Economic issues

Angelica used for beer production in north Iceland   

(Iceland Review, 23 August 2010) --  The microbrewery Bruggsmidjan at Árskógssandur in Eyjafjördur in north Iceland known for its popular beer Kaldi will now, in cooperation with Saga Medica, launch a new brand, Stinningskaldi, brewed from angelica which grows on Hrísey island. Saga Medica produces remedies from Icelandic medical herbs. “We have always been interested in brewing from Icelandic plants. When the idea surfaced that we could use angelica from Hrísey we found it ideal,” Agnes Sigurdardóttir, managing director of Bruggsmidjan, told Morgunbladid. “We chose angelica because it is one of Iceland’s best known medical plants. It has been used for healing in Iceland since the settlement, or for 1100 years. Angelica is considered good for all sorts of ailments,” Sigurdardóttir said. “When the Vikings started going on trade expeditions to Europe they brought dried angelica root for trading. The angelica which grew here was considered superior to that which grew further south. It is so resilient. It became currency, in fact,” Sigurdardóttir said. “There were many things I didn’t know about angelica until we began cooperating with Saga Medica. For example, Hvannadalshnjúkur, Iceland’s highest peak, is named after angelica,” Sigurdardóttir said. Angelica is called hvönn, hvannir in plural, in Icelandic. Sigurdardóttir said through time angelica has also been used as an aphrodisiac for men. “We chose the name Stinningskaldi because it is related to meteorology but angelica is very good for men too. So we saved the name Stinningskaldi for this.” In meteorology, stinningskaldi is a strong breeze but stinning can also mean erection. “I’m not about to brew some love potion, that’s not it, but angelica is good for men,” Sigurdardóttir iterated. She hopes that the new product can enter the market in October.

Posted 23 August 2010; 1:44:15 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: August 2010, Circumpolar News, Economic issues, Iceland, North Atlantic

UK group begins oil drilling in Arctic   

(Ed Crooks/Financial Times, 7 July 2010) -- A British independent oil company has started drilling an exploration well in the Arctic waters between Greenland and Canada, having won approvals from the Greenland authorities in spite of the concerns raised by BP’s huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Industry experts and environmentalists say the consequences of a spill in the Arctic could be much more serious than the impact of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the gulf. Yet the lure of the potentially vast resources of the region is so strong that companies and governments are pushing ahead with exploration programmes, albeit with heightened levels of attention to safety and scrutiny from regulators. Cairn Energy, a London-listed, Edinburgh based oil company that had spectacular success finding oil onshore in north-west India, is placing its next big bet off the coast of Greenland, near the Davis Strait on the maritime border with Canada. It plans to drill four wells off Greenland in the three-month drilling season this summer, at a cost of about $100m each. Canada’s National Energy Board has imposed a moratorium on issuing permits for drilling in the Arctic seas while it reviews safety procedures, as has the US administration. Those bans will mean that Royal Dutch Shell, which had hoped to drill explorations wells off the north coast of Alaska this summer, will miss drilling season for another year. Greenland, however, decided last month to award Cairn permits to drill its first two wells, and is expected to agree permits for the second two. Last week, Cairn began drilling its first well.

Posted 8 July 2010; 8:48:12 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic issues, Greenland, July 2010, Oil, gas, non-renewable resources, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction

Nunavut ponders more competition in sealift   

(Chris Windeyer/Nunatsiaq Online, 22 June 2010) -- More competition between shipping companies allowed stores in the Kitikmeot region to cut prices, says a Government of Nunavut report on the 2009 sealift season. Northern Transportation Company Ltd.’s new barge service from Richmond, BC, which started last year, and competition from two other carriers, drove down the cost of shipping to the western Arctic, according to the CGS summary for the 2009 sealift season. “It was reported that lower shipping costs enabled stores to reduce prices,” says the report, tabled earlier this month in the Legislative Assembly. But another report commissioned by the department suggests switching to an open-market system for sealift would produce more losers than winners. “An open market sealift in Nunavut would result in a serious decline in standard of living and in quality of life for a number of communities,” reads the report, prepared by Mariport Group, “while the benefits to others would not materially improve their situation.” ... The Mariport study states that Iqaluit and possibly Rankin Inlet could eventually switch to an open market, but only if those communities receive better marine infrastructure and if a third carrier entered the market. The report states that Iqaluit, with between 30,000 and 40,000 tons of cargo coming in every year, could see “materially reduce[d] freight costs” if a third carrier entered the market. But it suggests distance and geography would force higher rates for Igloolik, Hall Beach, Repulse Bay and Sanikiluaq. Baker Lake, despite heavy cargo demand from the region’s booming mining sector, would also see higher rates and a possible decrease in service, because of the distance and cost of shipping cargo by barge through the Chesterfield Narrows. And because of huge distances from Montreal, where most Arctic shipping originates, the report warns Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord could see huge spikes in shipping costs.

Posted 22 June 2010; 7:49:15 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Canada, Economic issues, June10, Nunavut, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction

EU promises more cash for Greenland education   

(IceNews, 21 June 2010) -- Greenland’s government is to receive a cash injection from the European Union to help support training efforts. The subsidy of 200 million kroner (USD 33 million) will be given to the country every year until 2013 to help boost Greenland’s educational facilities. Greenland must produce reports explaining how the money is being used and the results of training in exchange for a cut of the cash. The current EU-Greenland partnership is to be evaluated and renegotiated next year, when a new agreement for the period of 2014 to 2020 will be reached. Last year, the country achieved 97 percent of stated objectives and received almost 100 percent of the 200 million kroner kitty. The money makes a big different to Greenland and its annual budget, according to Siku News. Along with the fisheries agreement, the EU assistance sees around 320 million kroner (USD 52 million) pumped into to Greenland each year. This amounts to around 5.3 percent of the government’s total revenues for 2010. A spokesperson for the EU said the money was offered “to support Greenland’s exceptional education efforts.”

Posted 22 June 2010; 7:47:56 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic issues, Education and Civil Society, Greenland, June10, Social Issues

Icelandic Glacial to open new water factory   

(IceNews, 25 May 2010) -- The framework for a new bottled water factory in Iceland is now complete. Icelandic Glacial Waters hopes its new Snaefellsnes factory will be in operation by next year. The planning of the new factory restarted this winter after several delays but when it opens next year it is set to create new jobs for the Snaefellsnes peninsula in West Iceland, RUV reports. The provision of fresh spring water from Lind under Snaefellsjokull glacier to the new site is already nearing completion. Icelandic Glacial markets itself as a carbon neutral brand and was recently chosen exclusive world water supplier to Hilton Hotels.

Posted 26 May 2010; 9:52:18 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic issues, Iceland, May10

Recovery still incomplete after Valdez spill   

(William Yardley, 5 May 2010) -- CORDOVA, Alaska - As the oil spill spreads ominously in the Gulf of Mexico, its impact uncertain, communities here beside Prince William Sound are still confronting the consequences of March 24, 1989, the day of the wreck of the Exxon Valdez. The tanker Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil, staining 1,500 miles of coastline, killing hundreds of thousands of seabirds, otters, seals and whales, and devastating local communities. The spill stopped after just a few days. Recovery may not have an end date. Fishing here is far from what it was. Suicides and bankruptcies and bitterness surged. Many people left even as a few became “spillionaires,” getting paid to clean up. A new industry took hold: environmental groups, scientific organizations, experts in the psychological trauma of oil spills. A network of fishermen is now trained and paid by the oil industry to respond if another disaster strikes. Lawyers, fishermen and environmentalists in the gulf are now calling, looking for guidance in areas like how to harness political anger over the spill and the most effective ecological triage. National news crews are chartering planes to nearby islands to see how oil still coats rocks just below the surface all these years later. Fishermen recount once again their complicated journeys from the spill to the payments they received just last year from a punitive damages judgment of about $500 million against Exxon in 1994. People here say they want to move on.

Posted 10 May 2010; 11:48:07 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Alaska, Circumpolar News, Economic issues, May10, Oil, gas, non-renewable resources, Social Issues

Gulf spill could have Alaska repercussions   

(Elizabeth Bluemink/Anchorage Daily News, 2 May 2010) — The oil gushing from a Gulf of Mexico oil well has the potential to touch Alaska in many ways. Alaska is next in line, nationally, for offshore oil development in federal waters — Shell Oil hopes to drill exploration wells in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas this summer, opening a controversial new frontier for the state's oil industry. Investors' jitters over future offshore oil production could boost Alaska oil prices — it happened Thursday, when the price for Alaska crude jumped by $2.70 to $83.97. National outrage could dim the prospects of an offshore oil boom in Alaska's Arctic waters, which federal scientists say could hold some of the biggest oil and gas deposits in the country. Or, the Gulf disaster could have the less-dramatic effect of prompting new state or federal rules for preventing disasters at oil rigs and offshore wells, including the ones in Alaska. State oil and gas regulators have no say over oil and gas projects in federal waters, but they said Friday they are closely watching the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and sinking to find out what went wrong. That's because they regulate offshore development in Cook Inlet and in state waters off the North Slope, home to a growing number of oil fields. And also because they are worried that federal officials may overreact, said Kevin Banks, state Oil and Gas Division director. "We are concerned because of the potential for a real backlash and people seeking to shut (offshore drilling) down," he said. Offshore oil development isn't the only part of Alaska's oil industry that could be affected by the Gulf spill. Major industry catastrophes, such as the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, can lead to costly, far-reaching changes that have nothing to do with pumping oil from federal waters. Already some environmental groups said they plan to use the Gulf spill in their campaign to permanently close off oil-company access to the promising coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Posted 3 May 2010; 3:59:42 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Alaska, Circumpolar News, Economic issues, May10, Oil, gas, non-renewable resources

Inuit orgs form new Nunavut resource company   

(Nunatsiaq News, 12 April 2010) -- In an effort led by the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, three Inuit associations in Nunavut have bought into a new corporation that’s aimed at creating more Inuit involvement and decision-making power in Nunavut resource development projects. The new company, called the Nunavut Resources Corp., will buy into mining projects on Inuit-owned and Crown land, an April 9 press release said. “The formation of NRC means Inuit can move from being watchers to being participants and decision-makers in the development of the North,” the company’s press release said. Charlie Evalik, who now serves as president of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, will chair the new corporation, while Inuit organizations like the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, the Kivalliq Inuit Association and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. will own it. In the press release, Evalik is quoted as saying Inuit get jobs, contracting opportunities and royalties from current benefit arrangements but still depend on others to make key development decisions. “That means the real gains, including capital gains, from development in Nunavut go to others. It is time for Inuit to enhance their participation in development on their lands and in Nunavut,” Evalik is quoted as saying. The press release said the company’s board, drawn from “business leaders with expertise in corporate finance and mineral development,” will be appointed over the next few months.

Posted 12 April 2010; 9:52:33 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: April10, Canada, Circumpolar News, Economic issues, Nunavut, Resource Issues

Restricting Kola reindeer   

(Barents Observer, 7 April 2010) -- Regional authorities in Murmansk want to limit the free movement of reindeer herds to 100-200 km wide zones. In an interview with newspaper Vedomosti, regional Governor Dmitry Dmitriyenko said that his administration plans to establish 100-200 km wide zones for the regional reindeer herds. This will help raise productivity, the governor argues. Today, reindeer herds migrate over major parts of the peninsula. Governor Dmitriyenko says the changing climate makes it increasingly difficult to gather the herds at slaughter time because the rivers now freeze later than before. It is the indigenous Sami population which has the reindeer herding as its main industry. The main Sami settlements are located in the central parts of the peninsula with the town of Lovozero as the main centre.

Posted 12 April 2010; 12:25:10 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: April10, Circumpolar News, Economic issues, Indigenous Issues, Northwest Russia, Resource Issues, Russia

The North scrapes bottom   

(Nathan VanderKlippe/Globe and Mail, 9 April 2010) -- Diavik Diamond Mine, NWT - Ninety metres below a gaping hole in the subarctic Barren Lands, a huge square tunnel ends at a wall of dark rock. Overhead, water drips from Lac de Gras, the epicentre of Canada's diamond boom. The dripping is a reminder that the lake's shores were moved to make way for an open-pit mine. Now that that pit has reached its bottom, miners are down here digging a network of tunnels to extract what remains of the carrot-shaped deposit of kimberlite that they have been pulling from the ground for nearly a decade. In the light of their lamps, the rock looks black as coal. Hidden inside are the diamonds that have shaped the fate of the Northwest Territories for the past 20 years. Between Diavik and other diamond mines, the wealth at Lac de Gras, about 300 kilometres north of Yellowknife, accounts for nearly a quarter of the territorial economy. Diamonds have pumped billions into local businesses and bank accounts, and have been a catalyst for remarkable social change, including dramatic increases in graduation rates in some aboriginal communities as economic success is passed from generation to generation. But the fact that miners are working 90 metres underground, and not still scraping away the surface, points to the end of the boom. A place already rocked by the global downturn now faces the reality that its payday resource is running out. One former government official warns that a looming lack of jobs may create a “lost generation”; another refers to the coming years as Exodus 4, the latest painful chapter for a territory that has witnessed severe busts before.

Posted 11 April 2010; 10:59:46 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: April10, Canada, Circumpolar News, Economic issues, Resource Issues

New book about Arctic economies   

(Jesper Hansen/Arctic Council, 26 March 2010) -- The Actic regional economies are strongly dependent on their mother economies in the south "The Political Economy of Northern Regional Development" is the title of a new publication published by the POENOR Consortium. The POENOR consortium met at an inaugural workshop at the Klitgården in Skagen, Denmark in 2007, and this book is an anthology of the papers presented by POENOR participants on that occasion. The Arctic economy is analyzed and one of the contributors says that "Taking the structure and functioning of the Arctic regional economies and the degree of economic dependence as a point of departure, self-reliance and comparative socio-economic performance is analyzed. The fundamental problem is still the dependency Arctic regions have on their mother economies in the south". The publication also points on the effects of the climate change: "the impact from climate changes and the global economy strongly influence the self-sufficiency constraints and potentials of the Arctic societies. Traditional approaches to economic valuation may not be sufficient to capture these relationships." POENOR was established owing to the initiative of the Arctic Council working group on sustainable development (SDWG) and the International Conference on Arctic research Planning II (ICARP II) in Copenhagen in 2005 and in Potsdam in 2006. After two years of work the final research plan was forwarded to sponsors in 2007 and 2008. In 2005, the international consortiumon the Political Economy of Northern Regional Development was endorsed by the Joint Committee for the International Polar Year and later in 2007 the project received financial support from the Commission for Scientific Research in Greenland, the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM) Arctic Cooperation Program, The Greenland Home Rule Research Unit and the Obel Family Foundation. See The Political Economy of Northern Regional Development

Posted 10 April 2010; 2:03:15 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Books, Blogs and Publications, Circumpolar News, Economic issues, International, March10, Research

New report says whaling is beneficial for Iceland   

(Iceland Review, 30 March 2010) -- Overall, Iceland’s whaling is nationally beneficial, according to the conclusion of a report conducted by the University of Iceland Institute for Economic Studies on behalf of the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture, which was presented yesterday. “It has to be insured that whaling and whale watching can continue harmoniously and whale watching areas must be defined more clearly,” said Sveinn Agnarsson, the institute’s director, according to Morgunbladid. The report assumes that the fin whale stock in Icelandic waters counts 22,100 animals and that the minke whale stock counts 53,000 animals. If 150 animals from each whale stock are caught each year balance would be maintained, the report reasoned, but if more than 330 fin whales and 800 minkes were to be caught the whale stocks would collapse. The institute estimates that salary payments for hunting and processing 150 fin whales per year amount to at least ISK 750 million (USD 5.8 million, EUR 4.3 million). However, it is uncertain how high the profits from fin whale hunting would be. The report stated that the value added tax paid by whale watching companies is close to ISK 500 million (USD 4 million, EUR 2.9 million). Multiple impact from whaling was not taken into account when the report was made because the economists who wrote it concluded the conditions for such calculations were too vague. “The report is a good input for discussions,” said Minister of Fisheries Jón Bjarnason. “In whaling and whale watching there are certain interests that are at odds with each other but in other aspects the two industries can go together. We have to look further into that.” The report also states that if 150 whales from each stock are caught each year, the cod fishing quota could be increased by 2,200 tons, the haddock quota by 4,900 tons and the capelin quota by 13,800 tons.

