News stories by Lowana Veal, page 2

REYKJAVIK, Aug 22 (IPS) - A speeding ticket for driving an electric vehicle may seem at first a far-fetched possibility, but no. The director of Northern Lights Energy – a company specialising in promoting electric cars – was recently fined for driving 124 km per hour in a 90 km zone in Iceland in a Tesla Roadster vehicle.

With rising energy prices and stringent requirements for producing a higher proportion of energy from renewable sources in the near future, long-distance electricity cables are increasingly thought of as a viable option for providing electricity.

'With the fuel from the agriculture project, we are encouraging farmers to look at possibilities they might have to produce their own energy, while at the same time getting the Agricultural University and Farmers’ Association to work towards supporting and encouraging the farmers,' says Haraldur Benediktsson, chair of the Icelandic Farmers’ Association about the campaign to reduce energy bought by farmers by 20 percent by 2015 and 80 percent by 2020.

'We want to hear each others’ stories on how we have coped with changes, how we have got to where we are now and thus how we can be an inspiration to others,' says Anna Loa Olafsdottir, one of the people behind a group of women in southwest Iceland who call themselves SKASS.

U.S. President Barack Obama has decided to impose diplomatic rather than trade sanctions on Iceland because of the country’s whale-hunting activities.

Down by the old harbour in Reykjavik, a small group of volunteers in pale blue T-shirts can be seen handing out leaflets that say 'Meet us don’t eat us'. Beneath the slogan is a picture of a whale, followed by 'Whales are being killed to feed tourists. Don’t let your visit leave a bad taste in your mouth.'

Public health authorities in Reykjavik have criticised plans for the expansion of the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant. They say that levels of the gas hydrogen sulphide could increase by 40 percent if a new geothermal field, Grauhnukur, is developed and nothing is done to ensure that the levels of the gas remain below maximum permitted levels.

Iceland’s national power company, Landsvirkjun, has announced that it intends to double its generating capacity over the next 15 years, with a blend consisting mostly of hydroelectric and geothermal plants but potentially using wind and tidal energy as well.

In the northwestern Icelandic town of Isafjordur, milk is causing pandemonium. A local milk marketing board recently tested one farm’s milk for the presence of harmful chemicals. Dioxin, and dioxin-like compounds, were found to be present in amounts higher than the recommended maximum levels, threatening the future of local farmers, and angering residents.

For decades, fisheries around the world have relied on practices that take for granted certain assumptions about the industry, such as protecting younger fish while exploiting older fish and using trophic levels to monitor the health of fisheries. Recently, however, some scientists have begun to question these unanimously accepted practices. Experts are beginning to think that the science behind the global fishing industry may be completely wrong.