Coastal states in Baltic Sea region reject tight schedule of planned gas pipeline

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The authorities in the coastal states in the Baltic Sea region and the Russian-German Nord Stream constortium strongly disagree on the schedule of the required environmental permits relating to the the planned gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, to be set up on the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
     
The launch of the planned pipeline construction is subject to permits from five coastal states in the Baltic Sea region. Nord Stream expects the permits to be granted by the end of next year at the latest, while the Finnish authorities regard this schedule as almost impossible.
      In fact, the company’s own environmental impact evaluation (YVA) of the project has been delayed, being due as late as in January 2009.
      Moreover, no permits can be granted until the YVA has been circulated to ministries and official bodies for comments. This means that the related statements will be completed by next summer at the earliest. After that the Finnish government will conduct its own discussions on the matter.
     
”Finland is proceeding according to international and national environmental laws and regulations”, says Minister of Environment Paula Lehtomäki (Centre Party).
      The situation came as a surprise to the environmental authorities in the Baltic Sea region, who claim that Nord Stream has been aware of the permission procedures in the Baltic Sea region countries from the very beginning.
     
Negotiations on the environmental permits of the gas pipeline project in Moscow last week ended in a crisis atmosphere, while also the very routing of the proposed pipeline remained controversial.
      The environmental authorities in Sweden have called for looking into alternative routing possibilities, urging Nord Stream to move the pipeline away from environmentally sensitive areas.
     
On Thursday, the gas pipeline project gained support from Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, and from Dmitri Medvedev, the President of Russia, who stressed the importance of the project for the entire continent.
      At the same time, preparations for construction are under way in Finland as well. The first pipes are expected to arrive in the port of Kotka within the next few days.
      The 1,200-kilometre, EUR five billion pipeline is planned to run from Vyborg in Russia under the Baltic Sea to Greifswald in Germany.
     
The Gazprom-led Nord Stream hopes the pipeline will be in operation within three years, delivering gas from Russia to the European market.
      Under such a timetable, the pipe would be laid on the Baltic Sea bed from the beginning of 2010.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Gas pipeline route survey reveals effects of pollution on Baltic Sea bottom (23.4.2008)
  Baltic Sea gas pipeline project facing big difficulties (10.3.2008)

Links:
  Nord Stream (Wikipedia)

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