Posted 30 March 2010; 1:34:08 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic issues, Iceland, March10

Greenland moves to formalize Arctic-apartheid system in gemstone exploration   

(True North Gems Apartheid press release via PRWeb, 5 March 2010) -- Nuuk, Greenland - Niels Madsen, a small scale mining activist and one of the founders of the 16th August Union, a Greenlandic association of small scale miners, has issued a call to the international community to block the Greenland Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum’s (BMP) continuing attempt to disenfranchise Greenlanders from their mineral resources. The BMP has recently revoked communal ownership of the land and its resources, which were formerly guaranteed under Article 32 of the Greenlandic Constitution. On March 8th, Greenland’s Manager of the BMP, Jorn Skov Nielsen will present in Toronto to the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada http://www.pdac.ca/ with the clear aim of offering Greenland’s vast mineral wealth to large-scale mining companies. “Any company that collaborates with the BMP is not only in violation of the UN Declaration of Indigenous Rights,” said Madsen, “they are also supporting what has clearly become an apartheid system.” True North Gems, Inc., (TNG), a junior Canadian mining company prospecting for ruby on Greenland since 2004 was recently granted rights to an enormous exploration license near the village of Fiskenaesset. On Tuesday 9 March 2010, TNG is scheduled to give a 20 minute presentation to the Canadian diamond community. Until the documentation of valuable gem deposits in Greenland, Inuits were allowed to gather, polish and sell gem material. Once exceptionally valuable ruby was documented by TNG, the BMP issued completely new mining laws. “Once an applications is filed to mine, the BMP delays or outright refuses to issue licenses,” said Madsen. “We also want to benefit from the ruby we already collected and legally own and pay fair taxes, but at present that is not possible.” “Even though True North Gems is very unpopular in our country, we respect large scale mining. But we cannot tolerate being thrown out of the many big exploration areas which will soon be covering the entire land which is our commons,” said Madsen, who gathered four thousand signatures in support of Inuit small scale mining rights for ruby on Greenland. ...  “The BMP is guilty of marginalizing the Inuit from their own wealth and inheritance,” said Valerio. “Not only do their new small-scale mining laws discredit the BMP in the eyes of the international gemstone community, they also humiliate and discriminate against very people they claim to represent.” [See the protest web site.]

Posted 8 March 2010; 1:55:00 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic issues, Greenland, March10, Oil, gas, non-renewable resources, Resource Issues, Social Issues

Woolly mammoths resurfacing in Siberia   

(Megan K. Stack/LA Times, 2 March 2010) -- Reporting from Moscow - The beasts had long lain extinct and forgotten, embedded deep in the frozen turf, bodies swaddled in Earth's layers for thousands of years before Christ. Now, the Russian permafrost is offering up the bones and tusks of the woolly mammoths that once lumbered over the tundra. They are shaped into picture frames, chess sets, pendants. They are gathered and piled, carved and whittled, bought and sold on the Internet. The once-obscure scientists who specialize in the wastelands of Siberia have opened lucrative sidelines as bone hunters, spending the summer months trawling the northern river banks and working networks of locals to gather stockpiles of bones. They speak of their work proudly, and a little mystically. "You need to have luck to find bones," said Fyodor Romanenko, a geologist at Moscow State University. "I don't look for bones. I find them. They find me. "Every find gives you a huge joy," he said. "It's a gift from nature, from the Arctic, from fate." The mammoth finds have been growing steadily over the last three decades as Russia's vast sea of permafrost slowly thaws. Russian scientists disagree over whether global warming is responsible. Some say yes, others are skeptical. But nobody argues that the permafrost is dwindling — and they're glad to have the bones and tusks, especially when the increased yields coincide with bans on elephant ivory. Hand-to-mouth reindeer herders on Russia's desolate tundra have coexisted with the traces of mammoths for generations. Romanenko claims that there are cases of long-frozen mammoth meat being thawed and cooked, or fed to the dogs. Now entire villages are surviving on the trade in mammoth bones. And a new verb has entered the vernacular: mamontit, or "to mammoth" -- meaning, to go out in search of bones. "People used to just come across bones and throw them aside or take them to the garbage, because they were not interested in them," said Gennady Tatarinov, who oversees a reindeer farm in Anyuisk, a frigid village 4,000 miles northeast of Moscow. "But now there's a big demand," Tatarinov said. "And of course there's a lot of competition, and people who make it their main trade." Many of the populated areas have been picked clean, driving scavengers deeper and deeper into the wilderness in the hunt for bones.

Posted 7 March 2010; 12:28:33 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Climate Change and Weather, Economic issues, Flora and Fauna, March10, Russia

Warm winters distress reindeer herders   

(Alissa de Carbonnel/AFP via Yahoo! News, 27 February 2010) -- LOVOZERO, Russia (AFP) – In a billowing cloud of white, Russia's Arctic herders drive thousands of panting and wild-eyed reindeer through the knee-deep snow to the first slaughter this year. But warm winters in recent years have forced herders here in the far northern Kola Peninsula to delay for months the rounding up of their reindeer from the vast tundra — at great economic cost. "We've had to move the slaughter forwards from December to February because the lakes haven't frozen over," said Vladimir Filippov, an ethnic Komi herder who heads the farm Tundra, the main employer in this remote village. These reindeer have lost roughly 20 percent of their weight during the extra months spent in the tundra while herders waited for the ice to thicken enough for the forced migration. "It's not a small but a huge problem for us and a constant worry," said Filippov. With meat sold at 4.34-6.01 dollars per kilogram (2.2 pounds), it can amount to a loss of up to 167,000 dollars per year. "That's a huge loss," Filippov sighed. Over the past decade average temperatures have risen by 0.7 degrees C (1.25 degrees F) and satellite images show melting ice cover on the Arctic pole, said Anatoly Semyonov of the regional Murmansk state climate monitoring agency. Even though 2010 has been relatively icy, herders who have faced more than a decade of mild winters dismiss the general scepticism amongst the Russian public over global warming. Climate changes has also disrupted the breeding cycle and made it tough for reindeer to feed on lichen beneath the snow as late thaws and freezing rain create an impervious ice coating, veterinarian Vasili Pidgayetsky said. At Tundra, global warming is forcing innovation. Last year, the farm entered a proposal to build freeze-storage sites powered by wind turbines near grazing grounds to avoid the need to cross the vast tundra for slaughter in a grant contest run by the World Bank. "We could kill the reindeer in situ in December and carry the meat back to the village by snowmobile," said Tundra's director Viktor Startsev. It is a radical idea that is not without opposition amid the indigenous Saami and Komi-Izhems herders clinging fast to age-old way of life on the peninsula. "Of course, the older generation says this isn't right," admitted Startsev.

Posted 28 February 2010; 12:15:54 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Climate Change and Weather, Economic issues, February10, Northwest Russia

Gazprom delays Shtokman gas field three years   

(Dmitry Zhdannikov/Globe and Mail, 5 February 2010) -- Moscow - Russia has delayed the start of its giant Arctic Shtokman gas field by three years to 2016 after a dip in European demand and a surge in North American shale gas output dampened its export prospects. Russian gas export monopoly OAO Gazprom said in a statement on Friday it had agreed with partners Total SA and Statoil ASA to delay pipeline gas production from Shtokman from 2013 to 2016. Liquefied natural gas output will begin in 2017 instead of the earlier planned 2014. The decision was made due to “changes in the market situation and particularly in the LNG market“. Shtokman, one of the world's largest gas fields, in the stormy Barents Sea, is expected to require $15-billion (U.S.) of investment in its first phase. Gazprom saw a slump in exports last year amid a global economic slowdown and due to a surge in unconventional gas supplies, such as gas extracted from shale, in the United States.

Posted 5 February 2010; 11:41:29 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Barents Euro-Arctic Region, Circumpolar News, Economic issues, February10, Oil, gas, non-renewable resources

Greenland powerless to prevent EU sealskin ban   

(IceNews, 29 January 2010) -- Greenland has once again been left without an international voice due to its membership of the Danish Kingdom, with the self-ruling administration unable to formally complain against the newly approved European Union ban on seal-product imports to the World Trade Organisation. Greenland’s international affairs are still governed by Denmark and accordingly, as a member of the EU, Denmark is powerless to argue against EU rules at the WTO, because it is an EU member state, says the Greenland Foreign Ministry’s Christian Wennicke in a report by Sermitsiaq. Not being an individual member of the EU means that Greenland now finds a repeat of the situation experienced during the recent whaling debate, where the self-rule state’s favourable policy towards expansion is subservient to Denmark’s agreement to the hard line approach issued by Brussels in relation to whaling. The seal-product ban is set to take effect this August while both the Norwegian and Canadian governments have already lodged complaints last November with the World Trade Organisation over the EU proposal. No decision is expected to be made in relation to the complaints in the next two years. The EU seal import ban can be partially circumvented through a stipulation allowing natively produced goods to be imported; but the Greenland administration argues that the ban will still impact negatively on all seal-related products, irrespective of origin.

Posted 30 January 2010; 11:14:50 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic issues, Europe, Greenland, International, January10

Canada bans Baffin Bay polar bear exports   

(CBC News, 22 January 2010) -- Inuit in Canada are not pleased with the federal government for quietly banning the export of polar bear parts in Nunavut's Baffin Bay area. In a report issued last month, Environment Canada enacted the ban, starting Jan. 1, on the export of fur, claws, skulls and other products from polar bears harvested in Baffin Bay. In the report, a copy of which was obtained by CBC News, the department says the export of legally-obtained polar bear parts from Canada is "considered non-detrimental except for polar bears taken from the Baffin Bay management unit." Scientists and Inuit have long clashed over the number of polar bears in Baffin Bay — an area shared by Nunavut and Greenland — with scientists saying overhunting from Inuit in both countries has led to a population decline. But Inuit hunters have argued that they've seen more, not fewer, polar bears in the region. "It's ludicrous," said Titus Allooloo, a hunting outfitter who takes sport hunters from around the world to Baffin Bay. "According to the local scientists, the Inuit traditional knowledge, the population of that particular area is increasing." Allooloo said he has seen upwards of 10 to 15 polar bears a day when he's in the region. Environment Canada does acknowledge Inuit observations of more polar bears in Baffin Bay, but says it is imposing the trade ban as a precautionary measure "as there is available evidence for conservation concern," its report states in part. But Allooloo said the ban will mean a loss of business, as many of his clients come from Europe and won't be able to export their hunting trophies out of Canada. "This will have a big impact. Like, my company will probably lose around $300,000 a year, which most of it goes into a community," he said.

Posted 23 January 2010; 10:39:39 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic issues, Flora and Fauna, January10, Nunavut

Greenland financial independence predicted by 2015   

(IceNews, 22 January 2010) -- Mineral and oil income is expected, within five years, to surpass the current handouts from Copenhagen that Greenland lives off. Negating the need for the DKK 3 billion (USD 580 million) handout means that national financial independence may be just a few short years away, according to forecasts from the leader of the Raw Materials Directorate in Greenland in a report by Sermitsiaq. The Danish state provides an annual block grant to the country but according to Jorn Skov Nielsen, the planned oil drilling tests across four sites this summer could see new capital flowing by 2015. Although the veracity of claims to Greenland’s purported oil-reserves remain unproven, the Raw Materials Directorate has predicted that a single oil strike could fetch an annual DKK 10 billion (USD 1.9 billion). Under the new rules which assist the transition to self-rule, Greenland will split profits from any natural resources after the initial DKK 75 million (USD 14.5 million) which would remain in Greenland. The block grant will be discontinued should a level of DKK 7 billion (USD 1.3 billion) be surpassed. “If we start earning a lot of money on minerals, we’ll need to save a lot of it in order to ensure that we can use them once the block grant disappears,” said Nielsen, who expects up to six new mines to generate mineral wealth in excess of the block grant. While oil would create maximum revenue, additional jobs would be created in the mining sector with a miner-training school already being established in Greenland. “Right now, there are 90 people working with mining in Greenland,” Nielsen said. “Within seven years there were will be 1,500 new tax paying positions”.

Posted 22 January 2010; 10:41:41 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Autonomy, Sovereignty and Politics, Circumpolar News, Economic issues, Greenland, January10, North Atlantic

Seal hunters face battle with EU over trade   

(Carl Mortished/Times Online, 18 Jnuary 2010) -- Hunters in Canada and Greenland are challenging a European Union regulation banning the import of seal products. Aboriginal people in northern Canada and Greenland fear that the EU law will destroy the trade in seal pelts, remove a vital source of income for families and force Arctic communities to live off handouts. Adopted in response to pressure from animal rights activists, the law prohibits the import of seal products, including meat and pelts, into the EU. Auctions at Copenhagen are a leading trading centre for fur and Inuit hunters had been earning 300-500 Danish kroner (£35-£60) for each seal pelt. But the new law, which came into effect in September, caused the price to collapse and two Inuit organisations — Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, of Canada, and Inuit Circumpolar Council, in Greenland — are challenging it even though it includes an exemption “for traditional hunting by indigenous communities which contribute to their subsistence”. The prohibition is suspended until July while the European Commission seeks to define the scope of “traditional hunting”. Inuit groups have expressed dismay over the attempt by civil servants in Brussels to regulate their way of life.

Posted 17 January 2010; 10:25:53 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic issues, Europe, Indigenous Issues, International, January10, Laws and legal

Most Norwegians want Arctic drilling study: survey   

(Wojciech Moskwa/Reuters, 14 January 2010) -- OSLO - An industry-backed survey published on Thursday shows most Norwegians favor an impact study that could pave the way to open a pristine, fish-rich Arctic area to oil activities and prolong Norway's energy boom. The oil industry says the waters near the Lofoten and Vesteraalen islands in the Arctic now have the most prospects off Norway and must be tapped to prolong the North Sea state's oil bonanza as output from mature oilfields declines. Environmentalists say that any spill in the unspoiled region would be disastrous for its diverse eco-system, which includes unique cold water reefs, pods of sperm whales and killer whales, some of the largest seabird colonies in Europe as well as being the spawning grounds of the largest cod stock in the world. A number of opinion polls over past months suggest that Norwegians are split nearly down the middle on Arctic drilling and the issue was a major theme in last year's general election. The survey by pollster Synovate, carried out for the oil industry lobby group OLF, shows that seven out of 10 Norwegians want the authorities to conduct an impact study of how oil and gas exploration would affect the Lofoten region. "For us, this is a confirmation of our position that the impact assessment is reasonable," OLF chief Gro Braekken said in a statement publishing the results of the survey. Two small parties in the government — the Socialist Left and the Center Party — are against drilling, but the main Labour Party has not yet made up its mind.

Posted 17 January 2010; 12:49:40 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic issues, January10, Norway, Oil, gas, non-renewable resources

Inuit groups sue EU over seal trade ban   

(CBC News, 13 January 2010) -- Inuit groups in Canada and Greenland are taking the European Union to court over its import ban on products derived from the seal hunt. The lawsuit, announced Wednesday in Ottawa, aims to overturn the ban adopted by 27 European countries last year. The court documents have been filed in the European General Court, the first level of the EU's court system. The coalition of groups involved in the lawsuit includes the Canadian Inuit organization Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Inuit Circumpolar Council in Greenland and several Inuit individuals from both countries. "I suppose the best alternative would be for the EU not to have adopted this legislation, but that ship has sailed," Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Mary Simon told CBC News on Wednesday. "We are seizing the moment and we've gone to court."

