ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on East Iceland, the current site of an extraordinary re-engineering of nature and place the Krahnjkar project. The politics of nature have moved centre stage in Iceland. Environmental activism has long since become a mobile, international force. International environmental organizations and individuals soon started to move when the Krahnjkar project got off the ground. In 2006, at the height of the construction period, some 1,500 people were at work at smelter site, with a similar number at the dam site and other sites relating to the power station. Large labour camps were erected on the highland plateau. These were occupied by a multinational army of migrant labourers. The Italian-based construction conglomerate Impregilo had been lowest bidder for dam construction and tunnels, by a large margin. The firm had extensive experience from large-scale contracts in other parts of the world. Conditions at Krahnjkar turned out to be unusually tough, however. Warning lights started flashing in the Icelandic media.
