Finland wants more information on risks of gas pipeline

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Finland is asking for a significant amount of additional information on the impact that a planned undersea natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany would have on the environment.
      The Ministry of the Environment is asking for more detailed information on factors such as the risks that would arise from chemical weapons sunk at sea.
      Finland’s request is linked with the international environmental impact assessment of the Russian-German-Dutch company Nord Stream, which is planning to build the pipeline.
     
Finland is now asking for information on the effects that the project would have in German, Danish, Swedish, and Russian territory in order to ascertain possible knock-on effects on Finland.
      For instance, the construction work could damage fish stocks in such a way that it could be felt in Finland as well.
      Finland is especially interested in knowing more about the portions of the pipeline that would be in Russian and Swedish territory near the Finnish economic zone.
     
Finland has not been able to make a detailed assessment on how the effects that the pipeline project would have in Russia would be felt in Finland, because only a summary has been made available by Russia.
      An assessment on Russia has been drawn up, but it has not yet been published.
      “We were initially under the impression that we would get it in time”, says Seija Rantakallio, an official at the Ministry of the Environment.
      “We don’t know when we will get it.”
     
Finland is interested in knowing in greater detail about the kinds of toxins that might be contained in sediments on the sea bottom in Russian waters, which might be stirred up by the laying of the pipeline.
      The Ministry of the Environment also hopes for a closer comparison on whether the routing of the pipeline would be better on the north, or south side of the Russian island of Suursaari, located near the Finnish southeastern coastal city of Kotka.
     
Nord Stream spokesman Sebastian Sass says that the additional requests from Finland came as a surprise.
      Sass, who had only had a few hours to examine the requests, did not want to take a detailed stand on the practical implications of the statement.
      “Experts first need to acquaint themselves with this.”
      He was pleased that the Ministry of the Environment had said that the scale of the impact had been assessed correctly.
     
“Finland has been stringent in environmental matters, but it has brought the matter forward through proper civil servant work.”
      Sass promises that a response to the additional enquiries will be forthcoming.
     
Sass feels that the Finnish statement was positive from the point of view of Nord Stream in that it does not state that any wrong conclusions had been drawn on the environmental impact of the project.
      He says that he expects that the pipeline project will get the necessary permission from the state by the end of the year, and that construction could begin in early 2010.
      Sass predicts that gas could flow in the first pipeline in 2011 and in the second one in 2012.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Service vessel waste water and politics among subjects of interest at Baltic Sea pipeline promotional meeting (11.3.2009)
  Mines, wrecks, fishing areas and seal habitats along pipeline route (16.3.2009)
  Assessment: limited impact of gas pipeline on Baltic Sea (10.3.2009)
  Environmental assessment of proposed undersea gas pipeline to be assessed by adjacent countries (27.1.2009)

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