"Norway to open protected rivers to hydropower plants," 13 February 2025

The Norwegian parliament has voted to open up protected rivers to hydropower plants, prompting fury from conservation groups who fear for the fate of fish and other wildlife.

The bill allows power plants bigger than 1MW to be built in protected waterways if the societal benefit is “significant” and the environmental consequences “acceptable”. It was voted through on Thursday as part of measures to improve flood and landslide protection.

Une Bastholm, a Green member of parliament, described the proposal as “a historic attack on Norwegian nature” when it was unveiled last week. Environment campaigners say they believe the proposal will lead to an “endless stream” of new battles over river development. They criticised the government, who they said rushed it through without proper public consultation or environmental impact assessments...

Campaigners protested outside the Norwegian parliament on Tuesday and presented a petition opposing hydropower development in protected waterways that they said gathered 25,000 signatures... The proposal was voted through on Thursday by the Conservative party, the Progress party, the Labour party and the Centre party. The Christian Democrats withdrew their support, citing uncertainty over the wording.