Overview
- Finland’s licensing authority, LVV, told Google’s local unit Tuike Finland Oy on Tuesday to suspend tree removal, topsoil stripping, excavation and other disruptive works at Muhos and Kajaani until environmental impact assessments are finished.
- The LVV notice, which exempts planning, measurements and low‑impact surveys, gives Tuike until Oct. 23 to ensure the specified major site work is halted or face possible enforcement and conditional fines.
- Google acknowledged it had fallen short of its standards, said it will follow LVV’s guidance, and reiterated that it ran nature surveys and plans to plant trees and carry out biodiversity measures at Muhos.
- Regulators say large clearances already done — roughly 330 hectares at Muhos and just under 200 hectares at Kajaani, according to filings — can undermine the purpose of an EIA by limiting the ability to identify impacts and consider alternatives.
- The dispute highlights a broader tension in Finland’s rapidly growing data‑center market, where plentiful grid capacity has attracted multibillion‑euro investments but where sequencing of permits, land clearance and environmental reviews is now under tighter scrutiny.