KEEP GEOTHERMAL ICELANDIC, BJORK DEMANDS

Singer Bjork petitions Iceland to stop energy sale
Omar Valdimarsson and Nicole Mordant (w/Paul Casciato), January 17, 2011 (Reuters)

"Singer Bjork presented a petition…to Iceland's prime minister, protesting against the sale of an Icelandic geothermal energy company.

"The deal to sell Iceland's HS Orka to Canadian-based geothermal firm Magma Energy Corp (MXY.TO) was approved by a parliamentary oversight committee last year, but has faced public opposition since -- most notably from [Icelandic singer] Bjork…known for her political activism…[She] said that Icelanders should be allowed to decide through a referendum whether access to the country's natural resources should be privatised."

Bjork - defender of Iceland's resources (click to enlarge)

"Bjork led a group of 70 to 80 protesters to present Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir with the petition of 47,000 signatures…Iceland has a population of about 319,000…Sigurdardottir then invited the singer and two other activists to her office for a chat…Sigurdardottir, who joined in with protestors singing outside her office in downtown Reykjavik, said…she had accepted the petition ‘with great pleasure.’"

click to enlarge

"Magma, headed by mining magnate Ross Beaty, said…it was "business as usual" at the company and its subsidiary. Neither Magma nor Orka had been contacted by the government, Magma spokeswoman Alison Thompson said…Magma's shares were 4 Canadian cents weaker, or down 2.9 percent, at C$1.34 on the Toronto Stock Exchange…

"The sale of Orka to Magma was agreed to by Iceland's previous government, which was brought down by the financial crisis…[but] reviews of the Orka sale were completed by the current government."