Uusimaa Regional Environment Centre completes statement on domestic assessment of Nord Stream gas pipeline’s environmental impact
Uusimaa Regional Environment Centre has completed its statement on the domestic environmental impact assessment report regarding the planned underwater natural gas pipeline running between Russia and Germany. This concludes the domestic environmental impact assessment procedure.
The Uusimaa Regional Environment Centre’s statement to Nord Stream AG concerns the part of the pipeline project which, according to the current plans, will run through the Finnish economic zone. The statement takes consideration of opinions and statements obtained from the authorities, research institutes, NGOs, citizens and municipalities. A total of 67 of such statements have been received. Feedback from other countries was also duly noted.
Uusimaa Regional Environment Centre considers the performed environmental impact assessment to be sufficient in its fundamental aspects, but requires that Nord Steam AG conducts further investigations for the purpose of the authorisation procedure. In the assessment, the project’s impacts within the Finnish economic zone have, in the main, been recognised, and extensive analysis and a correctly sized assessment of these effects have been performed.
However, Nord Stream AG needs to conduct further investigations in order to compile sufficient information for the authorisation procedures. In order to carry out the project, the company will need the Finnish government’s permission as well as a building licence and a permit for clearing mines. The company has already submitted an application for permission to the Finnish government and applied for the required permits from the Western Finland Environmental Permit Authority. The investigation requirements proposed by the Uusimaa Regional Environment Centre must be observed in these procedures.
The above requirements include investigations into the spread of nutrients and harmful substances during the project; ensuring maritime safety during construction; restricted zones for fishing and trawling; continuous monitoring of environmental impacts; and the effects of pipeline decommissioning.
Two major underwater route options were used in the environmental impact assessment. With regard to aquatic nature and the environment, Uusimaa Regional Environment Centre favours the option which would see the pipeline pass the Kalbådagrund shallows on their south-side. There are plans to establish a Natura 2000 conservation area in the Kalbådagrund area.
Several of the opinions received by Uusimaa Regional Environment Centre state that the impact on maritime safety during construction has been inadequately estimated, even though the pipeline would run close to the Gulf of Finland’s heavily trafficked major route running east to west. The Environment Centre requires that, in further planning of the project, measures for curtailing maritime risks be determined in more detail.
The assessment report estimates that the impact on the seabed population, as well as the distribution of nutrients and harmful substances, will be insignificant. However, this impact proved a cause for concern in many of the opinions. For the authorisation procedure, the company must conduct a more detailed analysis of the project’s impact on the distribution of nutrients and harmful substances.
The company is planning to use so-called unanchored installation vessels in the Gulf of Finland, which will reduce the environmental impact of the pipeline’s installation, such as the distribution of nutrients. The Environment Centre considers this a better option than anchored vessels.
Insufficient assessment has been made of the project’s effects on fishing, even though it is thought that the pipeline project will prove detrimental to seabed trawling. No information has been provided on the required size of the restricted zones, and the pipeline’s post-use impact on fishing has barely been assessed at all. Moreover, the plan for the follow-up monitoring of the project’s environmental impact is poorly laid out. Follow-up monitoring can be used to supervise how the environmental effects estimated at this stage will actually transpire if the pipeline is constructed.
Finland is one of the countries through which the planned pipeline would run. Uusimaa Regional Environment Centre has received statements from the other countries through which the pipeline would pass (Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Russia), as well as other countries falling within the pipeline’s environmental impact area (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland). The replies have highlighted many of the same issues that were discussed in the domestic feedback.
A separate international environmental assessment has been conducted on the pipeline’s transboundary effects and the environmental impact of the entire pipeline. On 5 June, the Ministry of the Environment gave a statement on this international assessment.
Uusimaa Regional Environment Centre’s statement on the environmental impact assessment report is available in Finnish and Swedish.
Further information:
- Rolf Nyström, Deputy Director, Uusimaa Regional Environment Centre, tel. +358 40 532 8783, firstname.lastname@ymparisto.fi (can be reached until 3 July)
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