Controversy Over Baltic Pipeline

The Finnish government said earlier this week that an environmental report on the impact of a controversial Russian-German pipeline is not detailed enough and has called for additional scientific tests.

The comments from the country's environment ministry were made in a letter to countries bordering the Baltic Sea.

The planned 1,200-kilometer (746-mile) pipeline would be laid along the seabed and connect the Russian port of Vyborg, near Saint Petersburg with Greifswald in northern Germany.

No justification for chosen path

"The developer (Nord Stream) gives no environmental justification for choosing this corridor," for the pipeline which runs through almost 370 kilometers of Finnish waters, passing to the east of the Swedish island of Gotland and to the south of the Danish island of Bornholm, the ministry said.

A significant amount of construction work would be needed to reduce unevenness of the seabed in Finnish waters if the route goes ahead as planned, the Finns said. The Finnish environment ministry said a location further to the south would be more suitable.

Baltic countries as well as Denmark, Finland and particularly Sweden fear the construction of the pipeline could damage the ecologically sensitive Baltic Sea, the seabed of which is littered with munitions dumped from World War II.

Ecological worries

The three Nordic countries have all said they would not make any decision on the pipeline before the autumn and would only approve the project after seeing environmental studies on the project's expected impact.

The ministry called for an extension to the August deadline by which Nord Stream was expected to deliver the final version of its report and the route for the pipeline. It described this timetable as "extremely tight."

"It seems the developer has not investigated other options for the proposed corridor or other routings more favorable for the environment of the Gulf of Finland," the ministry said. "The evaluation lacks precision, and the methods used and the basis of knowledge are not presented in nearly enough detail."

Natural gas

Russian gas giant Gazprom and German firms BASF and Eon agreed in 2005 to build the pipeline to carry Russian natural gas to Germany. The consortium is 51 percent-owned by Gazprom, while the German companies each control 24.5 percent.

Earlier this month, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, now the head of the shareholders' committee of Nord Stream, said there was little possibility of the pipeline damaging the Baltic environment.

The link is set to open in 2010 and when fully operational will carry 27.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas.