Alcoa Fjardaál is pleased with the comments received on the company's initial evaluation report. Some of them helped make its contents better than before. The Planning Agency's opinion formally concludes discussion of the company's report on environmental impact.

Alcoa Fjardaál is pleased to be able to focus on the last stage of building the aluminium smelter in Reydarfjördur, which will start operations  in April next year. There will be 400 employees. The company has already set new standards in the field of safety and environmental affairs in Iceland and will continue working with the Environment and Food Agency to update the environmental operating permit consistent with all applicable requirements.

As previously, Alcoa Fjardaál will keep the public informed about developments, both in the field of environmental and community affairs.

 
News Release of April 26, 2006:
Alcoa announced today that Iceland’s National Planning Agency had released the environmental impact assessment for Alcoa’s Fjardaál smelter project in Iceland, one of the largest private-sector investments in the country’s history.  Fjardaál will help create 800 jobs, and will be one of the most modern, environmentally-friendly aluminum production facilities in the world.
 
The environmental impact assessment, submitted by Alcoa on April 7, demonstrates that Alcoa Fjardaál will meet or exceed Iceland’s stringent environmental standards.  Alcoa has modeled two different technologies that would both limit emissions from the plant: dry scrubbing alone or a combination of dry and wet scrubbing.  Alcoa has designed the aluminum smelter in Reydarfjördur with state-of-the-art technology to promote sustainability and minimize environmental impact.
 
In addition to completing the environmental impact assessment, Alcoa employed Exponent, a leading engineering and science consulting firm, to perform a risk analysis of the project to assess any possible impact from emissions on human health, animal life and vegetation.  This was the first time that a risk analysis was conducted in Iceland in conjunction with an environmental impact assessment. The results showed negligible impact on human health and animals as well as negligible impact to vegetation outside of the project’s dilution zone. (That report is Appendix 9 below)
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Appendices 5-13
 
APPENDIX 5
VST Engineering.  "Snow Avalanche Hazard Assessment Above the Fjardaál Team Village in Reydarfjordur" (memo, 2 pages)
 view Appendix 5 (PDF 108 Kb)
 
APPENDIX 6
Nýsir, 2006. "A Study of the Socio-Economic Impact of the Intended Alcoa Fjardaál Smelter in Reydarfjordur" (only available in ICELANDIC, 99 pages)
 view Appendix 6 in Icelandic (PDF 645 Kb) 
 
APPENDIX 7
Fornleifafræðistofan, 2004. "Archeological survey on the land of Sómastaðagerði and Sómastaðir in Fjarðabyggð, North-Mula-County" (2 pages)
 view Appendix 7 (PDF 12 Kb) 
 
APPENDIX 8
Exponent, 2006. "Screening Risk Assessment for Air Emissions from the Alcoa Fjardaal Aluminum Smelter“ (183 pages)
  view Appendix 8 (PDF 4.32 Mb) 
 
APPENDIX 9
Exponent, 2006. "Ecological Risk Assessment for Use of Wet Scrubbers at Alcoa Fjarðaál Aluminum Plant in Reyðarfjörður, Fjarðabyggð, Iceland“ (55 pages)
   view Appendix 9 (PDF 589 Kb) 
 
APPENDIX 10
COWI, 2004.  "Fjardaal Smelter Project. Noise Survey“ (24 pages
   view Appendix 10 (PDF 714 Kb) 
 
APPENDIX 11
The University of Iceland's Economic Institute, 2005. "The Economic Impact of the Intended Fjardaál Aluminum Factory in Reyðarfjörður" (Hagfræðistofnun Háskóla Íslands, 2005. "Þjóðhagsleg áhrif álverksmiðju Fjarðaáls á Reyðarfirði“ - available in ICELANDIC only, 68 pages)
  view Appendix 11 (ICELANDIC PDF 372 Kb)

APPENDIX 12 (added to final report)
"New Modeling Scenarios"
 view Appendix 12 (ICELANDIC PDF 1760 Kb)

APPENDIX 13 (added to final report)
Statements and comments to the draft EIA in ICELANDIC only
 view Appendix 13 (ICELANDIC PDF 1024 Kb)