Posted 16 January 2010; 1:39:46 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Canada, Circumpolar News, Economic issues, Europe, Indigenous Issues, International, January10, Laws and legal

Quebec pitches Plan Nord to Cree   

(CBC News, 12 January 2010) -- Quebec ministers met with Cree leaders on Monday to discuss the province's ambitious Plan Nord, a long-term road map for economic development in its farthest geographic reaches. The province is keen to allay fears among First Nations leaders that the far-reaching resource development project will affect existing treaties, and impede aboriginal sovereignty over land use. Deputy minister Nathalie Normandeau told some 100 Cree leaders gathered in Mistissini that the plan hatched by Jean Charest's Liberal government will be adjusted to reflect existing treaties with First Nations in Quebec. The Cree are signatories to two treaties: the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement land claim settlement; and the Paix des Braves, which provides for revenue sharing and joint management of mining, forestry and hydroelectric resources on Cree land. Normandeau and her colleague Indian Affairs Minister Pierre Corbeil said they hope to work in partnership with northern communities when the Plan Nord project gets underway. The plan includes $19 billion in new energy projects, which would add 3,500 megawatts to Hydro-Québec's grid by 2035 — enough to power roughly 600,000 homes. A significant portion of those megawatts would come from damming the Romaine River. Premier Jean Charest has said the project could generate as many as 2,000 jobs per year between 2012 and 2016. But some aboriginal groups who say the Plan Nord will raze their traditional way of life have resisted meeting with the Quebec government to discuss the project. Five Innu communities boycotted a closed-door meeting with Normandeau late last year. Chief Ghislain Picard, who heads the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador, has called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to intervene in the project.

Posted 13 January 2010; 9:42:42 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic issues, Indigenous Issues, January10, North America, Nunavik, Provinces

Exploratory work to start at historic N.W.T. mine   

(CBC News, 12 January 2010) -- The former Pine Point zinc and lead mine in the Northwest Territories may be brought back to life after Tamerlane Ventures Inc. starts exploratory drilling at the site next month. The company wants to look for a 50-million-tonne unmined deposit near the former mine site, based on documentation that dates back to when the original Pine Point mine existed. Tamerlane officials say they already know there is an eight-million-tonne deposit at the site, but they will now spend $300,000 to verify the larger deposit. "We know as much about it as we can without going underground to mine it," Ross Burns, the Tamerlane president and CEO, told CBC News. "We're very, very far advanced. "Tamerlane's probably one of the very few companies that has … a reserve that's got all its permits, it's got its feasibility study, it's got great infrastructure, which was left from the previous mining there." The original Pine Point mine, on the south shore of Great Slave Lake between Hay River and Fort Resolution, N.W.T., was run by Cominco Ltd. from 1964 until 1987, when it closed because of rising costs. Hay River Mayor Kelly Schofield said that he hopes Tamerlane's efforts to revive Pine Point will eventually create jobs for residents.

Posted 13 January 2010; 9:27:37 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Canada, Circumpolar News, Economic issues, January10, North America, NWT, Oil, gas, non-renewable resources

Arctic oil ambitions: Exxon eyes $1 bln transocean rig   

(Kirsten Korosec/BNET, 8 January 2010) -- ExxonMobil could be ramping up its Arctic exploration intentions with reported plans to commission a rig able to withstand the brutal and ice-covered regions such as offshore Greenland and Alaska. The biggest U.S. oil company is looking to sign a contract for a Transocean rig capable of drilling in Arctic waters and which is estimated to cost up to $1 billion to build, Reuters reported. Transocean CEO Bob Long said in September his company could announce a new arctic-class rig with a contract by the end of 2009. The announcement has yet to occur, but some have speculated Exxon was tied up with its acquisition of independent unconventional natural gas producer XTO Energy. Exxon has long been interested in the Arctic and has an increased its acreage in the Beaufort Sea and is in different stages of planning and assessment in areas offshore West Greenland, eastern Canada and Newfoundland. And why not? Offshore drilling in the Arctic has become more attractive and accessible as the annual summer ice thaw increases, leaving more open water. In 2008, the United States Geological Survey determined the estimated undiscovered technically recoverable conventional oil and natural gas resources was about 412 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Posted 9 January 2010; 10:34:01 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Communities, Economic issues, January10, North America, Oil, gas, non-renewable resources, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction

Mackenzie pipeline hearings set for April   

(CBC News, 7 January 2010) -- The National Energy Board (NEB) will hold a final round of hearings in mid-April on the proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline in the Northwest Territories. The energy board, an independent federal agency that regulates parts of Canada's energy industry, announced Wednesday that it's ready to hear final arguments on the pipeline proposal. The NEB will then have to decide whether to approve the project, currently estimated to cost $16.2 billion to build. That decision is expected to be made this fall. Hearings will take place from April 12 to 17 in Yellowknife, then continue in Inuvik, N.W.T., from April 20 to 24, the board stated in a release. The National Energy Board began hearing evidence in January 2006 on the proposal by a consortium of companies — led by Calgary-based Imperial Oil — to build a 1,200-kilometre pipeline from the N.W.T.'s Mackenzie Delta, through Inuvik and down the Mackenzie Valley to northern Alberta. The consortium also includes ExxonMobil Corp., ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and the Aboriginal Pipeline Group.

Posted 7 January 2010; 10:03:40 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Canada, Circumpolar News, Economic issues, January10, Oil, gas, non-renewable resources, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction

Visa-free zone in northern Norway and Russia?   

(Mia Bennett/Foreign Policy Blogs Arctic Blog, 7 January 2010) -- The small border between Norway and Russia all the way up in the high north has been Russia’s most stable border for the past 1,000 years. Now, that border may disappear, in a sense, as Norway and Russia consider doing away with visas for residents. Right before the annual meeting of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO), which begins today, the Prime Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre, noted that he hopes an agreement will be forthcoming later this year. The agreement would affect people living within 30 kilometers of the border: that is, 55,000 Russians and 9,000 Norwegians. The county of Finnmark in northern Norway is suffering from a lack of labor, and it is hoped that visa-free travel could help to shore up the labor deficit by allowing Russians to work.

Posted 7 January 2010; 10:01:59 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic issues, International, January10, Northwest Russia, Norway

Federal help urged to save pipeline   

(Markus Ermisch/QMI Agency, 2 January 2010) -- Canada's government may be well advised to help fund a proposed pipeline to ship natural gas from the Arctic into Alberta, says a financial analyst. In fact, argues RBC Capital Markets analyst Robert Kwan, only federal financial assistance may ensure the survival of the ambitious project. A long-awaited report on the Mackenzie natural gas pipeline says the multibillion-dollar project could benefit Canada's North economically, especially during the construction phase of the 1,200-km pipeline. And that, Kwan says, could persuade Ottawa to help fund the project that by 2015 could ship 1.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas from the Mackenzie River delta to northern Alberta. "The report's findings on the benefits to the North could drive the government to provide greater financial support," he said in a research note the day after the government-appointed joint review panel released its report. "The government may need to take a step back and evaluate its financial support for the project in its entirety, including the benefit for northern communities and Canada as a whole, which could drive increased government support for the project with respect to related infrastructure, social programs and training." The project's corporate backers, including Imperial Oil, Shell Canada and Exxon Mobil, are still negotiating with Ottawa over a financial assistance package for the $16-billion pipeline. Environment Minister Jim Prentice had said one year ago that the federal offer would include cash for infrastructure, such as road and airstrips, as well as pre-construction expenses. Prentice could not be reached to comment on the status of the negotiations. The Mackenzie project will continue its way through the federal regulatory process at least until September this year, at which time the National Energy Board expects to deliver its recommendation to the federal government.

Posted 3 January 2010; 11:02:02 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Canada, Circumpolar News, Economic issues, North America, Oil, gas, non-renewable resources, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction

A look at fishing through the past year   

(Laine Welch/Anchorage Daily News, 2 January 2010) -- KODIAK - As we look back at Alaska's seafood industry over the past year, consider this: 62 percent of our nation's seafood landings comes from Alaska, as does 96 percent of all U.S. wild salmon.  Alaska ranks ninth in the world in terms of seafood production. The seafood industry is second only to oil in revenue it generates to state coffers, and it provides more Alaska jobs than oil/gas, mining, tourism and timber combined. Alaska's abundant and sustainable fishery resources are the envy of all other seafood producers, and its fishery management is regarded as a model around the world. Here are more fishing notables from 2009, in no particular order: ... Fishing-net recycling programs were a huge success at Naknek, Dillingham, Petersburg, Kenai and Cordova. They kept thousands of pounds of old nets out of local landfills. ... Scariest fish story: ocean acidification. Best back to the future for fishing boats: sails. ... Best fish story of 2009: Alaska managers calling off limits to commercial fishing in Arctic waters until more research is done.

Posted 3 January 2010; 10:59:35 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Alaska, Circumpolar News, Economic issues, Fisheries, January10, North Pacific

Village of Revda to be closed   

(Barents Observer, 23 December 2009) -- The village of Revda in Murmansk Oblast will probably be closed and its inhabitants moved. The reason for this is the collapse of the mining industry in the area. The company Lovozersky Mining and Processing Plant has struggled for several years, and the only department still in operation is the souvenir shop, Vedomosti reports. The Russian Government plans to initiate a program for relocation of the 9500 inhabitants. The Russian Government’s anti-crisis commission has put together a list of 27 one-company towns that need state financial support. 20 of these can count on federal allocations already in 2010. 10 billion RUB will be transferred to the towns as budget subsidies, while another 10 billion RUB will be given as three years credits. Revda is the only town on this list that is planned to be shut down.

Posted 23 December 2009; 2:57:51 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Barents Euro-Arctic Region, Circumpolar News, December09, Economic issues, Northwest Russia, Social Issues

Iceland is world’s 16th largest fishing nation   

 (Iceland Review, 23 December 2009) -- Iceland was the world’s 16th largest fishing nation in 2007 with a catch of 1.4 million tons, according to new statistics from the Food and Agriculture Association (FAO), published by Statistics Iceland. In 2007, the world’s total fish catch was almost 90 million tons. The top five fishing nations are China (14.7 million tons), Peru (7.2 million tons), Indonesia (4.9 million tons), the US (4.8 million tons) and Japan (4.2 million tons), Fiskifréttir, a Vidskiptabladid supplement, reports. Twenty states caught more than 1 million tons of fish in 2007. Their combined catch was 68 million, which is 75 percent of the world catch. Norway was the only European state with a larger catch than Iceland, placing 11th with a catch of 2.4 million tons. The world catch in 2007 increased by 201,000 tons from 2006.

Posted 23 December 2009; 12:23:54 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Alaska, Circumpolar News, December09, Economic issues, Fisheries, Iceland, Research

The whiskey’s in the barrels; the waiting begins   

(Stephanie Waddell/The Whitehorse Star, 11 December 2009) -- “Does it smell like moonshine?” Bob Baxter asks the question with a grin as he walks through the door into the Yukon Brewing Company’s brewery. The smell seems to be more of beer than the start of whiskey – until Baxter passes a small glass of clear liquid taken from a huge square plastic tub sitting next to brewing equipment fitted with new gadgets for the first part of at least a three-year process to produce whiskey. “It’s basically green moonshine,” he says as he passes the glass. His excitement for the latest alcohol to be made by the brewing company is obvious as he walks through the production area. Changes to the territory’s Liquor Act have made the commercial production of spirits possible, but Yukon Brewing has been preparing for the changes for years. In 2007, an addition was built onto the company’s Quartz Road building. There, 36 barrels are now sitting: 10 are full of the first batch of whiskey made in the facility and another 11 will be filled next week. In Canada, the spirit must sit in a barrel for at least three years before it can be marketed as whiskey, Baxter explains. “We’re not in Scotland; we can’t call it scotch,” he says, adding the final product will be a single malt whiskey. This is all new for the company that until now has been known for its wide variety of local beers that range from its Chilkoot Lager to more seasonal brands like its Winter Ale. While beer has a short shelf life, whiskey is much different. Depending on the outcome, Baxter says, it may even be five or 10 years before this whiskey has aged enough to be sold. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” Baxter quickly quips when it’s noted the risk in producing a spirit that’s at least three years in the making. When the company looked at producing spirits, it used the same model that’s been successful with its beer. The beer giants, he says, are great at producing lighter beers. Where Yukon Brewing is successful is in creating thicker, more flavourful unique brands. Similarly, whiskey is a more flavourful type of alcohol than, say, the virtually flavourless vodka. “The thing about whiskey is it’s all about flavour,” Baxter says.

Posted 12 December 2009; 11:33:21 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Canada, Circumpolar News, December09, Economic issues, North America, Yukon

Icelandic goat’s milk ice cream hits the market   

(IcelandReview, 11 December 2009) -- A unique Icelandic dairy product, goat’s milk ice cream, made its debut on the domestic market yesterday on the 20th anniversary of the international Slow Food Movement. The ice cream will be available at Búrid specialty store in Reykjavík while supplies last. The ice cream is a cooperative between goat farmer Jóhanna Thorvaldsdóttir from Háafell in Borgarfjördur and pioneer farmhouse ice cream makers Gudmundur Jón Gudmundsson and Gudrún Egilsdóttir from Holtssel in Eyjafjördur, a Búrid press release reveals.  Seventy liters of goat’s milk ice cream was produced in the first run: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, blueberry yoghurt and forest berry. Búrid also carries goat’s milk brie and goat’s meat pate from Háafell. The Icelandic settlement goat stock was on the brink of extinction when Thorvaldsdóttir and other farmers stepped in. Thorvaldsdóttir and Gudmundsson began producing ice cream on their farm in 2006. Earlier this year they received the Iceland Agriculture Award for their ice cream production. Holtssel, in cooperation with ice cream manufacturer Kjörís, will open a store in Sudurver shopping complex in Reykjavík in January. Click here to read more about Holtssel, here to read more about the Icelandic goats and here to read more about Búrid specialty store.

Posted 11 December 2009; 9:46:20 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, December09, Economic issues, Iceland, North Atlantic

Gender impact of climate change: Survival harder for Inuit hunters in Greenland   

(Nordic Council News, 7 December 2009) -- In the run-up to the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen, the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Nordic Region in Focus co-hosted a panel discussion on how climate change affects women and men in different ways, and forces them to make changes in their ways of life. Norwegian journalist and author Åsne Seierstad chaired the event. The Council of Ministers in Copenhagen also inaugurated an exhibition about how men in the north and women in the south are affected by climate change. Malin Jennings is the founder of the Arctic ICCE (Indigenous Climate Change Ethnographies). For years, she has followed the lives of the small Inuit communities in Greenland. In these societies, the men were hunters while the women took care of the animals, made food from the meat and sewed garments from the hides. But the warmer climate has made hunting more difficult. "The ice freezes later and is thinner than before," Jennings explains. "The men can't hunt on ice thinner than six centimetres.

Posted 11 December 2009; 1:10:17 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Climate Change and Weather, Climate change response, December09, Economic issues, Greenland, Nordic Region, Women, Children and Families

Turf farm hotel proposed for Thingvellir   

(IcelandReview, 9 December 2009) -- Four historians have presented their ideas for a turf farm hotel to the parliament’s Thingvellir committee, a living museum where tourists can travel up to 1,000 years back in time. The historians have founded a company to execute their idea, called Stórsaga. The historians are especially interested in the area Skógarhólar, which currently has facilities for horseback riders passing through Thingvellir.  In addition to the turf farm, they are keen on building a small church, cowshed, smithy and a parliament camp, Morgunbladid reports. During the day, tourists can observe how the Icelandic settlers lived and at night the area would be used to accommodate tourists. That way, people can experience how Icelanders used to live for centuries. “We want to present history to travelers in a new way. The traveler comes to a place where he or she can buy accommodation and food which was available 1,000 years ago and understand what it was really like to live in Iceland from the settlement to the 20th century,” said one of the historians, Svava Lóa Stefánsdóttir.

