From wcsbeau Sun Feb 27 01:26:10 1994 Subject: E-Link;_VUOTOS_RESERVOIR.txt Apparently-To: wcsbeau@ccs.carleton.ca Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1993 09:29:16 -0500 (EST) From: Student Enviro-Link To: +dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr0/env-link/dlists/e-link.dl@andrew.cmu.edu Subject: E-Link: VUOTOS RESERVOIR ---------- Forwarded message begins here ---------- Date: 24 Mar 1993 23:01:36 U From: "Matti Pellinen" 240 SQUARE KILOMETRES ARE GOING TO BE FLOODED SOON IN FINLAND. CONSTRUCTION OF VUOTOS RESERVOIR IS ABOUT TO BEGIN. THE POWER PRODUCTION COMPANY IS BUYING LAND WHILE ENVIRONMENTALISTS ALSO BUY IT TO STAND AGAINST RESERVOIR. READ THIS BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT VUOTOS RESERVOIR AND STAY TUNED. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE FIGHT AGAINST THE VUOTOS RESERVOIR IS NOT OVER BY LASSI KARIVALO THE VUOTOS RESERVOIR WILL HAVE A SERIOUS NEGATIVE IMPACT NOT ONLY ON THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE VUOTOS REGION IN FINLAND, BUT ALSO ON A MUCH WIDER AREA REACHING EVEN THE NORTHERN PARTS OF THE GULF OF BOTHNIA. AND THE IRONY OF IT IS THAT THIS HUGE ENERGY-GENERATING CONSTRUCTION WILL NOT EVEN BE PROFITABLE. BUT THE RESERVOIR COULD STILL BE STOPPED. InJune 1992 Finland's Council of State made a Decision-in-Principle not to build the Vuotos Reservoir (see WWF Baltic Bulletin 2/92, page 22). The Reservoir will be used for energy production and is part of the Finnish energy production programme and linked with the building of a fifth nuclear power station in Finland. The Finnish Environment Minister voted against the decision. Already in August the powerplant company Kemijoki Oy announced that the felling of trees in the area would start, and at the same time a group of Members of Parliament proposed a motion to the Parliament that the Vuotos area should be protected by Special Law. In September the Finnish Government Committee for the Environment decided to take the motion to debate. Now it is up to the Water Rights Appeal Court to decide. WWF Finland, Finnish Association for Nature Conservation and other nature conservation and environmental organizations in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Germany have previously criticized the Government's plans to build the Vuotos Reservoir and now the actual decision. In this article more detailed arguments are given for the opinion of WWF Finland that the Reservoir should not be built. YEARS BEFORE THE FINAL DECISION There are already two major water reservoirs - Porttipahta and Lokka - in the catchment area of Kemijoki in the Finnish Lapland. The first plans for a third reservoir, Vuotos, were made public in the 1950s and planning started in the 1960s. The damming-up of Ounasjoki River was prevented by Special Law. In 1982 the Government decided that the reservoir should, after all, not be built. The decision was decreed as binding to all future Finnish Governments. Funds for the development of the area were granted by the state and people felt safe to move back. But in 1987 Kemijoki Oy submitted new plans for the building of the reservoir, and soon after the Government decided that the 1982 decree would no longer be binding for the present Government. By the recent Decision-in-Principle the Government has granted the Kemijoki Oy the right to appeal to the Water Rights Appeal Court for a building permit. The decision has, in a way, cleared up the situation. Only after the coming legal proceedings will we know what will happen. At the moment the case is lost to neither party. The time lapse between the Decision-in-Principle and a legally binding decision of the Water Rights Appeal Court will be several years. The proceedings are also very likely to be characterized by severe disagreements and disputes. The Pro Vuotos Group and nature conservation organizations are poised for a delayed struggle to prevent the building of the Reservoir. SUBMERGED NATURE CONSERVATION SITES If the Vuotos Reservoir is built several sites still in their natural state, with considerable national and regional natural values, will be submerged. The water level will be raised enough to cover 240 km2 of forests and swamp land as well as large areas of riverine habitats. An extensive land, swamp and river ecosystem will be destroyed. The Rytivaara Palokangas ridge area, which is part of the Finnish National Ridge Protection Programme, would be included. Only the highest parts of the area will be above the water as detached islands and islets. The Reservoir will wipe out geologically interesting landscapes formed during the last Ice Age about 15,000 