Finish environmental authorities are in a rage over Google’s $15 billion data center projects after the discovery that company contractors had chopped down some 330 hectares of government-protected forests, seemingly without a permit.
According to Agence France-Presse, the Finnish Supervisory Agency (LVV) demanded that the Google-affiliate company Tuike Finland Oy “immediately suspend… all preparatory measures that would significantly alter the environment” in connection with two planned data center developments in the Northern municipalities of Muhos and Kajaani.
In all, LVV accuses Google’s contractor of clear-cutting some 330 hectares in Muhos without completing a mandatory environmental impact assessment, a necessary step for receiving approval. The company cleared a further 200 hectares for its data center in Kajaani, though it isn’t clear whether that logging was approved by authorities.
As the Guardian reported, Google has just over a week to explain its actions to Finnish officials. Though a government review is only just getting underway, the tech giant is already expressing remorse. In a statement to AFP, Google spokesperson Sondre Ronander admitted the company messed up, saying “we understand the concerns and have fallen short of our own high standards in this instance.”
“We will study the LVV’s findings and follow their guidance,” Ronander continued.
As head of the environmental department of the LVV Tommi Muilu told AFP, Google has not only felled hundreds of acres of trees, but has stripped topsoil, engineered roads and storage areas, and altered ditches.
Speaking to AFP, chair of the long-running Finnish Association for Nature Conservation said Google had paved over “nature sites which should be preserved.”
More on data centers: Amazon Warns Local Communities to Stop Defying Its Massive AI Data Centers
