Google has defended its decision to clear hundreds of hectares of forest in Finland for planned data centres before completing the required environmental impact assessments, saying it believed local authorities had approved the preparatory work. The controversy has also triggered a dispute within the municipality of Muhos, where a senior building inspector says she faced the threat of dismissal after criticising the handling of the project in the media.
The company cleared approximately 330 hectares of forest in Muhos, in northern Finland, and carried out work at another planned data centre site in Kajaani. Finland’s Licensing and Supervisory Agency (LVV) ordered work at both locations to stop last week because the environmental impact assessments had not been completed.
In a written response submitted to LVV on Wednesday, Google said its discussions with local authorities had led it to believe that the work complied with Finnish law. The company maintains that municipal officials had authorised preparatory activities under Section 109 of Finland’s Building Act.
According to Finnish public broadcaster Yle, Google began logging operations in Muhos in March and informed municipal building authorities about the scale of the work in June. Google said officials had approved the preparatory work and confirmed on 23 June that the operations could proceed.
However, documents reviewed by Helsingin Sanomat indicate that LVV had warned in May that forest clearance on this scale required an environmental impact assessment. Under Finnish legislation, such an assessment is required when permanent forest removal exceeds 200 hectares in a continuous area.
The municipality had also rejected Google’s application for a landscape work permit because the environmental assessment remained incomplete. The conflicting accounts have raised questions about how the project was authorised and whether the relevant legal requirements were properly followed before the forest clearance began.
The dispute has also put the conduct of municipal officials under scrutiny. Eero Airaksinen, the building inspector who approved the preparatory work in June, previously told Helsingin Sanomat that he had faced pressure from several directions and was uncertain about the applicable legal requirements. He is now on sick leave.
A separate employment dispute involves Jultuz Änwär, Muhos’s chief building inspector, who has taken leave following disagreements over her position at the municipality.
Änwär told Yle that municipal officials had threatened to terminate her employment after she criticised the handling of Google’s project in a media interview. She joined the municipality in August and said she would not have approved the work while the necessary permit procedures remained incomplete.
Mikko Kari, the municipality’s technical director, denied that the interview was connected to discussions about ending Änwär’s employment during her probationary period. Jaakko Pellikka, chairman of the municipal committee, confirmed to Helsingin Sanomat that Änwär had requested leave but did not disclose the reason. No dismissal decision has been announced.
Google has said it plans to complete the outstanding environmental assessments within six weeks for the Kajaani site and ten weeks for the Muhos site. The company has also asked for permission to carry out limited stabilisation work while the assessments are being finalised.
The proposed work includes managing drainage, preventing erosion and monitoring water quality. These measures are particularly relevant because residents have raised concerns about muddy runoff from the cleared land reaching the Oulujoki River, according to Helsingin Sanomat.
The environmental dispute comes as Google advances a major expansion of its data centre operations in Finland. The projects form part of the company’s plans to invest 13 billion euros in Finnish data centres over two years, making the handling of environmental assessments and construction approvals a significant issue for both local authorities and the communities hosting the developments.