Posted 9 December 2009; 10:18:28 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar History, Circumpolar News, Economic issues, Iceland, Tourism

Salazar approves Shell's Chukchi exploration plan   

(Dan Joling/AP via Washington Post, 7 December 2009) -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the decision in Washington, D.C., and said a key component of reducing America's dependence on foreign oil is the environmentally responsible exploration and development of renewable and conventional resources. "By approving this exploration plan, we are taking a cautious but deliberate step toward developing additional information on the Chukchi Sea," he said in a release. Environmental groups bitterly oppose drilling. They say there has not been enough work to assess environmental risks in a sensitive marine ecosystem already stressed by climate change. "There hasn't been enough science," said Marilyn Heiman, director of the Pew Environment Group's U.S. Arctic program. "We don't know enough about the Arctic Ocean, particularly the Chukchi Sea, in the face of climate change." Pew and other groups also say petroleum companies have not demonstrated an ability to clean up a spill in broken ice conditions, especially in the waters off northern Alaska, where a cleanup much of the year would be hampered by low light, dangerous seas and little available infrastructure such as ports, response vessels and airports. "You can have a spill from an exploration well just as easily as a production well," Heiman said.

Posted 8 December 2009; 12:01:58 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Alaska, Circumpolar News, December09, Economic issues, North America, Oil, gas, non-renewable resources

Greenlandic patients to be treated in Iceland   

(IcelandReview News, 4 December 2009) -- Greenlandic authorities are hoping that around 80 patients can be sent from Greenland to hospitals in Iceland for treatment every year. Greenland’s Minister of Health Agathe Fintain is currently in Iceland with a Greenlandic delegation to discuss this proposal. One or two patients from Greenland are already being treated at hospitals in Iceland and Fintain is keen on expanding this cooperation. Currently, Greenlandic patients are being treated in Denmark, ruv.is reports. Patients in need of intensive care would be the first to arrive, mostly premature babies and heart and kidney patients. Next, people requiring specialized operations would come; the waiting list for knee and hip surgeries, for example, is long in Greenland. According to the Greenlandic state radio, it costs around ISK 10 million (USD 82,000, EUR 54,000) per year to transport patients to Denmark. That cost could be reduced by half if they were treated in Iceland instead. Fintain met with her Icelandic counterpart Álfheidur Ingadóttir yesterday morning and will also meet representatives of the Landspítali national hospital in Reykjavík and FSA, the hospital in Akureyri.

Posted 6 December 2009; 12:18:41 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, December09, Economic issues, Greenland, Health and wellness, Iceland, Social Issues

Canada's North feels left behind in stimulus program   

(Heather Scoffield/CP via GoogleNews, 22 November 2009) -- OTTAWA - Rankin Inlet Mayor John Hickes has become a voice for discontent about federal stimulus money in the North. He reads about government money gushing to infrastructure projects in the south, and he hears about government officials making announcements across the territories. But he's yet to see anything actually happen in his burgeoning Nunavut community on the northwestern shore of Hudson Bay, a hamlet where diamond prospects hold promise but four litres of milk cost $15. "If this stimulus package is working, it went somewhere else. It sure as hell didn't stop here," Hickes said in a recent interview. The mayor is voicing a dissatisfaction that has spread through many of the small far-flung towns that dominate Northern demographics. Critics there feel the federal stimulus program has been designed for the rest of the country, and when it's spent in the North, it only goes to the main hubs. ... The harsh weather and the remoteness of the North also slow down the stimulus efforts considerably, says Yellowknife Mayor Gord Van Tighen, who is also the president of the NWT Association of Communities. Construction projects can take up to two years of planning before ground is broken, he said, because materials need to be shipped from the south, and the building season is short. Communities depend on barges or winter roads to import building materials, he said. The timing and planning have to be perfect for the materials to be affordable. "You can miss the window, or lose the winter road, and you've tacked a year on the project," he said. As for the construction season, it usually lasts about three months, although the plastic contraptions spotted in Whitehorse can extend the season. Despite the slow pace, territorial and municipal leaders alike argue that the best way Ottawa can establish sovereignty in the North is to persist with infrastructure funding. With modern modes of transport, more housing, better sewer systems and water treatment, communities can flourish and exert Canada's hold on the North more effectively than navy frigates, they say. That reasoning is not lost on Rankin Inlet's mayor. More infrastructure funding in his community could go a long way to solving entrenched social problems there, Hickes argues.

Posted 22 November 2009; 11:09:50 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Canada, Circumpolar News, Economic issues, November09, Nunavut, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction

Classic Porsches' best winter tires chosen by Arctic testing   

(Edmunds Inside Line, 18 November 2009) -- STUTTGART, Germany - Porsche has announced it has set up an exhaustive tire-approval process to choose the most appropriate winter tires for its older models. The tire-approval process has been extended to both "young and old classics," and is based on a tire test program the automaker has been carrying out at the Polar Circle. Porsche notes that more than 70 percent of all Porsches are still on the roads, but the tires once used on many of the older models are no longer available. Tire treads and rubber compounds have changed with the times as well, which is why Porsche is weighing in with its recommendations for the tires that "harmonize best" with classic Porsche models. Porsche has been testing tires at the Arctic Driving Center in Rovaniemi, Finland, on models including the 911, 928, 964, 993 and 996, and the first Boxsters. The recommended tire list is now available at all Porsche Centers and from Porsche's Web site.

Posted 19 November 2009; 4:39:04 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Finland, International, November09, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction

Canadian Commons committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development in Whitehorse   

(CPAC, 17 November 2009) -- Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development: Members of the Standing Committee are in Whitehorse on 17 November and Yellowknife on 19 November to hear testimony from government officials, business leaders, and other voices on economic development in Yukon Territory. (Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, press release, 30 October 2009) -- The House of Commons Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development announced at the end of October that it was undertaking a comprehensive study of issues related to northern economic development. “It is increasingly apparent that advancing the economic prosperity of the North and of northerners is of enormous significance for the future of Canada as a whole”, Bruce Stanton, MP for Simcoe North and Chair of the Committee, stated. “The Committee recognizes that, and wants to play a part in ensuring that the needs of the North and of northerners in the area of economic development are given a full hearing.” The Committee is focussed on gaining a better understanding of the barriers and challenges northerners in the three territories face in promoting their economic well-being, and possible solutions to overcome those barriers. A wide range of witnesses from government, industry, economic development and community organizations and Aboriginal groups will be invited to appear before the Committee to share their perspectives on the current state of economic development in the North, and on ways to improve it.

Posted 18 November 2009; 10:43:16 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Canada, Circumpolar News, Conferences, meetings, and gatherings, Economic and Commerce Issues, North America, November09, Yukon / Canada

Biggest Exxon payout set to go   

(Naomi Klouda/Homer Tribune, 18 November 2009) -- In the next few weeks, fishermen harmed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill should start receiving their biggest settlement payout yet. Lawyers representing the plaintiffs have worked since December through a cumbersome process to distribute $383 million in punitive damages. Now the lawyers are preparing to distribute an even bigger sum — $470 million — in the next several weeks. The money is interest Exxon Mobil Corp. paid July 1 on the punitive damages award the U.S. Supreme Court ordered last year. “The $470 million that we hoped for in September was delayed because Judge (Russel) Holland had a number of different questions about the payout structure and the computation of interest,” said Frank Mullen, one of the plaintiffs and a local investment planner in Homer. “The money is not flowing yet, but in the next few weeks, the results of that $470 million distribution will begin to appear for fishermen on the clean claims list.” Cities and entities other than individuals should also receive payments, including the city of Homer and payments toward its $1.05 million portion. The “clean claims” list includes those who have no liens or attachments. Mullen said the thousands of fishermen who died in the 20-year wait for legal resolutions to receive their payout would not be on the clean claims list either. He added that the money has trickled out since last Christmas, and if plaintiffs were disappointed in the smaller-than-hoped-for sums in the first distribution, they might be happier with the second one. “The settlement money is all going to eventually appear in fishermen’s accounts, but at different times,” Mullen explained. “This will be the largest payment. That’s the way this litigation has worked.”

Posted 18 November 2009; 10:36:37 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Alaska, Circumpolar News, Contaminants and Pollution, Economic and Commerce Issues, Natural disasters and other problems, North America, November09, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction, United States

Oil lifts Nenets economy   

(Barents Observer, 16 November 2009) -- Industrial production in the far northern Nenets Autonomous Okrug increased 38.5 percent year-on-year in the first six months of 2009, the latest Barents Monitoring report confirms. That, however, is all thanks to Lukoil’s new Yuzhno-Khilchuyu oil field. The report, which is written by the Norwegian Barents Secretariat’s regional office in the Nenets AO, shows a positive dynamics in regional industrial production. However, other parts of the economy struggle with serious problems. The report shows that the oil-rich region with a population of only 42,300 in the first half of the year had an industrial production growth of 38.5 percent. A major increase in oil production was what made the positive trend. Oil production, including natural gas condensate, increased by more than 35 percent to a total of 9.08 million tons. Also electric power generation increased significantly in the region, with 28.5 percent year-on-year growth to a total of 475.2 million KWH. At the same time, the construction industry in the region showed a serious drop. The volume of work in the regional construction declined by as much as 52.9 percent compared to the same period in 2008. Housing construction dropped by 68.4 percent compared 2008. A total of 127 flats, or 6,300 square meters, was built in January-June 2009. Also investments dropped significantly in the region. According to the report, a total of 19.69 billion rubles were invested in the period, which is a 57.3 percent drop compared with the same period of 2008. The Nenets Autonomous Okrug still remains one regions with the highest salaries in Russia. The average accrued salary in the region was 42,566 rubles, which is up by 8.9% compared to the same period of 2008.

Posted 16 November 2009; 3:53:22 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, November09, Oil, gas, non-renewable resources, Russia, Siberia / Russia

Alaska fights to reverse polar bear listing   

(Dan Joling/AP, 15 November 2009) -- ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell says he has the best interest of polar bears at heart, but he doesn't intend to let the federal government's expanded protection for bears get in the way of the state's continued prosperity. Like his predecessor, Sarah Palin, the governor is suing the federal government to overturn the listing of the iconic symbol of the Arctic as a threatened species, a move made last year that he believes could threaten Alaska's lifeblood: petroleum development. "Currently some are attempting to improperly use the Endangered Species Act to shut down resource development," Parnell says. "I'm not going to let this happen on my watch." As Alaska North Slope wells dry up, the state is turning to potential offshore discoveries to refill the trans-Alaska pipeline and ensure the long-term prospects of a $26 billion proposed natural gas pipeline. Protections for polar bears under the Endangered Species Act could thwart that, Parnell says, adding that they're not needed. "Alaskans have an excellent track record of both developing our natural resources and protecting our wildlife," says Parnell, who replaced Palin when she resigned in late July. That's a position critics dispute after the 10.8-million gallon Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, a 200,000-gallon North Slope pipeline spill in March 2006, and the state-funded killing of more than 1,000 wolves and hundreds of black bears since 2003 to increase moose and caribou populations.

Posted 15 November 2009; 9:25:05 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Alaska, Circumpolar News, Conservation and Wildlife, Economic and Commerce Issues, Flora and Fauna, Laws and legal, November09, United States

Hundreds of migrating reindeer drown as Arctic ice collapses beneath them   

(Daily Mail, 14 November 2009) -- Hundreds of reindeer on their annual migration across a frozen lake above Sweden's Arctic Circle have drowned as ice collapsed beneath them. The herd of around 3,000 reindeer were being moved by their Sami herders from the western shore of the frozen lake Kutjaure to their winter grazing grounds in the east. Suddenly, some reindeer at the front turned back, causing the ice to crack and several hundreds to drown. 'In the ensuing commotion the whole herd moved in circles, adding great pressure and weight on the ice,' said Erik Gustavsson, a manager at the County Administrative Board of Norrbotten. The reindeer crashed through the ice and then trampled on each other as they tried to climb out of the water, he said. The indigenous Sami population live year-round in the harsh conditions of northern Sweden, Norway and Finland and are highly dependent on the reindeer for their livelihood. There are some 20,000 Swedish Sami who herd reindeer. Bertil Kielatis, chairman of the Sirges Sami village that owns the reindeer,said he had never seen anything similar in his lifetime and that there was no clear explanation as to why the herd hesistated to move forward. 'Probably, they were fightened by something or felt worried,' said Kielatis. Video on the website of Sweden's television channel, SVT, showed hundreds of carcasses lining the muddy shore of lake Kutjaure, which has been used for decades to transport the reindeer from their summer grazing fields to the 'winterland', where they spend the winter months. On Friday, two helicopters assisted the herders with dragging the dead reindeer from the lake. Kielatis said because of the herd's special breeding value, the economic loss could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars. As it is too expensive to bury or transport the dead, their bodies will most likely be scattered in the surrounding wilderness, he said. [See also "Reindeer herd drowns in icy Lapland waters" at The Local: Sweden's News in English, 13 November 2009.]

Posted 14 November 2009; 7:15:04 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Flora and Fauna, Indigenous Issues, Natural disasters and other problems, Nordic Region, November09, Sweden

Extensive water export planned in east Iceland   

(Iceland Review, 12 November 2009) -- The district council of Djúpavogshreppur in southeast Iceland has founded a company in partnership with private parties to organize extensive water export with tankers from Berufjördur fjord. The plan is to pump water from the Nykurhylur pool in the river Fossá in Berufjördur and transport it with pipelines to 80,000-ton tankers, RÚV reports. Head of the district council Björn Hafthór Gudmundsson said the captain of a similar tanker was consulted before the project was taken to the next level and he said Berufjördur has prime conditions for water export. The water would be exported to Mediterranean countries, which lack water for agricultural and industrial purposes. “Reports show that it is a growing problem in the world; water is talked of as the ‘blue gold’ and everything indicates that many opportunities are involved in water export,” Gudmundsson said. The Icelandic state holds part of the rights to the water in the area and Gudmundsson said the government has finally shown positive reactions to the project, which would result in increased revenue in foreign currency. Innovation Center Iceland is currently working on a marketing plan for the project and a stock offering is also in development.

Posted 12 November 2009; 4:47:49 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Environment and Landscape, Iceland, North Atlantic, Resource Issues

Seward heating system may implications for other coastal areas   

(Robert Woolsey/KCAW Sitka via APRN, 10 November 2009) -- A clean energy consultant believes a groundbreaking heating system in Seward using seawater may have applications in Sitka and other coastal communities. Anchorage-based engineer Andy Baker has been assisting the Seward Sea Life Center to design and install the seawater system, which uses a heat exchanger in conjunction with a fairly conventional heat pump system to extract BTU’s from the chilly waters of Resurrection Bay. [mp3]

Posted 11 November 2009; 11:47:34 PM.  ann-20091110-04.mp3 Permalink

Tagged: Alaska, Alternative Energy / Climate Change Responses, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, November09

Nunavut seal pelt sales plummet   

(CBC News, 11 November 2009) -- Sales of seal pelts from Nunavut have plummeted in the past year and a half, in the wake of the European Union's move this year to ban the trade of seal products. The impact of worldwide publicity surrounding the ban, which EU parliamentarians passed in May, is already being felt in Nunavut, where Inuit sealers have made a living harvesting seals for the fur market. Fur Harvesters Auction Inc. in North Bay, Ont., would usually sell most of the 10,000 to 12,000 seal pelts it receives from Nunavut each year, at an average price ranging from $50 to $70, said Ed Ferguson, a fur technician with the auction house. "Now, in the last year or so, we've sold probably maybe 25 or 30 per cent, and it's at a $25 or $30 number," Ferguson told CBC News. Most of those 2,500 or so pelts have been sold back to Nunavut, he said. Ferguson said most global consumers have already shied away from buying seal pelts as a result of the EU's ban, which is expected to take effect in August 2010 in 27 European countries. The Canadian government is challenging the EU ban before the World Trade Organization. It has maintained that Canada's seal hunt is sustainable, humane and closely monitored, contrary to claims put forward by animal-rights activists.

