Finnish environment officials criticise plans for undersea gas pipeline

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Environment officials in Finland have criticised the environmental impact assessment of the planned undersea natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany as vague. The routing of the pipeline along the bottom of the Gulf of Finland is seen as poorly chosen, and the schedule of the construction is criticised as too tight.
      The proposed pipeline would be about 1,200 kilometres long, and nearly 400 kilometres of it would be in the Finnish economic zone in the Gulf of Finland.
      The Finnish officials also say that the plans by the Russian-German pipeline company Nord Stream do not indicate how and where the sea bottom should be excavated.
      "Alternatives should also be sought for the location of the pipeline", said Finnish Environment Ministry official Seija Rantakallio on Tuesday.
      "The routing of the gas pipeline has not been presented in such detail that the alteration of the sea bottom could be mapped out in detail", said Jorma Jantunen of the Uusimaa Environment Centre.
     
Nord Stream drafted a report on the routing and environmental impact of the pipeline at the end of last year. On Tuesday Finnish officials gave their views on the matter.
      For instance, the Geological Survey of Finland notes that the plans only mention the formation of the sea bottom in a few sentences.
      There are also no pictures of the geological structures of the bottom, even though the gas pipeline will have a significant impact on the marine environment.
     
The pipeline and its protective structures also affect the sea bottom. At least locally, marine currents near the bottom will be affected.
      The Geological Survey of Finland notes that in time, such changes can put the pipeline itself and its protective structures at risk.
      "The pipeline could run deeper if it were just 15 kilometres further south", notes Matti Perttilä, an expert on the state of the Baltic Sea at the Finnish Marine Research Institute.
      The sea bottom is also less uneven south of the planned routing.
     
For its Tuesday statement, the Uusimaa Environment Centre collected opinions of local authorities, officials, and private citizens.
      The pipeline will not get a construction permit before the completion of the environmental impact assessment. The answers and reports of Nord Stream are expected to be complete next autumn.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Sweden and Lithuania do not accept planned routing of gas pipeline (20.2.2007)
  Environmental impact of Baltic Sea pipeline greatest in building phase (15.11.2006)

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