Fellesaksjonen mot gasskraftverk (lit. The common action against gas power plants) is a former environmental organisation that functioned as a binding between various NGOs who were opposed to the construction of fossile gas thermal power plants in Norway. It was created in all secrecy in 1997 and was able to collect about 3,000 people willing to use civil disobedience

Civil disobedience

Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...

 to hinder the construction, before going public to announce this resistance. The organization was disestablished in 2002.

History

The organization was established mainly by the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature

Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature

The Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature , also known as Friends of the Earth Norway and commonly abbreviated NNV is the largest Norwegian environmental organization with 28,000 members. The organization is based on a volunteer work among the members, constituting work both at local and...

 (NNV) and Natur og Ungdom

Natur og Ungdom

Natur og Ungdom which translates Nature and Youth, also known in English as Young Friends of the Earth Norway is a Norwegian youth environment protecting organisation. It is the only environmentalist youth organisation in Norway. 7000 members in 80 local groups work on environmental issues all...

 (NU). It was led by former leader of NU, and later leader of NNV, Lars Haltbrekken

Lars Haltbrekken

Lars Haltbrekken is a Norwegian environmentalist and chairman of Friends of the Earth Norway since 2005, after having been deputy chairman the two preceding years. Haltbrekken was also chairman of Natur og Ungdom in 1995 and 1996...

. The background for the organization was that Naturkraft

Naturkraft

Naturkraft is a Norwegian power company that operates one natural gas powered thermal power station located at Kårstø. It also holds a permit to build a second one at Kollsnes...

 had permission to build two gas-powered thermal power plants at Kårstø

Kårstø

Kårstø is an industrial facility located in Tysvær, Norway. The site features a number of natural gas processing plants to refine natural gas and condensate from the fields in the northern parts of the North Sea, including Åsgard, Mikkel and Sleipner...

 and Kollsnes

Kollsnes

Kollsnes is a natural gas processing plant owned and operated by Statoil on the southern part of the island Oøy in Øygarden, Norway. It processes the natural gas from the gass fields Troll, Kvitebjørn and Visund with a capacity of 143 million standard cubic meters of natural gas per...

, though these would be built without carbon sequenciation. At the congress of NU in January 2007 there had been made a decision to use civil dosobedience, and a network to organize this was needed.

The rhetorics of the organization were partially based on threatening Cabinet Jagland

Cabinet Jagland

Jagland's Cabinet governed Norway between October 25, 1996 and October 17, 1997. It had the following composition:-Cabinet members:-References:* - Regjeringen.no...

 with a new Alta controversy

Alta controversy

The Alta controversy refers to a political controversy in Norway in the late 1970s and early 1980s concerning the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in the Alta river in Finnmark, Northern Norway.-Key events:...

 demonstrations just before the 1997 election

Norwegian parliamentary election, 1997

A general election to the Storting, the parliament of Norway, was held on 15 September 1997. Before the election, Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland of the Labour Party, issued the 36.9 ultimatum declaring that the government would step down unless it gained 36.9% of the vote, the percentage gained...

. The strategy worked, and in the spring of 1997 Thorbjørn Jagland

Thorbjørn Jagland

is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party, currently serving as the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe...

 delayed the permissions of the power plants. After the election, the First cabinet Bondevik

First cabinet Bondevik

Bondevik's First Cabinet governed Norway between 17 October 1997 to 3 March 2000. It was led by Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, and consisted of the Christian Democratic Party, the Centre Party and the Liberal Party. There was a major reshuffle in March 1999. It had the following...

, who were opposed to gas power plants, enter cabinet. Fellesaksjonen successfully managed to hinder the building of gas power plants during its existence, with the full climax coming in 2000 when the First cabinet Bondevik left office to hinder their building. By 2002 there was no longer use for Fellesaksjonen, who closed down, though the work still continued in other environmental organizations.