Posted 11 November 2009; 11:17:41 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Canada, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, North America, November09, Nunavut / Canada

Kleist: Our common but differentiated responsibilities   

(Countercurrents.org, 3 November 2009) -- Greenland is moving along a development path calling for new industries to be introduced to increase our economic independence. Like other countries at the bridge of industrial development, Greenland will travel to Copenhagen to draft a new agreement that will reduce emissions while at the same time taking into account the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities of countries and OCTs [overseas countries and territories]. ... We all inhabit the same globe, and we all must make an effort to curb climate change now. Reducing global emissions of greenhouse gasses and leaving a green planet for future generations is one of the biggest challenges faced by world leaders today. But while facing the challenges of global warming we must also see that countries at the bridge of industrial development find room to meet the needs and aspirations of their populations bringing them at level with people in the industrialised countries. In December 2009 the world meets in Copenhagen to draft a new agreement that hopefully will lead to a reduction in global emissions of greenhouse gasses, while at the same time taking into account the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

Posted 9 November 2009; 2:57:38 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Climate Change and Weather, Economic and Commerce Issues, Greenland / Denmark, International, November09, Tourism / Perspectives

Shell considering Arctic drilling for oil   

(UPI, 5 November 2009) -- ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Shell oil corporation said it will decide within months whether to begin drilling for oil and gas off the Alaskan coast despite strong opposition. The Anchorage Daily News said Thursday that environmentalists and Alaska North Slope officials are opposing possible Arctic drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. Scientists suspect the two seas may hold significant stores of oil and natural gas. Shell has already spent more than $2 billion to obtain leases in the seas, but its plans to drill there were delayed the last two years by successful litigation by the officials and environmentalists. The two drilling opponents allege drilling in the seas could lead to oil spills and negative impacts on the bowhead whale population in the surrounding area. Despite such delays, Shell has readied equipment for possible drilling to begin next summer. Shell Alaska Vice President Peter Slaib said Wednesday a final decision on the matter should be determined by December or January. The Daily News said key to Shell's drilling plans is whether the company can obtain federal air pollution permits for drilling.

Posted 6 November 2009; 12:03:51 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Alaska, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, North America, November09, Oil, gas, non-renewable resources

Russia will charge ships crossing Northern Sea Route   

(Mia Bennett/Arctic Foreign Policy Blog, 1 November 2009) -- In the wake of an announcement by British polar explorer Pen Hadow, leader of the Catlin Arctic Survey, that the Arctic will be ice-free within ten years, Russia announced that it will charge ships a “fair” fee to cross the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Northern Sea Route, the majority of which is Russian waters. Alexasandr Davydenko, head of the Federal Sea and River Transport Agency, actually said, “We are hoping the ice will melt soon.” However, the country still lacks the infrastructure necessary to handle the predicted increase in shipping that will arrive in the coming years, particularly in the port of Murmansk, which would likely serve as a hub. Furthermore, the shipping company Sovcomflot will begin shipping oil through the Northern Sea Route next year. It is rumored that Gazprom will also follow suit. The following is an image taken from the Russian government’s official website on the Northern Sea Route, known as “Sevmorput” in Russian. The labels are for the various seas and straits that the NSR crosses.

Posted 2 November 2009; 12:41:53 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, International, November09, Russia

Greenland in a bottle   

(Mads Dollerup-Scheibel/Sermitsiaq, 29 October 2009) -- Starting next month, the first bottles of Greenland spring water will start rolling of the production line the west coast town of Qeqertarsuaq. Greenland Springwater is currently putting the final touches on its tapping equipment and expects that 150,000 bottles of water from Lyngmark Spring will be shipped to retailers in Greenland and abroad in the coming months. Many of the bottles turned out in the start-up production phase have been distributed to the town's school and senior citizens' home. Once production officially gets underway, some 60,000 bottles of the initial production run will be sold in Greenland. The remaining bottles will be shipped to Switzerland and France. Greenland Springwater will also be sold on the German market, but because of laws there banning the sale of water in plastic bottles the company will ship water to Aalborg, Denmark, where it will be bottled in glass bottles and shipped south. After the 150,000 bottles have been filled, the factory intends to shut down for the winter while it works out the final details of distribution. It plans to open again permanently in the spring with an expanded staff.

Posted 1 November 2009; 11:29:12 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Greenland / Denmark, Resource Issues

Iceland bids farewell to McDonald’s   

(Iceland Review, 29 October 2009) -- Icelanders evidently intend to give the McDonald’s fast food chain a heartfelt goodbye as people have been flocking to its three outlets in Reykjavík this week after it was announced on Monday that McDonald’s was closing shop in Iceland for good. “We have all been working as hard as we can. The average sale is 4,000 hamburgers a day but for the last few days we’ve sold at least twice as much,” managing director of McDonald’s Iceland Jón Gardar Ögmundsson told Morgunbladid. Ögmundsson said he believes that this heartfelt goodbye shows how big a share this international hamburger chain has in the national spirit. The reason McDonald’s is closing in Iceland is the rising prices of imported goods necessary for making the hamburgers. The operation isn’t profitable anymore and so a new fast food chain will open instead, which sells Icelandic hamburgers with Icelandic ingredients. McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in Iceland in 1993. Now the last McDonald’s hamburgers in Iceland will be served on Saturday evening. Ögmundsson said in an earlier news story that the fast food chain is unlikely to reopen in Iceland even after the economy recovers. Click here to read more about this story.

Posted 1 November 2009; 4:47:56 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic issues, Iceland, North Atlantic, November09

Inuit-owned Cruise North adds Greenland to 2010 Arctic itineraries   

(CP via Google, 21 October 2009) -- KUUJJUAQ, Que. - Inuit-owned and operated Cruise North Expeditions is adding Greenland to its roster of Arctic itineraries for 2010. With two departures - one from Iqaluit, Nunavut, on July 23, the other from Kuujjuaq, Que., on Aug. 6 - the two-week tours aboard the company's 122-passenger vessel are "expedition cruises in the truest sense of the word," Cruise North says. The itinerary includes Baffin Island's Auyuittuq National Park and several stops at communities on Greenland's west coast. Inuit guides will be on board. Prices start at US$5,295. Kuujjuaq is a 2 1/4-hour flight from Montreal. Cruise North Expeditions, launched in 2005, is a subsidiary of Makivik Corp., an investment company born of the James Bay and Northern Quebec land claims agreement of 1975. Makivik also owns First Air and Air Inuit.

Posted 22 October 2009; 12:12:58 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, October09, Tourism / Perspectives, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction

Lapland brewery closure stuns locals   

(Luna Finnsson/IceNews, 19 October 2009) -- The news that Lapin Kulta, the iconic beer of Finland’s Lapland, is set to halt production has shocked residents and city officials in the brewery town of Tornio. Siku News reports that just last week, employer Hartwall met with employees of the Lapin Kulta brewery to notify them of the intention to close the facility. Negotiations on the future of the workers will begin later this week. Chief shop steward of the Lapin Kulta brewery, Markku Rautio, said he and his colleagues were stunned by the news. ”We could not expect anything like this; the news came as a great surprise to all of us. According to the announcement, the premises will be vacated,” said Rautio. The Dutch Heineken group took over Hartwall in 2008 and the announcement provoked a mass walkout of the group’s Lahti and Tornio sites. The small northern city of Tornio is expected to be hit hard by the closure, as the brewery was the oldest surviving industrial operation in Lapland. The brewery is a landmark in the city and crucial to the employment of many city residents who are expected to face difficulty in finding new employment. Around 100 jobs will be lost as a result of the closure, with the city set to lose some EUR 700,000 in tax receipts. Tornio City Manager Raimo Ronkainen expressed his dismay at the decision: “As far as I understand, the Tornio brewery has not been an unprofitable unit; but apparently it has not been profitable enough. From the Dutch perspective, it is all the same to Heineken, whether the beer is made in Tornio or in Lahti. This is the price of globalisation,” Ronkainen added.

Posted 19 October 2009; 1:47:04 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Finland, October09, Social Issues

New mobile processing plant for Alaskan reindeer   

(Siku Circumpolar News, 17 October 2009) -- Managers with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Reindeer Research Program are trying to give a boost to the reindeer industry on the Seward Peninsula by providing a mobile slaughter facility along with an expert instructor who knows how to use it, reports the Geophysical Institute. Greg Finstad, head of the reindeer program at UAF, ordered a 45-foot self-contained slaughter plant, winterized it, had it barged to Nome, and helped design a "high-latitude range management course" at the university campus there. To run the program, Finstad hired Heikki Muhonen of Finland, who will live in Nome for about two years. "He's the world's expert," Finstad said. "He's set up slaughter facilities all across Russia, Kazakhstan, Finland, Sweden and Norway." One of Finstad's goals with the U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded project is to teach local people how to process reindeer using the plant, which is approved by the USDA and will result in inspected steaks, backstrap, burger, and other cuts of meat. The reindeer industry on the Seward Peninsula is not what it once was. Following the migration of caribou onto the Seward Peninsula in the 1990s—when some herders saw hundreds of their animals drift off with the wild version of their species—there are now just a few viable herds in the area. Two are in the Teller area, and others roam the muskeg near Stebbins/St. Michael, Nome, Wales, and on St. Lawrence Island. Finstad said the mobile processing plant can be barged to areas with reindeer, and Muhonen will train people how to use it in different areas, with the goal of inspiration. Muhonen. who comes from a small village in Finland, visited the Seward Peninsula at the invite of UAF a few other times, giving meat-cutting clinics in different villages. He knows how to set up a processing plant, and he has experience working to train people on how to make it pay off, Finstad said. Finstad hopes the course and the slaughter facility will give villagers more ideas and options, not necessarily related to reindeer.

Posted 19 October 2009; 1:44:10 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Alaska, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, October09, Resource Issues, United States

U.S. effort to nix polar bear trade angers Inuit   

(CBC News, 16 October 2009) -- Canadian Inuit are outraged over a U.S. plan to use an international treaty to eliminate all trade in polar bears anywhere in the world. They say it would cripple one of their few industries and they're calling on the federal government to step in. "We're fighting with Goliath here," said Gabriel Nirlungyak, director of wildlife with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., which oversees the Nunavut land claim. "We want our government to defend us." On Friday, Tom Strickland, the United States assistant secretary of the interior, released a proposal to the 175 countries that have signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species [CITES]. The proposal says polar bears should be moved to a classification that would outlaw all commercial trade in the animals. "The proposals submitted this week will improve protections for dozens of declining species, while improving enforcement and implementation of (the convention) for many others," Strickland said in a news release. The bears are threatened by habitat loss—the result of melting sea ice caused by climate change, he said.

Posted 18 October 2009; 3:05:26 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Canada, Circumpolar News, Conservation and Wildlife, Economic and Commerce Issues, Indigenous Issues, North America, October09, United States

N.W.T. diamond industry losing edge, MLA worries   

(CBC News, 16 October 2009) -- The Northwest Territories' hold in Canada's diamond processing industry may be getting undercut by Ontario, where a diamond-cutting plant opened recently, a Yellowknife MLA says. Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins asked Premier Floyd Roland on Friday about the Crossworks Manufacturing Ltd. plant in Sudbury, Ont., where 27 experienced workers have been brought in from Vietnam to cut and polish diamonds. The Sudbury facility, the first of its kind in Ontario, is expected to handle about $25 million worth of rough-cut diamonds this year. It has a contract with DeBeers Canada, with the diamonds coming from that company's Victor Mine near James Bay. "Ontario has said that they want to be the new international diamond pipeline. That is their position now for Canada, that diamonds run through there," Hawkins said in the legislative assembly. The Northwest Territories has three diamond mines, all 200 to 300 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife: BHP Billiton's Ekati mine, DeBeers's Snap Lake mine and the Diavik mine, owned by Rio Tinto and the Harry Winston Diamond Limited Partnership. The capital city of Yellowknife, which has dubbed itself "North America's diamond capital," is home to several diamond processing plants, including one by Crossworks Manufacturing.

Posted 18 October 2009; 2:30:55 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Canada, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, North America, NWT / Canada, October09, Oil, gas, non-renewable resources

Oil on ice   

(Joshua Kucera/The Atlantic, November 2009) -- Aqqaluk Lynge has a recurring nightmare: “When I’m lying awake at night, I pray we don’t find oil.” That anxiety puts Lynge, the president of Greenland’s chapter of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, a group representing indigenous people from Greenland, Canada, Alaska, and Russia, in the distinct minority of his 58,000 fellow islanders, most of whom hope that a huge oil find will ensure the success of Greenland’s independence from Denmark. Roughly 76 percent of the voters in a referendum last year wanted greater self-rule; on June 21 of this year, they got it. But as part of that self-rule deal, Denmark will end up reducing its annual subsidy to Greenland—about $11,000 per person, representing about 60 percent of the island’s budget. Hence the high hopes for oil revenue. Some estimates, including those of the U.S. Geological Survey, suggest Greenland’s coastal waters could hold anywhere from 16 billion to 47 billion barrels of oil, or 800,000 barrels for every man, woman, and child. That would mean a staggering leap in income for Greenlanders, who until two generations ago were mostly subsistence hunters and fishermen. With such massive potential oil reserves, Greenland is poised to achieve a geopolitical importance it hasn’t had since the invention of Risk. “We don’t want Greenland to be up for grabs,” worries Lynge. But oil has yet to actually be discovered, much less to flow, which is why Jens Frederiksen, the leader of Greenland’s Democratic Party, spearheaded the “no” campaign during last year’s referendum on self-governance. He says the government has too many pressing social needs—abysmal education levels, a crumbling public-housing stock, and massive rates of alcoholism—to reduce the Danish subsidy, especially since, even if oil is found, any revenue won’t start coming in for 15 or 20 years. Then there’s the fear that Greenland could become the Nigeria of the Arctic, another victim of the so-called resource curse, in which oil wealth triggers a downward spiral toward dysfunctional dictatorship. But judging from the offerings at the Greenland Expo, a trade fair held on the eve of Self-Governance Day, risking the curse may be an independent Greenland’s best hope for a viable future.

Posted 13 October 2009; 10:13:55 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Greenland / Denmark, October09, Oil, gas, non-renewable resources, Resource Issues

Norway to spend more in the north   

(BarentsObserver, 13 October 2009) -- In the Government’s budget proposal for 2010, a record increase in funding of about NOK 530 million (Euro 64 million) has been proposed for a range of measures in the High North. The budget proposal includes a significantly increase in the funding for a number of areas, particularly value creation, knowledge-building and the environment. It includes an increase of NOK 112 million for emergency tugboat services in the north, NOK 50 million for onshore value creation, NOK 19 million for marine bioprospecting, NOK 17 million for the establishment of a centre for climate and environmental research in Tromsø and NOK 126 million for space-related activities. The Government proposes to allocate NOK 55 million to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Barents 2020 programme for knowledge-building in the north. This is an increase of NOK 20 million compared with 2009, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs writes in a press-release. "This is a project with a time horizon of generations. Since 2006 we have increased funding for our efforts in the High North by more than NOK 1.5 billion, and with these allocations we have made substantial progress," Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre commented. The Foreign Minister added: "We are now seeing that a number of countries are directing their attention towards the north, not least because of the opportunities and challenges related to energy, maritime transport and climate change. Norway will continue to play a leading role in the High North in cooperation with our neighbours and allies in the north." The 2010 budget proposal aims to further strengthen these efforts. "Under the Barents 2020 programme, the Government is creating arenas for cooperation between Norwegian and foreign centres of expertise with a view to increasing our knowledge about the High North," Mr Støre continued.

