Finland’s Licensing and Supervision Agency (LVV) reportedly asked Finnish police on October 22, 2026, to investigate possible environmental-law violations connected to Google’s data-center projects near Muhos and Kajaani. Noticias de Navarra reported the request. On October 6, LVV had ordered Tuike Finland Oy to stop specified preparatory work immediately or by October 23 at the latest, under threat of a fine.
The reported assessment threshold
Heise reports that Finnish rules require an environmental impact assessment when more than 200 hectares of forest are permanently cleared. It puts the Muhos project above 300 hectares and says Kajaani may also have crossed the threshold. Noticias de Navarra reported that 530 hectares were cleared or prepared across the two project areas before the relevant environmental studies were complete.
Those figures put the reported site work in context: the threshold concerns permanently cleared forest, while the broader reported total covers land cleared or prepared. The figures describe separate measures.
A separate report about Hamina
Noticias de Navarra, citing Helsingin Sanomat, reported that 1.3 hectares of protected forest outside the construction permit were cleared during expansion work at Google’s Hamina data center in 2018–2019. The account said the clearing affected Siberian flying squirrel habitat and that no sanction followed. It also reported that LVV classified key permits and urban-planning documents in 2020 at the request of a Google representative.
A resident’s account and Google’s response
Otanmäki resident Anni Ranta told The Guardian that wolves had come into the village after wild animals moved out of the forest. Her account was reported amid the concerns about the nearby clearing.
Google told the BBC that it had acted in good faith under Finland’s Forestry Act while acknowledging that it had fallen short of its own standards in this case. The company said it would comply with LVV’s requests and planned tree planting across 130 hectares at Muhos.
