Finnish Daily on Russian-German Baltic Sea Natural Gas Pipeline Project

Text of editorial: “Routing of Baltic Sea natural gas pipeline circumvents environmental impact considerations”, published by Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat website on 1 March

Construction of the terrestrial portion of the Baltic Sea natural gas pipeline has been under way at full speed for quite a while already.

Upon its very inception, the Baltic Sea natural gas pipeline, as agreed by Russia and Germany, aroused strong political resistance in the Baltic countries and Poland, and then from last summer, also in Sweden. As the construction schedule has become firmer critics have focused on its environmental impact, which has aroused concern in Finland as well. Concern is clearly warranted, as so far the people building the pipeline have regarded environmental effects in an offhand manner.

Finland has not questioned the Russia’s and Germany’s right to build an underwater natural gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea. On the contrary, all through the 1990s Finland was hoping for aid to the country’s energy services via a Baltic Sea pipeline, which was then wishfully envisioned as bringing North Sea natural gas into Finland from the south.

Nothing came of that project, and the plans were then replaced by plans for a pipeline with its gas flowing in the opposite direction. The world’s biggest producer of natural gas, Russia, could use the pipeline to increase significantly its delivery of natural gas to Germany and elsewhere in mainland Europe, and it could thereby also avoid transit fees inherent in a new pipeline through the Baltic countries and Poland.

Laying natural gas pipelines along the sea floor has already long been a very common feat in various parts of the world. About 8,000 km of pipelines have been laid along the bottom of the North Sea alone, and more are being constructed all the time. This is why the internationally accepted methods and the game rules for cooperation between the shoreline states and the builders should be clear even as they apply to the Baltic Sea.

The complicating factors include political resistance to the project, the great number of countries with Baltic Sea shorelines and the special environmental conditions of the Baltic Sea, which may indeed have been exaggerated, but are, in some parts, indisputable.

The construction schedule that has been drafted for the project is uncommonly tight. Construction on the terrestrial portion of the pipeline is already under way and the plans have the submarine portion being completed by 2011. This, if anything, would require the most transparent and intense cooperation between the builder and the shoreline states. Regretfully, the information provided by those involved in construction, has been very scant thus far, and they reflect a very cavalier attitude towards the environmental impact.

The statements released on Tuesday [27 February] by Finnish environmental officials with regard to the environmental impact assessment plans presented by the pipeline builders were very critical. The statement composed by the Uusimaa Environmental Centre is based on the statements and opinions of over 50 different entities. The [Finnish] Ministry of the Environment has sent its own assessment to Sweden, Germany, Denmark and Russia. The ministry has also confirmed that it wants to participate in an international evaluation process for determining the environmental impact.

Finland considers the assessment plans presented by the builders to be entirely too general and cursory. The proposed actual route of the pipeline precisely follows the outer boundary of Finland’s economic sphere, and there have been neither any environmental reasons given for why that should be the route nor any proposals for alternate routes.

Finland feels that building a pipeline that could result in minimal harm to the environment with respect to location and construction methods would require the shifting of the proposed route about 15 km further to the south, where the sea bottom is much more level and more advantageous with regard to currents. The statement by the Ministry of the Environment points especially to the fact that the shallow Gulf of Finland is one of the most fragile parts of the Baltic Sea.

In this way Finland has demonstrated that it is fully involved in demanding that deliberate attention be paid to determine all aspects of the environmental impact of the pipeline construction.

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