Finland: Civil Disobedience at Sastamala Enrichment Facility

Submitted to the Earth First! Journal

“What Meaning Does Monitoring Have If the Company is Allowed to Ruin the Environment Anyway?”

In Pirkanmaa, Finland, people who are concerned about Dragon Mining’s environmental impacts are taking action again. The Hyökyaalto Network is blocking work with nonviolent civil disobedience at a Dragon Mining enrichment facility in Sastamala.

The Hyökyaalto Network demands Regional State Administrative Agency (AVI) to halt the establishment of the gold mine in Valkeakoski for conducting objective evaluation of effects on groundwater and waterways. According to the Network, the mine at Orivesi should also be closed. It operates without a valid environmental permit and can do this only because it has an ongoing appeal process in the court. In Orivesi, Dragon Mining should also be ordered to clean the illegal waste dump and restore polluted waters. In addition, protesters require AVI to stop the activities of the enrichment facility as it has spoiled the environment already for decades. Before further operations, the security of surrounding nature should be guaranteed.

According to Hyökyaalto, Dragon Mining aims to start mining activities in Valkeakoski without proper evaluation of environmental impacts. There is a serious risk that environmental destruction that have taken place in Orivesi and Sastamala will be repeated in Kaapelinkulma, Valkeakoski. The Network asks what is the meaning of permits and monitoring if the company is allowed to destroy the environment anyways. As recently as in the beginning of this January, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and the Ministry of the Environment hurried to convince the public that Dragon Mining’s permits are legitimate. However, none took stand on the actual problems. Protesters remind us that we only have the company’s own word that they are trying to fix the problems, but nobody supervises whether this actually happens.

Hyökyaalto requires Dragon Mining to stop playing with appeals and thrusting the responsibility on others’ shoulders. The Hyökyaalto Network says that it’s finally time to force a company that repeatedly violates its environmental permit to take care of its own environmental responsibility and clean the mess it has made. Protests will continue against Dragon Mining: On Saturday, 26th January, in the centre of Valkeakoski, Pelastetaan Kaapelinkulma (Save Kaapelinkulma) demonstration and discussion event are organized.

Contact information: hyokyaalto-media@riseup.net

For more photos, click here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/168687265@N05

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