Google says Muhos officials knew scope of forest work

Google says Muhos’s building control authority knew how extensive the work at its site would be, according to a statement the company submitted to Finland’s Permit and Supervisory Agency. Yle reported that Google began logging in March, before its environmental impact assessment was complete.

Google says it believed work in Muhos and Kajaani could proceed under the Forest Act and the Building Act while the assessment was still under way. “Our understanding was based on active discussions with the competent authority,” the company said in its statement.

According to Google, it received approval from Muhos’s building control authority for preparatory work on June 5, 2026. The company says it contacted the Permit and Supervisory Agency the same day and was told work could begin if it did not require a permit. Google says it outlined the planned work’s scope to the municipality’s building control authority at a meeting on June 16. The authority later confirmed in writing that it had received the notice and that work could begin on June 23. Google says it started preparatory work at the site the following day, within the agreed scope.

Google had contacted the agency in April to ask whether it needed to follow the environmental impact assessment process in Muhos. The agency said it did. Google also applied to Muhos for a landscape work permit but had not received one, according to the article. The agency says preparatory work does not remove the company’s obligation to comply with environmental impact assessment law, and that logging cannot be carried out solely under the Forest Act. Yle reported that Google cleared 330 hectares of forest in Muhos before the assessment was complete.