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Finnish agency orders Google to halt data-center prep after tree clearing
The New York Post said Finland’s licensing agency told Google’s Tuike Finland Oy to stop work at two data-center sites after woodland clearing the paper said preceded a full environmental review.
- New York Post is now reporting this
- New headline Was: “Google illegally cut down 250K trees in Finland for data center”
- Our desk filed its story
The New York Post reported Saturday that Google cleared an estimated 250,000 trees on 816 acres of woodland in northern Finland for a data-center project, and that Finland’s licensing agency ordered the company to stop preparatory work at two sites1.
The paper said the clearing took place outside the town of Muhos, southeast of Oulu, and that Google is accused of removing trees before completing a mandatory environmental impact assessment required under Finnish law for large-scale operations1.
Finnish officials suspended development at two Google data-center sites while assessing environmental impact, according to the Post1.
The Finnish Licensing and Supervision Agency told Google’s project subsidiary, Tuike Finland Oy, to suspend operations by Oct. 23, the paper said1.
Tommi Muilu, head of the agency’s environmental department, said extensive preparatory measures had already been taken, including tree removal, stripping of topsoil, construction-site roads and storage areas, ditch and culvert changes, and stormwater arrangements, according to the Post1.
Muilu said those measures change the environment and cause effects that an EIA procedure is meant to identify and assess, the paper reported1.
The Post said Google’s two sites near Muhos and Kajaani, about 90 miles apart, are part of a $15 billion investment in AI infrastructure in Finland that the company announced in September1.
Google’s Finnish chief, Antti Järvinen, said the company believed it had legislative approval to begin large-scale tree cutting, according to the Post, which also said he apologized and that the company pledged to protect water sources and replant trees on about 321 acres1.
The paper said the tree removal left muddy, largely barren ground and that nearby water had turned brown, affecting streams that feed the Oulujoki River1.
The Post, drawing on other reporting, also described local complaints about wildlife displacement and noise; those accounts were not independently confirmed in the Post’s own reporting1.
Whether the clearing violated Finnish law, and how the EIA process will proceed, were not settled in the Post account1.