Posted 13 October 2009; 4:57:47 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Barents Euro-Arctic Region, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Nordic Region, Norway, October09

Greenland rejects new national currency   

(IceNews, 13 October 2009) -- Greenland will continue to use the Danish krone as its currency after the ruling government declined to adopt the National Bank’s new printed notes. Speaking in the latest parliamentary session Juliane Henningsen, political spokeswoman for the Innuit Ataqatigiit Party has said that the government will introduce a proposal to clarify its position on the currency debate. Henningsen claimed that the decision was made based on what was determined to be the most useful for the country, suggesting that the National Bank’s new notes were essentially for decoration, SIKUnews reports. Henningsen added that given the notes are not able to be used outside of Greenland, they will only present difficulty. In 2008 a proposal by the then government made it possible for Greenland to begin producing its own banknotes, a move which was welcomed by the previous premier Hans Enoksen. However, since that time the release of the new currency has been repeatedly delayed and the new banknotes complete with iconic Greenlandic imagery will not be seen until 2011 at the earliest. Parliamentary debate on the issue was limited as the autumn session opened. The Greenland debating mandate states that only 30 minutes is allowed for members to discuss any proposals put forward by spokespersons, and that each question and answer may not be greater than two minutes. However, Tuesday’s session saw Henningsen remain on the platform for over two hours as the debate continued.

Posted 13 October 2009; 11:18:41 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Greenland / Denmark, October09

Greenland government rentals to get more expensive   

(A. Rienstra/IceNews, 10 October 2009) -- Kuupik Kleist, the Prime Minister of Greenland, has supported a move to increase rental prices by up to 50 percent on some government-owned properties. Kleist advised the Greenland parliament in an open debate session that the failure of the previous government to reassess rental prices for the previous two years, which it is supposed to do every year, had obligated the incumbent leaders to adjust prices accordingly. The increases will mainly apply to housing that is utilised by senior civil servants, which has been lying at below market rates. The prime minister claimed that it was appropriate that “well-paid public servants paid rents comparable with those paid by regular renters.” It is envisaged that the homes would be renovated using the additional income generated by the rent rise. Currently there is no scope within the existing budget to perform renovations on the properties but the forecasted additional charges would enable improvements in key areas such as insulation. Jens B Frederiksen, the Housing Minister also added that it was a long-term goal of the government to enable people to purchase their own homes where possible. “This gives people renting single family homes and duplexes a unique opportunity to consider whether they want to take part in the “rent to own” programme,” Frederiksen claimed, adding also that prices for government owned properties would still remain lower than those of privately-owned apartments, even with the raised rental charges.

Posted 11 October 2009; 4:08:27 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Communities, Economic and Commerce Issues, Greenland / Denmark, North Atlantic

Airships set for Arctic's heavy lifting   

(Gina Teel/Calgary Herald, 8 October 2009) -- CALGARY - Using blimps to deliver heavy payloads to remote northern sites has oft been touted as having cost and environmental benefits over traditional means of transportation. Now a concrete business case can be made for using the SkyHook HLV (heavy lift vehicle) airship in specific applications, such as moving an oil rig, instead of conventional means of transportation, said Boeing Co.'s Kenneth Laubsch, program manager of the Sky-Hook HLV. "Our goal is 80,000 pounds of lift, or 40,000 U. S. tons (36,000 tonnes), and to be operating in completely austere conditions," Laubsch said of the SkyHook HLV, an aircraft Boeing has partnered with Calgary's SkyHook International Inc. to bring to market. Still in the engineering phase, the first SkyHook aircraft is scheduled to fly in 2014. The airship will boast two and a half times the payload of an MI-26 helicopter--currently the world's largest vertical lift aircraft--and burn about 10 per cent less fuel to move that payload, attendees of the fifth annual Airships to the Arctic conference in Calgary heard Thursday. Using supplier-provided data, the company can create detailed cost comparisons in specific applications of payload, such as pipeline construction, and produce an economic model detailing what it would cost to lease the SkyHook aircraft for the duration of a job.

Posted 11 October 2009; 12:19:48 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Canada, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, North America, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction

$200 turkey sparks debate on Arctic food prices   

(CBC News, 9 October 2009) -- A picture of a $200 Thanksgiving turkey in a High Arctic community has people talking about the high cost of living in Canada's far North. The photograph, which has been circulating by email since Monday, shows a frozen Grade 'A' turkey with a price tag of $200.07 at the Northern Store in Arctic Bay, a remote community on the northern coast of Baffin Island. The picture had Quttiktuq MLA Ron Elliott, the Nunavut government's elected representative for the High Arctic, worried about the cost of food and other essentials in his region. "It would be nice to have people all across Canada sort of realize that even within our own country, the ability to … put food on the table for your family is almost becoming impossible," Elliott told CBC News on Friday. "The high cost of living in the communities, it makes you really think, you know, how within our own country can we allow this to continue to happen?" After the photograph started making the rounds online, the Arctic Bay Northern Store reduced the price of the turkeys to about $90 each. The store's manager said the $200 price tag was a labelling error. Nunavut Transportation Minister Peter Taptuna recently visited Arctic Bay to discuss the high costs of travel and shipping to the High Arctic region. Elliott said High Arctic residents generally feel they are not seeing the impact of the federal government's food mail program, which subsidizes the cost of shipping healthy perishable grocieries by air to remote northern communities that are not accessible year-round by road, rail or marine service. Federal officials are currently reviewing the food mail program, which cost the government $50 million to operate last year.

Posted 10 October 2009; 4:50:14 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Canada, Circumpolar News, Communities, Economic and Commerce Issues, North America, Nunavut / Canada, Social Issues

De Beers cancels Snap Lake mine winter shutdown   

(Reuters, 29 September 2009) -- TORONTO - De Beers Canada is canceling the planned four-week winter shutdown at its Snap Lake diamond mine in Canada's Arctic due to improvements in the global diamond industry, the company said on Tuesday. De Beers, which is 45 percent-owned by mining group Anglo American, announced the shutdown earlier this year as the economic slowdown took a heavy toll on luxury goods. The decision to cancel the shutdown follows a similar move at the nearby Diavik diamond mine, which is owned by Harry Winston Diamond and Rio Tinto. "This is a good news decision in response to some positive trends we are seeing in the market place," said Jim Gowans, chief executive of De Beers' Canadian unit. Snap Lake, which is De Beers' first mine outside of South Africa, is located in Canada's Northwest Territories. The mine produces about 1.4 million carats a year. (Reporting by Cameron French; editing by Rob Wilson)

Posted 30 September 2009; 2:26:10 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Canada, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, NWT / Canada, Resource Issues

Watt seeks income tax relief for Nunavik   

(Jane George/Nunatsiaq Online, 22 September 2009) -- Senator Charlie Watt made the case for taxation relief in Nunavik last week. His private member’s bill S-227, an act to amend the income tax act, came up for consideration in the Senate finance committee. “Taxes in Nunavik are based on the product you purchase once it has reached Nunavik…it hits you right away that residents are paying three to five times more than those living in southern Canada… given the recession I would say that our dollar is worth about 29 cents right now,” Watt told the committee members on Sept. 15. “The people of Nunavik are cut off from other Canadians geographically, economically and politically, and their living conditions are desperate and deteriorating further because of isolation and distance,” reads Bill S-227. To remedy this situation, the bill calls for establishing Nunavik as a special zone under the Northern Residents Deduction. This would provide up to $70 a day as an extra deduction for Nunavik residents. The legislation would also apply a zero per cent GST rate on the supply of goods and services, and exempt petroleum fuels purchased in Nunavik from federal excise taxes. Not a bad idea at all, agreed Mary Simon, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, who testified in front of the Senate committee on Sept. 16. In fact, Simon told the committee that she would like to see similar measures applied to other Inuit regions. “The problems that Senator Watt has identified for Nunavik are experienced in very similar ways in the other three Inuit regions, and I would encourage the Committee to explore the application of the Bill to all four regions of Inuit Nunangat,” she said. Simon said the refundable tax credit “could be particular benefit to those with the lowest incomes and most pressing needs, particularly those households with many dependents.” Simon also said the committee should support giving Inuit hunters and trappers the same kind of tax breaks that southern farmers and loggers receive.

Posted 24 September 2009; 10:26:16 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Canada, Circumpolar News, Communities, Economic and Commerce Issues, Social Issues

Air Greenland dashes plan for Iqaluit-Nuuk route   

(CBC News, 17 September 2009) -- Citing tough financial times, Air Greenland says it won't be establishing a direct air link between Iqaluit and Nuuk, Greenland, next year. An Air Greenland spokesman told CBC News Thursday that the airline's board of directors has asked staff to come up with a corporate savings plan, meaning it will not be launching any new international routes in 2010. The news disappointed Iqaluit resident Kenn Harper, who has been working for years to revive a direct link between Greenland and Nunavut. "There is a lot of interest in this route. It's a shame that these two parts of the northern world and the Inuit world, that have so much in common, can't connect," Harper said Thursday morning. "We have to just keep trying to help this connection to eventually materialize." Air Greenland is not dropping the idea altogether: The spokesman said the airline hopes to establish the Iqaluit-Nuuk route in 2011 if its financial situation improves.

Posted 18 September 2009; 2:28:14 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Canada, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Greenland / Denmark, International, Nunavut / Canada, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction

Outfitter leaves clients howling for their money   

(Jane George/Nunatsiaq News, 10 September 2009) -- KUUJJUAQ - Tuttulik, an Inuit-owned outfitting firm based in Umiujaq, has dealt a serious blow to the reputation of Nunavik’s annual caribou sports hunt. Tuttulik suddenly ceased operations in September of 2008, depriving nearly 300 clients from the United States of the one-week hunting trips for which they paid up to $5,000 US in advance. The hunters, who never got their money back, have now taken to the internet, where their furious complaints are posted on hunting and fishing forums, outdoor magazine websites, and small-town newspapers websites across North America. “This has happened before in Quebec and undoubtedly will happen again. Save your money and hunt in the good old U.S.A,” counsels a post from a Tuttulik client on the wildoutdoors.com website. Nunavik’s caribou sports hunt brings in about $15 to $20 million a year in revenues. [See also Advocatus diaboli blog, "The best kind of sordid boondoggle: an instructive one," 10 September 2009.]

Posted 12 September 2009; 11:35:28 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Nunavik / Canada, Provinces / Canada, Tourism / Perspectives

Newspapers lose postage grants   

(Mads Dollerup-Scheibel/Sermitsiaq.gl. News from Greenland: Newsletter, 7 September 2009, (Archived by WebCite®)) -- From the beginning of next year it will cost significantly more to send newspapers around Greenland. Post Greenland has informed the country’s oldest newspaper Atuagagdliutit and Sermitisiaq that the special discount on newspaper postage on newspapers, which today represents a value of between 1.5 and 1.7 million, will cease. The national post office is justifying the decision by saying it isn’t fair to other customers that newspapers get a discount on delivery. ‘We are fully aware that getting rid of the subsidy causes problems for the newspapers. But Post Greenalnd has to earn money, just like other businesses. And we don’t think our other customers should have to pay for the transport of newspapers,’ Post Greenland director Per Svendsen said. He also referred to the fact that newspapers were transported by courier and postage today did not cover the actual costs to of the consignments. The reduced newspaper postage rate has existed for over 25 years and has according to the post office remained steady since 1993. Post Greenland parent company Tele Post announced it record profits last year at 105 million kroner before tax, with Post Greenland accounting for 8.4 million of that. The postal service has for years been under pressure as electronic communication cuts into the number of letters, postcards and invoices sent. It has lobbied the self-rule government for an increase of general postage rates from next year.

Posted 7 September 2009; 12:46:41 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Communications and media, Economic and Commerce Issues, Education and Civil Society, Greenland / Denmark, North Atlantic

Iceland pressed to join euro   

(Financial Times, 3 September 2009) -- Joining the euro offers the only “durable solution” to Iceland’s economic problems but the country’s bid to enter the European Union would be a complicated process, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The Paris-based club of developed nations said Iceland should seek euro membership “as soon as possible” if its application to join the EU is successful. “Iceland needs an external anchor, which basically means adopting the euro, or entering the eurozone,” said Robert Ford, deputy-director of the OECD’s economics department. Iceland applied to join the EU in July in a sign that the crisis-hit country is prepared to trade its proud independence for the protection and stability offered by Brussels.

Posted 4 September 2009; 4:26:49 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Iceland, North Atlantic

Better radio communication in Kola Bay   

(MBnews.ru via BarentsObserver, 4 September 2009) -- The Murmansk Sea Port is modernizing its radio communication equipment. That will make entries to the busy port safer. It is the company Alvis Plus which has got the contract on the equipment delieveries, MBnews.ru reports. The port of Murmansk is the second biggest in Northwest Russia. It handles major volumes of metal and mineral ore, fish and other goods. It is also used extensively by the Northern Fleet and will be the key port in the development of Russian Arctic hydrocarbon fields.

Posted 4 September 2009; 10:11:59 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Education and Civil Society, Northwest / Russia, Russia, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction

The world’s northernmost cash machine   

(BarentsObserver, 31 August 2009) -- An ATM machine has been opened in the village of Belushya Guba at the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. That is probably the world’s northernmost. The heavily militarized Novaya Zemlya, the site of dozens of nuclear test detonations in the 1960s and 1970s has got its first ATM machine, Rokfeller.ru reports. The cash machine will be used primarily by the military personnel at the far northern archipelago. The Belushya Guba town is located on the 72th latitude. The population of Novaya Zemlya totals about 2,700 (2002), of which about 2,600 reside in Belushya Guba. According to Wikipedia, a total of 224 nuclear detonations with a total explosive energy equivalent to 265 megatons of TNT were made at the archipelago between 1954 and 1990.

Posted 31 August 2009; 1:27:40 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Communities, Economic and Commerce Issues, Northwest / Russia, Russia

Air Greenland still interested in Nunavut route   

(Siku Circumpolar News, 29 August 2009) -- Air Greenland now wants meet with Nunavut officials in September, as the airline continues working on re-establishing regular direct flights between Iqaluit and Nuuk, CBC News reports. A meeting was originally scheduled to take place in July, but Air Greenland postponed due to labour dispute with some of its workers. Officials from the airline hope to meet with Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak, territorial government officials and Inuit land-claims organizations in Iqaluit on Sept. 22, spokesman Christian Keldsen told CBC News. "What's going to bear this route is actually opening up some of the agreements between Nunavut and Greenland," Keldsen said Friday. "There are lots of different kinds of agreements between these two regions, which have been more or less dormant for a while due to the fact there's been a limited connection between these regions." Keldsen said his officials have been working with Iqaluit resident Kenn Harper to set up the day of meetings. The airline is not seeking government subsidies, Keldsen added, but rather it wants commitments from both the Nunavut and Greenland governments that they'll actually purchase seats and use the route for trips such as political and cultural exchanges. Nunavut and Greenland share Inuit populations and are separated only by the Davis Strait, a distance of about 825 kilometres. However, travelling between the capitals, Iqaluit and Nuuk, currently takes two or three days, as passengers must connect through various North American cities and Copenhagen, Denmark, to get there. A direct flight between the two cities would take about two hours.

