Straumsvík, the aluminum smelter in Hafnarfjörður seeking again to expand, has asked town council for help in convincing people to vote for the expansion.
In a letter that Alcan director Rannveig Rist wrote to Hafnarfjörður mayor Lúðvík Geirsson, she argued that the town council showing support for the plant’s expansion could ease residents’ worries. “It would help us if the town council would express their support in the matter,” said Alcan spokesperson Ólafur Teitur Guðnason.
The mayor, however, told Fréttablaðið that he didn’t understand where the Alcan director was coming from in asking town council to express support for the plant’s expansion, when the matter has to be put up to public referendum, the date of which has not even been set.
The plant attempted to expand once before, in 2007, by public referendum, but the measure was defeated.