessment, the Oslo City Sheriff’s Office concluded that there were no compelling enough reasons why the reindeer herding district should not have to pay legal costs.

As far as E24 knows, Motvind has limited money available, in part due to millions of expenses related to a previous lawsuit.

Unable to help

Headwind had only 480,000 kronor in the account at the end of September and, according to former CFO Jan Warberg, could be close to bankruptcy.

The sum appears in an email that Motvind general secretary Rune Haaland posted via Facebook. Warberg resigned the day before this week, likening the organization to a sewing club.

There has been an internal dispute in the organization, where the board is said to have fired general secretary Rune Haaland and hired two new employees. Haaland believes that the board’s decisions in the case are not in line with the organization’s bylaws and should be considered by the national meeting in Motvind.

In front of E24, Haaland is sure to help the Jillen-Njaarke reindeer herding district pay the million dollar bill after the trial.

– At the moment, due to the conflicts in Motvind Norge, the organization is unable to help the reindeer herding district. Take us back to work and we’ll collect the money, says Haaland.

Millions raised

Modvind has around NOK 3.7 million in annual quota and has raised around NOK 1.8 million through Spleis, but has also had large expenses for salaries, operations and legal costs.

In June, the organization lost a case due to a temporary court order against the Vardafjell power plant and then had to pay NOK 1.3 million.

As far as E24 knows, Motvind has previously allocated more than NOK 500,000 to the Jillen-Njaarke reindeer herding district as a contribution to bringing the Øyfjellet case to court.

Modvind has also collected around 524,000 crowns for the reindeer herding district through the Spleis service.

If Motvind cannot contribute more money, the reindeer herding district risks taking much of the account.

E24 has contacted the leader of the reindeer herding district, who could not comment on the matter. Attorneys for the reindeer herding district at the Dalan Law Firm have not responded to E24’s inquiries.