Red Orbit – July 08, 2008
Nord Stream, the Swiss company that wants to build a Baltic Sea gas pipeline has signed an agreement with the Italian company Saipem on building the first 1,220 km of the pipeline. It will start in Vyborg in Russia and end in Greifswald in Germany. The schedule for the agreement is very tight. Construction cannot start until all the necessary permits have been obtained from all five countries along the route of the pipeline.
A meeting was held at the end of May, which noted that the environmental impact assessment of the project is still under way. It is scheduled to be completed at the beginning of next year. Permits will only be issued on the basis of the assessment. In Finland alone, two permits are required. Both take time and can also be subject to appeal. Everything needs to go exceptionally smoothly if Saipem's ships are to start laying the pipeline at the beginning of 2010.
Anita Makinen, head of the World Wildlife Fund's Marine Programme, is watching this haste with concern. In her opinion, when preparations for a project go so far before the permits are obtained, it "pushes the decision-makers' backs to the wall" and "undermines the backbone of the entire environmental assessment and permit process." Clearly, Nord Stream is very confident about obtaining the permits. The company has also started storing pipes in the port of Kotka and its subcontractor Eupec is preparing to build a pipe- coating factory in Kotka.
Source:
Finnish Environmentalist Concerned About Impact of Baltic Gas Pipeline Project - Business - redOrbit
Related Article:
Environmental requirements on any gas pipeline
Project Info:
http://www.helcom.fi/press_office/ne...fault/NEGP.pdf