We watched from orbit what happened before, and after.

Transcript

1. On 27 August, an official from Finland's licensing agency
2. attended a site meeting for Google's project near Muhos.
3. The agency says its official pointed out work that should not have been done yet.
4. Google says nobody objected to continuing.
5. No one ordered a stop.
6. We watched from orbit what happened before, and after.
7. This is Leppiniemi, in northern Finland: 571 hectares for 9 Google data centre halls.
8. We checked 100 satellite passes; 86 were clear enough to measure.
9. On 3 March, Google said logging would begin.
10. By 3 May, 280 hectares showed up as cleared.
11. By late July, about 330: about the size of Central Park.
12. It shows when a loss became visible, not when a tree fell.
13. Finnish law says removing more than 200 hectares of forest for good,
14. in one block, needs an environmental assessment first.
15. Google says it filed a logging notice,
16. and the building office allowed preparatory works.
17. The agency, in October: those works alone would have needed an assessment.
18. The record, in order.
19. 31 March: Google applies for a permit for earthworks.
20. In April, Google asks the agency whether an assessment is needed.
21. In May the agency says yes: no permit before it.
22. By then, most of the forest we measured was already down.
23. 27 August: the site meeting.
24. The agency says it decided to investigate only in mid-September.
25. 17 September: a conservation group's complaint goes public.
26. 6 October: the agency tells Google to stop.
27. Now the earthworks: ground with no cover left.
28. On the day of the site meeting, about 115 hectares.
29. By 1 October, about 190: 70 more in the 5 weeks after the meeting,
30. before anyone told Google to stop.
31. Our last pass, on the 11th, shows no clear increase since.
32. At that meeting the agency also learned about a second site, Otanmäki, near Kajaani.
33. Our count of lost tree cover there: about 180 hectares.
34. Google says slightly under 200, felled and prepared.
35. Whether that crosses the legal line is the agency's call.
36. It has told Google to stop there too.
37. Google says it fell short of its own
38. standards and will plant trees on 130 hectares.
39. We put our count to the agency.
40. It would not comment on the figures,
41. says work at both sites is suspended, and will inspect them.
42. Separately, police in Oulu are checking whether there is a crime.