New fare hike ‘shamelessly’ high

New public transit fares were taking effect in Oslo on Wednesday, and already have been been dubbed as “shamelessly” high. It now costs NOK 50 for a single-ride, full-fare ticket, the equivalent of nearly nine US dollars. “This is just way too expensive,” Gunnar Larssen, leader of the Norwegian capital’s merchants’ association Oslo Handelsstands Forening, [...]

‘Exploration boom’ off Norway’s coast

Never before have so many companies won permission to search for oil and gas on the Norwegian continental shelf as they did this week, while discussion flies over whether Norway should construct a new pipeline from fields in the Barents Sea. Environmentalists dislike all the oil and gas activity and as always, Norway’s own Statoil [...]

Oslo tops in bottle returns

Never before have Oslo residents returned so many beverage cans and bottles as they did last year, and a grocery store in the east-side district of Lambertseter saw record high activity around its bottle-return machines. Norway imposes deposit fees on cans and half-liter bottles of one krone (about 16 US cents) and 2.5 kroner on [...]

Majority support lower environmental speed limits

They may not have shown it in practice, but a new survey indicates that a majority of Oslo residents support reducing speed limits to help cut air pollution. Posted lower limits were widely ignored by motorists and proved unenforceable under current law. State and city officials admitted defeat last week, when an appeals court ruled [...]

New oil ‘province’ found off Norway

Extension of Norway’s lucrative oil age was further assured on Monday when state oil company Statoil announced another major oil discovery in the Barents Sea. Now the biggest question seems whether Statoil, its partners and Norwegian industry have the capacity to develop yet another oil and gas project, and other international players are expected to [...]

Environmental speed limit collided with the law

Transportation officials tried to reduce air pollution levels in Oslo by lowering speed limits on main highways into the capital to just 60 kilometers per hour (about 40mph). A court ruling this week, however, deemed the speed limits unenforceable under current law. Motorists routinely defied the lower speed limits, which have been imposed in Oslo [...]

Labour backs new Svalbard coal mine

Norway’s Labour Party was attracting more criticism from environmental organizations on Tuesday, after its parliamentary group decided to support the opening of a new coal mine on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. The environmentalists call it another example of hypocrisy and double standards. The move, reports newspaper VG, has spurred dissent within Labour and comes [...]

South Pole parties mixed pride, PR

Norwegian officials made the most of the 100th anniversary of Roald Amundsen’s arrival at the South Pole on Wednesday, with the king, the crown prince and the prime minister strategically placed to hail December 14, 1911 as “a proud day for Norway.” The celebrations reflected pride and public relations (PR), as Norwegian interest in both [...]

More climate cuts sought at home

Two of the three parties making up Norway’s government coalition are demanding that more emissions cuts be made at home, after the Kyoto agreement on cuts was extended at the UN climate conference in Durban. They’re not satisfied with Norway’s tendency to rather offer funds for cuts elsewhere in the world. As a major oil [...]

Expeditions late for South Pole party

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was flown into the South Pole this week and now some of the leaders of new polar expeditions have resorted to air transport as well. They failed to get there on skis fast enough and didn’t want to miss celebrations of Norwegian hero Roald Amundsen’s historic arrival in 1911. “This wasn’t [...]

Safari tour lands MPs on defensive

Four Norwegian Members of Parliament were fending off criticism on Friday after they ditched a session of the UN climate conference in Durban, South Africa and went off on a safari tour instead, while two others went on a tour of the city. Their sightseeing left just one colleague to follow climate negotiations. Newspaper Dagens [...]

Jens, stay home!

COMMENTARY – VIEWS ON THE NEWS: Has anyone else noticed the irony of how people worried about the climate – including Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg – spend vast amounts of time, energy and taxpayers’ money flying all over the globe, burning up jet fuel and generating untold tons of carbon emissions? On another topic: [...]

Another government quarrel erupts

Members of Norway’s left-center government coalition are quarreling again, with cabinet minister Kristin Halvorsen now complaining about her government colleague, Oil & Energy Minister Ola Borten Moe, on Facebook. Differences over environmental policies are at the root of the conflict, and opposition leaders want Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg to sort things out. Environmentalists see Stoltenberg, [...]

More oil sands’ static for Statoil

Another demonstration against oil company Statoil was held outside the Norwegian Parliament in Oslo on Monday, with a broad alliance calling Statoil’s oil sands project in Canada a “shame” for Norway and Statoil itself. Meanwhile, in Turkmenistan, Statoil reportedly held a small demonstration of its own. Politicians from the Christian Democrats, the Liberal Party (Venstre) [...]

Norway among top climate offenders

As world leaders gather once again to tackle climate issues, this time in South Africa, comes confirmation that Norway’s oil and gas industry makes it among the world’s major polluters. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has maintained a high climate-friendly profile, but now he’s “deeply worried” that any new emission-cutting agreement will be struck. The CO2 [...]

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