Posted 31 August 2009; 12:06:33 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Greenland / Denmark, International, North America, North Atlantic, Nunavut / Canada, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction

Greenland has a plan   

(Siku Circumpolar News, 27 August 2009) -- Two of the major players in Greenland’s tourism industry are looking to Germans to stop the country’s tourism slump, Sermitsiaq reports. Greenland is experiencing a steep decline in the number of tourists that leading experts predict will continue next year. The situation has Bjarne Eklund, chairman of tourism and business organisation GTE, calling for a plan to increase the number of visitors starting next year. Eklund has met with the head of Air Greenland and representatives from the two organisation are now working together to save the 2010 season. "Quite generally, we will focus more on the German market, and we will double the amount we planned to spend on an initiative in Denmark," Eklund said. GTE and Air Greenland expect to be able to present a new online campaign targeted at the German market in Copenhagen during the West Nordic Travel Mart travel expo in mid-September. The strategy is likely to include information visits for German travel agents. Air Greenland and GTE have yet to determine how much money will be spent on the campaign, but the two companies have announced they will contribute most of the funding for it. They indicated, however, that other companies in the tourism industry will also be asked to chip in, Sermitsiaq says.

Posted 27 August 2009; 3:40:01 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Greenland / Denmark, Tourism / Perspectives

Greenland may opt out of climate change deal?   

(Siku Circumpolar News, 26 August 2009) -- Greenland's prime minister Kuupik Kleist repeated his warning that Greenland may decide not to enter a climate change deal when he spoke to the Nuuk Climate Days conference this week. Greenland upholds its right not to strike a deal on climate change, Kleist said. Kleist’s declaration sets the tone for a "heated" autumn of negotiations between Greenland and Denmark about carbon dioxide quotas leading up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December, says Sermitsiaq. On Tuesday, Kleist made it clear that any climate deal had to consider developing countries and their industrial development. "Greenland is a young society which needs investment at all levels," Kleist said in his welcoming address to the 160 researchers and participants in the climate convention Nuuk Climate Days. His speech indicated that Greenland would support a global climate deal but not at any price. "Greenland stands by its right to abstain from a deal if the deal imposes economic sanctions on developing countries like Greenland, which are trying to strengthen their people and society," Kleist said.

Posted 26 August 2009; 4:08:43 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Autonomy, Sovereignty and Politics, Circumpolar News, Climate Change and Weather, Economic and Commerce Issues, Greenland / Denmark, International, North Atlantic

Alaska Interior tourism slumped this summer, figures show   

(Anchorage Daily News, 26 August 2009) -- FAIRBANKS - It hasn't been a good tourist season for Interior Alaska. The number of passengers at Fairbanks International Airport fell by 11 percent to about 294,000 in the May-July period, compared to a year ago, said Jesse VanderZanden, the airport's manager. The Convention and Visitors Bureau, meanwhile, expects Fairbanks will see a double-digit decline in stays at hotels and bed and breakfasts, a figure reflected in government revenue from hotel room taxes, said Deb Hickok, bureau president. The decline also has been seen at tourist attractions such as the University of Alaska Museum of the North, where attendance in the May-to-July period fell by roughly one-quarter. The sluggishness in the Interior tourist season mirrors reports from the Anchorage area and Southeast in recent weeks of a big drop-off in visitors this summer. The U.S. recession is getting much of the blame for the decline.

Posted 26 August 2009; 10:46:10 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Alaska, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, North America, Tourism / Perspectives, United States

Inuit-owned vessel begins historic commercial navigation of Northwest Passage    

(Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping press release via CNW, 21 August 2009) -- IQALUIT - The MV Umiavut, Canada's first Inuit-owned ice class one vessel in history, set sail today and is on course to make history once again. "While many talk about a future growth in Arctic shipping, at NEAS we make it a reliable reality every day for our customers" said David Ell, a representative for Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping (NEAS). "With NEAS, local Inuit are investing, participating, and benefiting from economic development opportunities that we are creating ourselves, and that is what the Umiavut represents." The MV Umiavut (meaning "Our Ship" in Inuktitut) is part of the growing modern fleet of Canadian flag, duty paid vessels from NEAS, an Inuit majority owned venture with shareholders including Sakku Investments Corporation, Qikiqtaaluk Corporation, Makivik Corporation, and Transport Nanuk Inc (a joint venture between Logistec Corporation and The North West Company). The MV Umiavut, loaded with vital dry cargo resupplies, began its voyage that includes navigation of the Northwest Passage from the Eastern Arctic to service customers in the western Kitikmeot region of Nunavut, including Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, Taloyoak, and Gjoa Haven. This sailing marks the first commercial navigation of the Northwest Passage by a Canadian flag Inuit owned ice class vessel in history. "We are proud and excited to offer this new, cost-effective, over-the-top sealift service for our customers in Western Arctic communities," said David Ell. "We look forward to the day when each community we service has basic, safe and secure marine infrastructure, including 'Kid-Safe' work staging areas."

Posted 24 August 2009; 9:48:18 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Canada, Circumpolar News, Communities, Economic and Commerce Issues, North America, Nunavut / Canada, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction

Climate change opens Arctic route for German ships   

(Erik Kirschbaum/Reuters, 21 August 2009) -- BERLIN - Two German ships set off on Friday on the first journey across Russia's Arctic-facing northern shore without the help of icebreakers after climate change helped opened the passage, the company said. Niels Stolberg, president and CEO of Beluga Shipping GmbH, said the Beluga Fraternity and Beluga Foresight left the Russian port of Vladivostok on the historic and cost-saving journey with cargo picked up in South Korea bound for Holland. The melting of Arctic ice as a result of climate change has made it possible to send Beluga's multi-purpose heavy lift ships along the legendary Northeast Passage, Stolberg said. Beluga got Russian authorities' clearance to send the first non-Russian commercial vessels through the route on Friday. The Northern Sea Route trims 4,000 nautical miles off the usual 11,000-mile journey via the Suez Canal—yielding considerable savings in fuel costs and CO2 emissions, he said. "Russian submarines and icebreakers have used the Northern Route in the past but it wasn't open for regular commercial shipping before now because there are many areas with thick ice," Stolberg told Reuters in an email interview.

Posted 22 August 2009; 11:51:48 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Climate Change and Weather, Economic and Commerce Issues, Expeditions, exploration, and field trips, Russia, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction

Kirkenes business participants to study possibilities in Teriberka   

(BarentsObserver, 20 August 2009) -- Thirty representatives from the business sector in the Norwegian border town Kirkenes leave for a study tour to the Russian settlement Teriberka, future main base for the Shtokman project. The aim of the trip is to learn more about the possibilities for participation in the development of the village. The participants also hope to tie contacts with possible Russian partners, newspaper Sør-Varanger Avis reports. "We have to be ready the day things start to happen in Teriberka," says communication manager of the Finnmark County authorities Trond Magne Henriksen. "We will not be sitting on the sideline here." As BarentsObserver has reported, Kirkenes sees major business opportunities from the Shtokman project. The town has port facilities and service industries which can supplement the bases on the Russian side of the border. Also Teriberka awaits a major change from a sleepy fishing village to the hub of the world’s biggest offshore gas field. A large part of the visiting group comes from the construction and building sector in Kirkenes, who hopes to get construction contracts when the big work begins. The study tour is organized and financed by Finnmark County authorities and Innovation Norway.

Posted 20 August 2009; 1:28:21 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Barents Euro-Arctic Region, Circumpolar cooperation, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Expeditions, exploration, and field trips, International, Norway, Russia

Murmansk getting ready for Economic Forum   

(BarentsObserver, 19 August 2009) -- Murmansk is getting ready for this year’s most important event, the first Murmansk International Economic Forum. More than 300 persons have so far registered as participations in the forum, which takes place in Murmansk October 15-17 and focuses on the theme “The Arctic in the 21st century – development strategies”. The aim is to initiate discussions on the economic development strategy of the North, the forum’s web site reads. Several conferences will be covering issues like development of the energy sector, the fishing industry, cross-border cooperation in the Barents region, management of natural resources in the North of Russia. Special attention will be focused on further development of Shtokman gas condensate field. As BarentsObserver reported earlier this summer, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will take part in the forum.

Posted 19 August 2009; 10:29:00 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Conferences, meetings, and gatherings, Economic and Commerce Issues, International, Northwest / Russia, Oil, gas, non-renewable resources, Resource Issues, Russia

N.W.T. leaders unhappy with northern agency's Iqaluit home   

(CBC News, 19 August 2009) -- The establishment of a northern economic development agency in Nunavut has some leaders in the Northwest Territories worried that important decisions affecting Canada's entire North will be made far off in the eastern Arctic. Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on Tuesday that Iqaluit will be the headquarters for CanNor, a new stand-alone regional economic development agency for Canada's North. "The days of development decisions being made in a city thousands of kilometres away are past," Harper said during his announcement in Iqaluit, where he also chaired a cabinet meeting later that day. The prime minister was referring in his comment to the early 20th century, when the federal government administered the northern territories from their offices in Ottawa. Yellowknife Mayor Gordon Van Tighem said he's concerned that decisions will still be made thousands of kilometres away from N.W.T. communities. "One of the challenges in setting up financial access points is that frequently, they require that you get to them," Van Tighem told CBC News on Tuesday. "Iqaluit would be a little bit tougher to get to than Yellowknife, for somebody from Inuvik or somebody from Fort Smith." The agency will also have satellite offices in Yellowknife and Whitehorse. Van Tighem said he hopes the Yellowknife satellite office will have authority over N.W.T.-specific issues, without having to turn to the Iqaluit headquarters for clearance. Tuktoyaktuk Mayor Merven Gruben said the Northwest Territories would have been a better location for CanNor's headquarters, considering the federal government's emphasis on asserting Canada's sovereignty in the Arctic. "Tuk is right next door to Alaska, right next door to Russia; I mean, you couldn't get any closer than that," Gruben said.

Posted 19 August 2009; 4:41:33 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Autonomy, Sovereignty and Politics, Canada, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, North America, NWT / Canada

Iqaluit site of northern development agency: PM   

(CBC News, 18 August 2009) -- The headquarters for the new Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency will be located in Iqaluit, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on Tuesday. Harper was joined by Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq and Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl in making the announcement at the city's Arctic Winter Games Arena, as part of the prime minister's five-day tour. "Today's announcement stands as a clear demonstration of our government's commitment to the North, a commitment to its people, and a commitment to its future," Harper said at the announcement. "We know the gaze of other nations is increasingly focused here, in our Arctic. By working to reach this region's full potential, full economic potential, we are strengthening its people and we are strengthening the sovereignty of our country." Harper first promised to set up the stand-alone regional economic development agency in Canada's North during last fall's election campaign. It was also mentioned in last November's throne speech. The agency, CanNor, will be similar to those that already exist in the western provinces, northern Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada and will deliver federal funding for economic development, advocacy and research. The agency will have satellite offices in Yellowknife and Whitehorse. In deciding where to base the agency's headquarters, Harper said senior government officials gave him many reasons why it shouldn't be situated in Iqaluit, citing difficulties finding enough housing and staff. But that was exactly why he wanted to put the agency in the Nunavut capital, he said. "The whole idea of this agency is it's supposed to be an economic development agency," Harper said. See also The Toronto Star, "$50M for Arctic development," 18 August 2009, Allan Dowd/Reuters, "Government promises to boost aid to Arctic economy," 18 August 2009, and the official press release from the PMO, "PM launches new regional economic development agency for Canada’s north" 18 August 2009 (note they spelled Iqaluit correctly on this release).

Posted 18 August 2009; 11:11:18 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Autonomy, Sovereignty and Politics, Circumpolar News, Communities, Economic and Commerce Issues, North America, Nunavut / Canada, NWT / Canada, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction, Yukon / Canada

Historic losses for LKAB   

(BarentsObserver, 17 August 2009) -- The Swedish state-owned mining company LKAB in the second quarter of 2009 had a loss of 558 million SEK (54.7 mill EUR). That is one of the worst results ever for the mining major in northern Sweden. "The second quarter of the year has been one of the most dramatic in the history of the plant," the company admits in its quarterly report. LKAB in the second quarter had a 72 percent drop in turnover to 1.72 billion SEK and deliveries shrunk 38 percent. At the same time, iron prices dropped significantly in the period. The reason is first of all the lower domestic and international demand on iron. The company does however expect an improvement of the situation in the second half of the year. Thanks to Chinese and Middle East customers, the number of deliveries will increase in the months ahead, the company report reads. The LKAB is mining iron ore in mines at Kiruna and at Malmberget in northern Sweden. The company which was established in 1890, is 100 percent state-owned since the 1950s. The iron ore is processed to pellets and fines, and transported by train to the harbours at Narvik and Luleå and to the steelmill at Luleå (SSAB).

Posted 17 August 2009; 11:29:01 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Nordic Region, Resource Issues, Sweden

Devolution – whose North is it?   

(Thomas Courchene/The Globe and Mail, 29 July 2009)** -- The Harper government recently released “Canada's Northern Strategy,” which is anchored on the four pillars of sovereignty, environmental sustainability, socio-economic development and devolution. This dedicated strategy is most welcome and long overdue. Most Canadians are generally comfortable with the government's Arctic policies and are becoming increasingly aware that all of us, not just those who live north of 60, have a social, cultural and economic interest in the North's successful development. The pillar where there may be some anxiety is devolution, especially resource devolution. No doubt, some of this anxiety arises from the rather astonishing values of per-capita cash transfers under Territorial Formula Financing (TFF), the territorial version of the provincial equalization program. These values, with percentage of total territorial revenue they account for, are: Yukon, $18,166 (65 per cent); Northwest Territories, $18,704 (65 per cent); and Nunavut, $30,265 (81 per cent). Compared to the highest per capita provincial equalization payment, PEI's $2,300, the territories appear to qualify as fiscal wards of the central government, and as such, one must be careful when it comes to further devolution – or so the story would go. In fact, this interpretation is quite misleading.

Posted 16 August 2009; 6:21:45 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Autonomy, Sovereignty and Politics, Canada, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, NWT / Canada, Resource Issues

Russia revives gold mining in the Gulags   

(Robin Paxton/Reuters, 12 August 2009)** -- KUPOL MINE, Russia - Every winter, an ice road is laid across 400 km (250 miles) of tundra to carry supplies to one of the world's most isolated gold mines. There is no other way for heavy machinery to reach Kupol, the $700 million Arctic mine behind a resurgence in Russian gold production after five straight years of decline. "It's one of the harshest climates I've worked in, and I've worked in the Atacama desert in Chile and at 15,000 feet in Indonesia," said Patrick Dougherty, general manager at Kupol. "But I don't get to pick where the gold is." Only South Africa holds more gold than Russia, but Moscow's fragmented industry has struggled to access vast reserves in its inhospitable Far East. The region was first mined in the 1930s by prisoners of the Gulags set up by Soviet leader Josef Stalin. ... Chukotka, a region revived in the last eight years by the $2.5 billion investment of Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich, produced a fifth of Russia's gold in the first half of this year. Gold is the region's passport to growth after Abramovich quit as governor last July. Russia ranked fifth among the world's gold miners last year, between Australia and Peru, with an 8 percent share of output. Production rose 13 percent in 2008, the first increase in six years, and jumped another 25 percent in the first half of 2009. "This was solely due to the commissioning of Kupol," said Olga Okuneva, mining analyst at Deutsche Bank in Moscow. "If other large projects in the Far East start producing gold, this will be a major growth driver for the Russian gold industry."

Posted 12 August 2009; 3:11:50 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Russia

Are there enough people in Greenland for a whole country?   

(Arctic Economics, 8 August 2009) -- Greenlanders have been pressing for more autonomy from Denmark, and looking forward to independence. Anne Sibert asks, "Undersized: Could Greenland be the new Iceland? Should it be?

