3J·

Google forced to halt work in Finland after illegally clearing 250,000 trees for a new data center, according to the Guardian

Wolves reportedly enter Finnish villages after Google clears 1,300 acres of forest for AI data centers The large scale clearing has raised concerns about the impact on local wildlife, with residents reporting wolf sightings near populated areas.

Every tree that occupied the 815-acre site just a few months ago is now gone.

The Finnish Licensing and Supervision Authority (LVV) has ordered Google to stop work on the Muhos and Otanmäki sites after it cut down the trees before the environmental impact assessment was completed.

Google’s Finland manager, Antti Järvinen, has apologized but says they were acting on "the best understanding we had of the legislation at the time."

Muhos and Otanmäki are a $17 billion Google AI project. President Trump has criticized Google for taking the projects overseas instead of investing in the United States.

$GOOG (+0,64 %)
$GOOGL (+0,71 %)

11 Commentaires

Gunnar@Gun810

Yes, and now ?
Should data centers fly? They need space, which is available there.

People don't live in hell anymore. Accept the future!

•

SpongeBob@SquarePants

@Gun810 Apparently you don’t care about the earth. You’d rather live on a dead planet with a lot of data centers if I see.

•

NichtRelevant@NichtRelevant

@Gun810 I live in hell, though. 😅

••

MartinB@Martin_b

@Gun810 cringe ahh comment

•

Gunnar@Gun810

@Martin_b your problem

•

Valentin H.@valentin28

@Gun810 this is the problem of our society. Greed ingrained so deeply that financial gains weigh more than planet earth or the nature.

•

Poor Dad@PoorDad

That's why, thanks to SpaceX, there will be data centers in orbit.
That's my prediction 🔮

•

SpongeBob@SquarePants

@PoorDad better than destroying the earth I guess 😂😃😃

••

NichtRelevant@NichtRelevant

That one will be a nightmare for everybody involved. Google, the project managers, the contractors, the permiting authorities, the environmental protection agency. It will be fingerpointing on all sides and nobody can back off. The company cant because of the investors. The authorities cant because of public outrage. In the end the project team will be fired and the project will be deferred by month and years.

••

SpongeBob@SquarePants

@NichtRelevant agree. The thing about Google clearing a forest in Finland without permits is that they decided that whatever fine they might face is worth it. It doesn’t cost them as much as not getting the land cleared.

Because like ALL things, if the punishment is a fine, it isn’t really illegal for rich people.

••

NichtRelevant@NichtRelevant

@SquarePants That might have been the idea behind it. However I think a construction stop of 4, 6, 8, 24 month is a much more powerful tool in the arsenal for this type of project. They might end up building it somewhere else in the end.

••