Madam, - In a few weeks' time the first electricity will be generated from the turbines of the new generating station driven by the massive hydro-electric project now nearing completion in the Kárahnjúkar region of eastern Iceland.
This project, ongoing since 2003 and originally conceived by the Icelandic national power company Landsvirkjun some 10 years ago, has been built to generate 690 megawatts exclusively to power the operations of a purpose-built aluminium smelter run by the multinational company Alcoa at Reydarfjordur on the east coast.
A hitherto pristine, stunningly beautiful wilderness area known to be the second largest in Europe has now been irreparably damaged. And there are further plans afoot in Iceland to harness the power of many other rivers, also in remote, uninhabited wildernesses in the interior.
In recent years there has been no end to the calls to save the earth and the planet. Why is there no international outcry on the destruction of one of Europe's last pristine environments?
- Yours, etc,
PHILIP O'REILLY, Grosvenor Place, Dublin 6.