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Reindeer herders battle power line needed for Norway's environment objective

It is minus 6 degrees Celsius in Arctic Norway and some 30 Indigenous Sami herders have collected 1,500 reindeer in a confine, arranging who owns which animal after the herds blended while grazing up on the Finnmark plateau.

It is also a chance to discuss their big concern: a. prepared 54 km (34 mile) power line to provide Western Europe's. largest melted natural gas plant.

The line will be developed on pastures the herders use in. summer, in seaside areas where they say towns, cabins, roads,. existing power lines and other facilities have currently. intruded on the land they use.

We can not pay for to lose more summer pastures, said Nils. Mathis Sara, whose herd graze between May and October in the. area where the line is due to be built this summer season.

We have nothing else to distribute, he stated as he drove to. the corral in Jergul, near the winter season pasture on the plateau,. some 1,700 km (1,000 miles) from the capital Oslo.

As the temperature increases from the current 6 C (21 degrees. Fahrenheit), they make the preparations to move to the summertime. pasture, 250 km (150 miles) away near the city of Hammerfest.

The power line will help Norway cut its CO2 emissions, with. the federal government devoting to cut the nation's emissions by 55%. compared to 1990 levels by 2030.

With electrification, Hammerfest LNG would utilize eco-friendly. power from the grid - most of Norway's electricity production. originates from hydropower - instead of gas to run its 5 turbines.

The Equinor plant is the second-largest single. source of emissions in the nation, generating some 850,000. metric lots of CO2 per year, or 2% of Norway's annual emissions.

It exports enough gas to cover the usage of an. estimated 6.5 million homes, mainly in Europe. The. electrification would assist lengthen the production life of the. field and export more gas to markets.

The dispute shows the difficult options countries. need to make to cut greenhouse gas emissions and power future. growth, frequently including contending use for land.

CLEAN ENERGY

In time, Hammerfest LNG is due to use power from onshore. wind farms that authorities want to build to increase the power. supply to Finnmark as an entire, and Hammerfest LNG in specific,. the region's future biggest power user.

They are due to be constructed on reindeer summer season pastures too.

It is idiotic we are going to damage nature for the. environment, stated Johan Isak Eira, a reindeer herder from a. district where one such windfarm is expected.

The federal government disagrees.

We need to create brand-new jobs, allow more economic activity. Future tasks will depend on tidy energy, not diesel-powered. generators, Deputy Energy Minister Elisabeth Saether said.

For this government, it is not an option to provide a. categoric 'no' to new power and new power lines in reindeer. rounding up areas.

She stated the Skaidi-Hammerfest power line would have an. impact on herding, but the activity might take place in line. with article 27 of a 1966 global treaty safeguarding. Native minorities' rights to enjoy their own culture.

In a landmark ruling in 2021, Norway's Supreme Court stated. that right was being broken with the building of two. onshore windfarms in central Norway, leading to protests from. Sami groups, green activists and Greta Thunberg. The windfarms. remained however the herders were granted payment and the. pledge of land.

This is not such a huge obstacle that herders will be. not able to practice their culture, Saether stated.

ENVIRONMENT MODIFICATION

Reindeer herders disagree. Sara's reindeer district group,. which numbers around 100 herders, is planning legal action to. stop building and construction of the line. The herders say the impact of the. power lines will disrupt the natural behaviour of the animals.

Reindeer avoid the location where power lines are developed. You. can make them pass under, but they won't remain there, herder. Eira stated. The structures make them scared and they do not like. the noise they make.

Female reindeer calve on summertime pastures and the young consume. turf to build up enough weight to survive on lichen on winter season. pastures, when temperature levels can drop to minus 40 C (minus 40 F).

Herders are under pressure on a number of fronts, consisting of from. climate change. They now need to supplement the animals' feed as. milder weather condition has actually resulted in ice layers forming from rain. showers that then freeze - suggesting the reindeer can not constantly. dig for the lichen with their hooves.

Statnett, the grid operator and the contractor of the power. line, said it would deliver a sustainable job that takes. care of both individuals and nature and stated power lines when put. into operation just impacted the reindeer to a minimal level.

Equinor, the operator of Hammerfest LNG, states it comprehends. the uncertainty dealt with by herders.

There could be predicaments when we are developing energy. facilities near to the reindeer herders, said Kjetil. Myklebust, the head of the task at Equinor.

Still, we are confident that it is possible to develop the. region's grid in excellent discussion with the affected parties.

On the land it is responsible for, close to the plant,. Equinor will build a power cable television in a tunnel under Hammerfest,. rather than above ground, so that it does not impact summertime. pastures there.

More broadly, herders state society should lower usage. or find options to cut emissions, such as carbon capture,. which the federal government declined as too expensive.

What I don't get about the energy transition is that to. make it happen, we need to damage nature, said Sara. To me. that does not make good sense.. ($ 1 = 10.6091 Norwegian crowns)

(source: Reuters)