Google illegally demolished an estimated 250,000 trees in Finland to make way for a data center, leaving behind a lifeless mud wasteland that forced packs of wolves into a nearby town in search of food and infuriating locals, according to a report.
The tech super giant – continuing its expansion of the booming artificial intelligence industry – cleared 816 acres of woodlands in Northern Finland, The Guardian reported Thursday.
Google is accused of removing the trees and clearing the land before it had full approval — as Finnish law requires companies to complete a mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment before large-scale operations.
Finnish officials, outraged by the mass destruction, suspended all development at two of Google’s data center sites to assess the environmental impact.
The operation took place outside the rural town of Muhos — southeast of Finland’s fifth-largest city, Oulu — as devastating images of the aftermath captured the vast barren land filled only with tire tracks, muddy puddles and mounds of dirt.
The removal of the large area of trees destroyed the wildlife in the forest, leaving predators like wolves to search for food closer to human developments in the village of Otanmäki, 50 miles from the site.
“We had wolves coming into the village because all the wild animals moved out of the forest,” resident Anni Ranta told the Guardian.
“They fled. What worries me about the data centers is also the noise because this is hard rock soil. Even when we are standing here talking,” she added, comparing the sound to a drum.
Angry residents called out Google, asking for reprieve from the company to help repay for losses the community sustained from previous tech expansions on the land.
“It has been done in the wrong way. American style. No sense. No sense at all,” Muhos resident Antti Jakonen told the outlet, calling on the company to help restore the local salmon population that had been destroyed by hydropower years ago.
Ranta revealed she feared the construction of the data centers would be a perfect target for Russian aggression in the already tense European domain.
“I don’t want them in Finland at all. I don’t like the whole idea of AI and the world changing and the way it’s changing. It’s going too fast, too soon.”
Google’s two sites near Muhos and Kajaani, roughly 90 miles apart, are part of its $15 billion investment for AI infrastructure in the Nordic country, which was announced in September.
The Finnish Licensing and Supervision Agency gave Google’s project subsidiary, Tuike Finland Oy, a deadline of Oct. 23 to suspend all operations
“In the opinion of the Finnish Licensing and Supervision Authority, extensive preparatory measures have already been taken in the project areas based on the currently available reports, such as the removal of trees, the stripping of topsoil, the construction of construction site roads and storage areas, changes to ditches and culverts, and stormwater arrangements,” Tommi Muilu, Head of the Environmental Department, said.
“In our opinion, the measures in question will change the environment and cause impacts, the identification and assessment of which are among the key objectives of the EIA procedure,” Muilu said.
The removal of the trees led to water sources flowing near the site to turn brown and pollute the streams that feed the Oulujoki River.
Google’s Finnish top chief Antti Järvinen claimed the company believed it had legislative approval to commence the large-scale tree cutting.
Järvinen’s explanation was blasted as being “pure arrogance” from the trillion dollar Alphabet company.
“They bought the vast land area and they just started to cut it, just like that,” she said. “It’s pure arrogance and it’s amazing,” Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (SLL) chair Hanna Halmeenpää said, according to the Guardian.
Opponents of the data center believe Google had been rushing to construct the complex before legislation in Finland caught up on AI advancements to implement regulations.
Järvinen apologized for the destruction as the company said it would work to protect water sources before planting back trees around 321 of the acres.
“I wonder why we have to sacrifice so much of our nature. They give everything away too easily,” conservationist Vesa Hyyryläinen told the outlet.
In July, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order, banning all large-scale AI data centers from the state, the first such ban in the US.
The executive order paused new permits for so-called “hyperscale” data centers that looked to use the Empire State’s electrical grid for up to a year.
“I don’t want New York to just be first. I want New York to be first in the right way,” Hochul said at the time.
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