Four Supreme Court judges declared themselves disqualified to have a seat in the High Court (Landsdómur) in the case of former Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde. The High Court will convene for the first time in Iceland’s history today.

The court will convene not to rule on Haarde’s alleged misconduct in office during the events leading up to the banking collapse in 2008, but because of Haarde’s lawyer’s appeal of the Reykjavík District’s Court ruling that Haarde doesn’t have the authority to demand the case’s dismissal, Morgunbladid reports.

Fifteen judges are to have a seat on the High Court: The five Supreme Court judges who have the longest work experience, the chief judge of Reykjavík, a professor of administrative law at the University of Iceland and eight people elected by the Icelandic parliament, Althingi.

According to Fréttabladid, Árni Kolbeinsson was the first to step aside because he served as undersecretary in the Ministry of Finance while Haarde was minister.

Jón Steinar Valsson was asked to replace him. However, he declared himself disqualified due to his friendship with former Prime Minister and Independence Party chair Davíd Oddsson.
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In response to recent news of dioxin pollution, Minister for the Environment Svandís Svavarsdóttir supports the idea of securing the public’s right to a healthy environment with a clause in the Constitution of Iceland, which is up for review.

“It is worth noting that the right to employment and ownership is clearly stated in the Constitution but not the public’s right to information,” Svavarsdóttir told Fréttabladid.

This fact was pointed out by the Association of Environmental Scientists, who released a statement yesterday because of the dioxin pollution caused by waste burning stations in three municipalities in Iceland.

The association encourages that people’s right to a healthy environment and their right to information is included when the constitution is reviewed.

A parliamentary bill on environmental responsibility is pending where it is suggested that a pollution damages clause is legalized, and includes that those who cause damages to the environment are obligated to make up for the damage, regardless of whether it is caused deliberately or by accident.

“The situation in Iceland would change significantly if the parliament passes the bill,” Svavarsdóttir said.

In an interview on RÚV’s Rás 2 radio station yesterday, the minister said she doesn’t have the legal authority to shut down waste burning stations. However, she has sent a letter to the municipalities in question asking that this is done.
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The Icelandic population numbered 318,452 individuals on January 1, 2011, up from 317,630 on January 1 the year prior, which is an increase of 0.3 percent, as stated on the website of Statistics Iceland.

 However, the population declined in five regions, mostly in the West Fjords which lost 3.1 percent of its population in 2010. Three regions experienced a population increase;

the capital region gained the most where the population increased by 1,434 persons, or 0.7 percent.

In other statistics, the number of municipalities in Iceland on January, 1 2011 was 76, down by one in 2010 due to the merging of two small municipalities in the northeastern region. Five municipalities have fewer than 100 inhabitants and 43 have fewer than 1,000 inhabitants.

The dependency ratio was 68.1 percent on 1 January 2011, a slight increase from the previous year when it was 67.8 percent. The dependency ratio is calculated as the ratio of the young and old to the working age population of 20-64 years of age.

The number of nuclear families, i.e. couples with or without children under 18 years or parents with children under 18 years, was 77,370 on January 1, 2011, compared with 77,227 families in 2010.
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It is hoped that an agreement on the construction of an ISK 18 billion (USD 155 million, EUR 113 million) silicon plant in Helguvík, southwest Iceland, can be signed on Friday. According to plan, construction is to begin in three months.

 A lot by the harbor in Helguvík has been reserved for the plant. The project has been prepared by an American company and its Icelandic partner for four years, Stöd 2 reports.

The contract was in the final stages in late January but there were still a few loose ends, especially concerning an investment agreement with the state, which prevented the contract from being signed at that point.

The silicon plant requires 65 MW of electricity, which is already available in the system, and it is hoped that agreements on power supply from Landsvirkjun, the national power company, and the local HS Orka can be made on Friday.

If the deal will be finalized on Friday and construction can begin in May, 150 people would have to be hired. The southwestern Sudurnes region is the one hardest hit by unemployment, so the move would be welcomed by most.
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