Posted 10 August 2009; 2:45:04 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Autonomy, Sovereignty and Politics, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues

Arctic ships on hold awaiting shipbuilding strategy: official   

(Murray Brewster/The Canadian Press, 4 August 2009) -- OTTAWA - The navy's proposed Arctic patrol ship project has been put on hold until the federal government works out a shipbuilding strategy with industry. Defence contractors were notified recently that a meeting of bureaucrats and industry officials, scheduled for Aug. 12, has been postponed indefinitely, The Canadian Press has learned. As well, the issuing of a letter of interest, the first step in the long, cumbersome contract process, has also been delayed with no new timetable listed, according to an internal National Defence email obtained by the news agency. A project management office, set up to oversee the construction of the six light icebreakers, said it will continue to post documents and reports online and that in the meantime "industry is welcome to review and provide comments" on that information. It is the latest setback for the program, one of the Conservative government's pet projects to increase Canada's profile in the Arctic and comes just two weeks before Prime Minister Stephen Harper embarks on a summer tour of the North.

Posted 5 August 2009; 3:01:10 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Autonomy, Sovereignty and Politics, Canada, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, North America

Seal product ban will hurt Great Greenland   

(Siku Circumpolar News, 30 July 2009) -- The exemptions allowing Greenland limited seal product trade for Inuit in the European Union should be exploited, some industry and political sources say. Despite the general negative reaction to an imminent seal product trade ban in the EU, special exemptions for Inuit communities have created the potential for Greenland to exploit what will in effect be a monopoly of the market in Europe. "The original suggestion was a total ban, but with the Inuit exception we have access to a market that nobody else does, which in affect creates a monopoly,’" said Lida Skifte Lennert, head of Greenland’s representation in Brussels. "Now it is up to us to take advantage of that situation." But the marketing campaign that would be required to exploit the potential European market may face a difficult task due to the lack of awareness that there is an Inuit exception to the ban, Sermitsiaq says. Great Greenland's managing director Henrik Estrup said the problem is that the consumer cannot not differentiate between Inuit seal skin and other skins. "Initially it seems like we have a trade advantage but there are very few consumers aware of the Inuit exception."

Posted 30 July 2009; 12:12:56 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Communities, Conservation and Wildlife, Cultural Matters, Economic and Commerce Issues, Europe, Greenland / Denmark, International

Gazprom keeps up pipeline pressure in Komi   

(BarentsObserver, 29 July 2009) -- Russian gas major will not cancel any contract with partners in the Komi Republic, but only postpone project deadlines. The main part of the pipeline which is to stretch from the Yamal peninsula runs across the territory of the Komi Republic. In a meeting between Gazprom and Komi regional authorities today, the company representatives said that work with the 1100 km long pipeline will proceed, however not in line to previous time schedules. Company representative Sergei Prozorov confirmed that the Bovanenkovo field, the huge 4.9 trillion cubic meter field in Yamal will be ready for production in the third quarter of 2012, Komiinform.ru reports. The pipeline construction on Komi territory will restart in November, he added. None of the company’s commitments for the republic will suffer, the company representative stressed. "All key figures remain, only the time schedule is changed," he said. As BarentsObserver reported in mid-June, Gazprom has decided to postpone the launch of the Bovanenkovo field with one year, from 2011 to 2012.

Posted 29 July 2009; 11:25:42 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Resource Issues, Social Issues, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction

Provisions bring no joy   

(Sermitsiaq, 25 July 2009) -- The first of two annual provision shipments to the town of Illoqqortoormiut [on the east coast of Greenland, just north of 70°N.] arrived packed to only half its normal capacity. "It is the first time that so few provisions have arrived with the ship," explained shop manager Jørgen Danielsen. "We only have half of what we received last year." The arrival of the first ship of the year is an important event for the small settlements that do not have sea access all year round, making the unusual arrival of a half-empty ship all the more disappointing for the residents of one of Greenland’s most isolated communities. The ship normally carries the supplies needed to support the community for an entire year. Danielsen said the shortage could be attributed to there being no building materials included in the cargo. Building work in the small community had come to a standstill following the council amalgamations that took place in January, he said. A dramatic proportion of the population has left the settlement since January. The population is now 450, which represents a drop of 50 people in the last year.

Posted 27 July 2009; 10:58:04 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Communities, Economic and Commerce Issues, Greenland / Denmark, North Atlantic, Social Issues

North Slope oil production declines   

(Anchorage Daily News, 27 July 2009) -- North Slope production dropped 17 percent from May to June as the trans-Alaska oil pipeline took its first planned summer timeout for maintenance work June 20-21. North Slope production dropped below 300,000 barrels per day over that weekend. For the entire month, oil companies produced 591,666 barrels a day in June from the Slope's oil fields, compared with 714,913 in May. At the biggest field, the BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. run Prudhoe Bay, a plant called gathering center 2, which handles production from many wells, went down June 2 for a month-long turnaround. Production at Prudhoe averaged 248,747 barrels per day in June, down 31 percent from May.

Posted 27 July 2009; 10:22:31 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Alaska, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, North America, Oil, gas, non-renewable resources, Resource Issues

Strike called off at last minute   

(Sermitsiaq, 22 July 2009) -- A last-minute compromise has been reached by Air Greenland and cabin crew union ACU, averting the ACU strike that was scheduled to take place today. The agreement between the airline and the union came literally one minute before the deadline, at 8pm local time. The deal struck between the two parties remains private, and will now be sent to an ACU member ballot, with a result expected on 11 August. Christian Keldsen, sales and marketing director for Air Greenland, said the last minute result was good for both the airline and its customers. ‘We are extremely glad on behalf of our customers who are now able to travel,’ said Keldsen. ‘It is a relief to have an interim period of peace and quiet.’ However, when asked what he thought the outcome would be of the ACU ballot, Keldsen had no comment.

Posted 24 July 2009; 1:59:51 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Greenland / Denmark, North Atlantic, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction

Opinion: Arctic shipping presents unprecedented challenge   

(Scott Highleyman and Marilyn Heiman/Mcclatchy News via Juneau Empire, 24 July 2009) -- The dog days of summer slow down the pace of life for many of us, but it's the busy season in the Arctic. The Inuit people who inhabit the top of the globe in Alaska, Canada, Russia and Greenland are out on the land and ice, camping, hunting, fishing and visiting family. Meanwhile, annual supply ships visit Arctic communities, bringing next year's provisions before the ocean freezes again. Climate change is altering these Arctic rhythms of life and culture. ... In 2007, Canada's Northwest Passage—connecting the Atlantic and Pacific through the islands just below the North Pole—opened for the first time. Last year, 62 ships used the passage, most for regional shipping but a few travelling the entire distance. Because of these changes, Arctic nations are calling for tighter shipping regulations to protect human lives and fragile ecosystems. The Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment, a four-year study led by Canada, the United States and Finland for the eight-nation Arctic Council, contains important recommendations on how to prepare for the next 20 years, many of which echo our concerns. First, we need to prevent another Exxon Valdez disaster. ... We also need to take steps to avert the loss of human life from shipping accidents. ... Furthermore, the snow should stay white. Burning dirty fuel in ships produces smog-creating pollution and black carbon. ... And finally, the Arctic people and their environment must be protected. ... For the sake of the Arctic and its people, we need to tightly regulate the growth of ship traffic to maximize the benefits and minimize the damage. The Arctic Council's shipping report is a good place to start.

Posted 24 July 2009; 10:18:51 AM.   Permalink

Tagged: Arctic Ocean, Circumpolar cooperation, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, International, Research / Reports, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction

IKEA looks to Tromsø or Narvik for a new store   

(Siku Circumpolar News, 21 July 2009) -- IKEA reps have confirmed that the company it's thinking about building a a new store in northern Norway, the Barents Observer reports. The city of Tromsø says it has shown several site to IKEA. People in northern Norway have been calling on IKEA to establish a warehouse in the region. In 2004, a group of IKEA fans there started a web site to urge IKEA to come north. Since then more than 30,000 people have signed the web site's petition. "I hope IKEA has noted the interest," Kim Hauglid, the web site's promoter, says. Tromsø and Narvik are believed to be the main competitors for the new store. Both city mayors confirm that IKEA has shown interest. Tromsø's mayor Arild Hausberg said IKEA showed “great interest” in one of the site locations presented by the city. A warehouse in Tromsø or Narvik would be the northernmost one for IKEA. IKEA has one store in Haparanda on the border between Sweden and Finland, which attracts a many customers from northern Norway.

Posted 22 July 2009; 4:39:10 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Nordic Region, Norway

Nunavut-to-Greenland air link talks delayed   

(CBC News, 20 July 2009) -- A plan for Air Greenland officials to visit Iqaluit to discuss reviving a direct air link between Nunavut and Greenland has been postponed until the end of August because of a looming strike by the airline's cabin union. "The pressure from the media and passengers here, as well as negotiations going on with the cabin union, are quite high. So we have decided to stay behind and deal with the current situation," spokesman Christian Keldsen said Monday. "But this doesn't in any way mean that we're not interested in doing the Canada project," he said. Keldsen said the strike will affect most of Greenland, except in areas where helicopters are used instead of planes. He said he still hopes Air Greenland can get a connection up and running between Greenland's capital, Nuuk, and Iqaluit by next spring. There has been a lot of support for the air link in both capital cities.

Posted 20 July 2009; 4:56:27 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Canada, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, International, North America, North Atlantic, Nunavut / Canada

Bethel takes step toward becoming ‘wet’   

(Alex Demarban/The Arctic Sounder, 17 July 2009) -- Petitioners hoping to loosen booze restrictions in Bethel have enough valid signatures to put their measure on the ballot, said city clerk Lori Strickler. Now it’s up to the City Council to validate the language at its next meeting July 28. If the council does that, Bethel voters can decide this fall whether to remove a restriction that outlaws booze sales. In 1977, Bethel voted by a 3-to-1 margin to go damp. Since then, Bethel residents have been prohibited from selling liquor. But they have been allowed to legally import limited quantities of booze each month. Many have it shipped from liquor stores in Anchorage, and pick it up at the Bethel airport. Petitioners gathered 346 valid signatures, Strickler said Friday. They only needed 271 to get their question on the ballot. The vote in 1977 made Bethel a local-option community. Scores of villages throughout Alaska have done the same, meaning alcohol sales or possession can be banned. Many villages have chosen to go dry, meaning alcohol can't be possessed, because of the devastating effect it has had in rural Alaska. If the measure passes in Bethel, liquor sales won’t be permitted right away. Before bars or liquor stores could open, or before restaurants or clubs could sell booze, the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board would have to issue a liquor license to a business or organization. The Bethel City Council would get the chance to weigh in.

Posted 17 July 2009; 4:39:36 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Alaska, Circumpolar News, Communities, Economic and Commerce Issues, Laws and legal

NOAA awards $1 million for Alaska beach cleanup   

(Dimitra Lavrakas/The Dutch Harbor Fisherman, 16 July 2009) -- The Marine Conservation Alliance Foundation in Juneau was awarded $1 million in federal stimulus funds from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to do what the organization does best—conduct marine debris cleanups across Alaska. There is one planned for St. Paul Island, said Dave Benton, executive director. “They gave us the official paperwork a couple of days ago,” he said on July 7, calling in from the Point Retreat lighthouse on Admiralty Island near Juneau where he was working on a restoration project. “NOAA was fairly specific about what projects they wanted to fund.” Projects also will be conducted in Craig, Yakutat, Prince William Sound, Alakanuk, Nelson Lagoon, Norton Sound, Sitka, Kodiak, Stebbins, St. Michaels, Port Heiden and in Little Diomede in conjunction with its community development quota group. “In St. Paul, it’s a fairly large project to remove a vessel off the beach at Reef Point,” he said. “I believe it’s an old ocean clipper, a crab vessel from the 1980s.” Magone Marine Service in Dutch Harbor was given the contract to remove the vessel, he said. The company accomplished the removal of the F/V Mar-Gun in May after being beached for 10 weeks. Aside from the ship’s removal, the other cleanups will focus on marine debris, he said.

Posted 17 July 2009; 3:22:55 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Alaska, Circumpolar News, Conservation and Wildlife, Contaminants and Pollution, Economic and Commerce Issues, North America, North Pacific, United States

Murmansk to launch first wind park production   

(Maria Kaminskaya, trans./Bellona, 16 July 2009) -- MURMANSK - Russia’s northern region of Murmansk will start producing wind energy converters—this was the gist of an informal agreement reached between the local submarine repair yard Nerpa and the Dutch company Windlife Energy. A formal deal between the two parties is to follow soon. As has been previously reported by Bellona Web, Murmansk was recently the host of a business seminar visited by the heads of over 30 Dutch companies. The delegation also included the Netherlands’ Minister of Foreign Trade Frank Heemskerk. In the two days the visitors spent in Murmansk, the Dutch businessmen met with the governor of Murmansk Region, Dmitry Dmitriyenko, and representatives of the region’s largest enterprises. The seminar put its primary focus on cooperation in the energy sector—issues such as the development of the Shtokman natural gas field in the Barents Sea or the construction of the Murmansk Transport Hub were on the table. And, of course, participants discussed the only project already under way—the construction of the first wind park on the territory of the Kola Peninsula, an endeavour led by the Dutch-based Windlife Energy. Investments into the project will come from two European banks and a jointly held Dutch-German banking group.

Posted 16 July 2009; 3:31:08 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Alternative Energy / Climate Change Responses, Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Northwest / Russia, Russia

Greenland considers selling its glaciers for fancy water   

(IceNews, 15 July 2009) -- Canadians will soon be drinking water that originated in Greenland now that the government has granted permission to a Canadian company to pursue a plan to fish for ice from its glaciers. Iceberg Canada Corporation will soon begin exploring ways to harvest ice from the Qoqqup Sermia glacier near Narsaq and the Narsap Sermia glacier near Nuuk; and if the government likes their proposal they will get the green light.The company will then process the pure glacial ice into drinking water for Canadians with an urge to drink something exotic. Iceberg Canada Corporation already produces fancy drinking water made from icebergs off the Newfoundland coast, but wants to get closer to original sources by tapping into Greenland’s glaciers. Sermitsiaq reports the arrangement between the new Greenlandic government and the Canadian water company is only for 18 months. After that period, the Department of Trade will consider whether to extend the deal or not. Iceberg Canada Corporation is one of only four businesses planning to export ice and water from Greenland. But the Department of Trade told Sermitsiaq it has received two new applications to harvest glacial ice and spring water from Greenland. “We are now inviting the companies here to show them around. We have begun creating information resources for the interested companies, detailing the rules for setting up business, paying taxes and wages, etc. The information could be used by potential investors in both this and other fields,” said Ms. Jensen, who works in the Department of Trade.

Posted 16 July 2009; 1:10:02 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Circumpolar News, Economic and Commerce Issues, Greenland / Denmark, North Atlantic

Russian Orthodox Museum in downtown Anchorage to close   

(Anchorage Daily News, 14 July 2009) -- A museum that chronicled the history of the Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska, with artifacts and artwork dating back as long as a century, will close its doors in August. Low attendance and expensive bills have doomed the Russian Orthodox Museum in downtown Anchorage. The church that operates the museum decided it is time to close the doors. Artifacts will be returned to the churches that donated them. The Rev. Mikel Bock says the closure has to be done because the diocese is hurting because of the economy.

Posted 14 July 2009; 4:00:34 PM.   Permalink

Tagged: Alaska, Circumpolar News, Cultural Matters, Economic and Commerce Issues, Education and Civil Society, North America, United States

Eagle, Alaska, rebuilding begins (mp3)   

(Dan Bross, KUAC - Fairbanks via APRN, 13 July 2009) -- Work is getting underway on new homes for some Eagle residents displaced by this spring’s record flooding. Eagle recovery team leader Andy Bassich says the federal emergency management agency, or FEMA, has released funds to 13 local families who lost their houses. [mp3]

Posted 14 July 2009; 1:14:16 PM.  ann-20090713-07.mp3 Permalink

Tagged: Alaska, Circumpolar News, Communities, Economic and Commerce Issues, Education and Civil Society, North America, Social Issues, Transportation, Infrastructure and Construction

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