A Finnish supervisory authority has ordered Google's local subsidiary to halt environmentally significant preparatory work at two planned data centre sites in northern Finland until legally required environmental impact assessments are completed.
What the regulator ordered
The Finnish Licensing and Supervision Authority (LVV) issued the notice on Tuesday to Tuike Finland Oy, Google's local subsidiary, covering planned projects in the municipality of Muhos and the city of Kajaani. The agency said the company must stop the specified work immediately and no later than October 23. The suspension covers tree removal, topsoil stripping, excavation, quarrying, crushing, earthmoving, drainage changes and the construction of site roads and storage areas. Planning, measurements, soil surveys and other easily reversible work may continue.
According to the regulator, large-scale preparatory work had already been carried out: Tuike reported that about 330 hectares had been felled or prepared at Muhos, and just under 200 hectares at the Kajaani-Otanmaki site. The environmental impact assessment reports for the two projects are still underway and are expected to be completed later this year. Tommi Muilu, head of LVV's environment department, said the measures would change the environment in ways the assessment procedure exists to identify and evaluate.
Not yet a binding order
The notice is a formal call to act under Finland's environmental impact assessment law rather than a binding order. Tuike Finland has until October 14 to respond in writing and say whether it will comply. If it does not, the agency said it would consider administrative enforcement, potentially backed by a conditional fine, though its stated preference is voluntary compliance.
Google said it would comply with the authorities' instructions. Sondre Ronander, Google's head of communications for Finland and Norway, told Finnish broadcaster Yle that the company was examining the authorities' observations carefully and would act in line with them. The company had earlier said it acted on the basis of Finnish forestry legislation, while authorities stressed that environmental assessment requirements are governed by separate legislation.
The intervention comes weeks after Google announced plans to invest at least 13 billion euros in Finland's digital infrastructure, describing the commitment as its largest single investment in Europe, including data centres and supporting infrastructure in Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala.
Sources:
- TechTarget: Finland tells Google to halt site work on 13B data center expansion
- CGTN: Finland halts Google data center work over environmental assessment
- Economic Times: Google told to stop forest clearing for two data centres in Finland
What the regulator ordered
The Finnish Licensing and Supervision Authority (LVV) issued the notice on Tuesday to Tuike Finland Oy, Google's local subsidiary, covering planned projects in the municipality of Muhos and the city of Kajaani. The agency said the company must stop the specified work immediately and no later than October 23. The suspension covers tree removal, topsoil stripping, excavation, quarrying, crushing, earthmoving, drainage changes and the construction of site roads and storage areas. Planning, measurements, soil surveys and other easily reversible work may continue.
According to the regulator, large-scale preparatory work had already been carried out: Tuike reported that about 330 hectares had been felled or prepared at Muhos, and just under 200 hectares at the Kajaani-Otanmaki site. The environmental impact assessment reports for the two projects are still underway and are expected to be completed later this year. Tommi Muilu, head of LVV's environment department, said the measures would change the environment in ways the assessment procedure exists to identify and evaluate.
Not yet a binding order
The notice is a formal call to act under Finland's environmental impact assessment law rather than a binding order. Tuike Finland has until October 14 to respond in writing and say whether it will comply. If it does not, the agency said it would consider administrative enforcement, potentially backed by a conditional fine, though its stated preference is voluntary compliance.
Google said it would comply with the authorities' instructions. Sondre Ronander, Google's head of communications for Finland and Norway, told Finnish broadcaster Yle that the company was examining the authorities' observations carefully and would act in line with them. The company had earlier said it acted on the basis of Finnish forestry legislation, while authorities stressed that environmental assessment requirements are governed by separate legislation.
The intervention comes weeks after Google announced plans to invest at least 13 billion euros in Finland's digital infrastructure, describing the commitment as its largest single investment in Europe, including data centres and supporting infrastructure in Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala.
Sources:
- TechTarget: Finland tells Google to halt site work on 13B data center expansion
- CGTN: Finland halts Google data center work over environmental assessment
- Economic Times: Google told to stop forest clearing for two data centres in Finland