years ago. The Keminsaari Islands will disappear altogether. They were formed in an area where the Kemijoki River flows in several branches through a delta deposit which also dates back to the Ice Age. The vegetation of the islands includes valuable floodplain species. The area has been used as pastures for cattle, and that has benefited the flora. Many nationally and regionally endangered plants grow on the islands. They also harbour birds. A colony of hundreds of sand martins (Riparia riparia) nest on the sand bank of the biggest of the Keminsaari Islands. Kokonaapa is classified as a regionally valuable string fen (aapa bog). >From a conservation point of view especially its open centre is an important flark bog. It is also a nesting area of the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), which is classified as very endangered in Finland. Kokonaapa was initially to be included in the Finnish National Swamp Protection Programme, but was omitted mainly on the request of the peat production industry. In the north-eastern part of the planned Vuotos Reservoir is the lush Katosaapa area, which includes several types of fen land. Unfortunately the vegetation of this area has not yet been investigated in detail. It is known, however, that several regionally endangered plants can be found here. NUTRIENT INCREASE DOWNSTREAM The impact of the Vuotos Reservoir on the downstream water system has been forecast by computer models, which only give an overall estimate of what will happen. During the first year the oxygen con tent of the water will be reduced to 1-3 mg per litre. Oxygen deficient water from the reservoir will then flow into Kemijoki River, where the present oxygen content is about 12 mg per litre. As a consequence the reduction of the oxygen content will be felt all the way further down to Lake Kemijaervi. The phosphorous content of the water in Kemijoki River down to its mouth, and in the northern parts of the Gulf of Bothnia, will increase consider ably. Lake Kemijaervi will become eutrophicated to such an extent that it will cause great damage to the limnological processes in the lake as well as to the quality of the water for various uses. There are no natural basins on the way from Vuotos to the Gulf of Bothnia, where nutrients can be deposited in sediments. The present input of phosphorous from Kemijoki River to the northern parts of the Gulf of Bothnia is about 400 tonnes per year. If the Vuotos Reservoir is built this input will increase by 1.5 per cent, which is about the same as the present discharge from the industry of this area. This increase will affect most of the water within 10 kilometres from the mouth of the river. Such an effect should be taken most seriously in this specific area of the Baltic Sea, where phosphorous is limiting to growth. Increased phosphorous con centrations can thus cause marine eutrophication in the Gulf of Bothnia. Like all other countries around the Baltic Finland made a commitment at the HELCOM Ministerial Meeting in 1988 to reduce the national emissions of phosphorous and nitrogen with 50 percent by the year 1995. In order to achieve this drastic water protection measures are called for, not the creation of new sources of nutrients. Further more, due to industrial discharges the surroundings of the town of Kemi is already one of the hotspots indicated in the Joint Comprehensive Action Programme. LESS SALMON UPSTREAM? No investigations of the possible release and environmental impact of heavy metals from the Vuotos Reservoir have been made yet. It is, however, essential that such investigations be made before the start of the proceedings for a construction permit. Based on the experience of the Lokka and Porttipahdas reservoirs there is every reason to assume that at least the mercury load will in crease to such an extent that the consumpiton of fish from the Vuotos Reservoir must be restricted. In the Vuotos area extensive areas of forestland have been ploughed to improve timber yield. If submerged these soils are likely to contribute to the increase of mercury in the food chain. The Vuoutos Reservoir will also block the way for fish, mainly salmon, on their way up to the spawning grounds in the upper reaches of Kemijoki River. The increased oxygen demand in the reservoir will also cause many fish to have to move further up the river, where they will then have to compete with local trout populations. STRONG LOCAL OPINION The local inhabitants are strongly against the building of the reservoir. To them it would mean a dramatic and irreversible change in their natural environment. Their home district will have totally new characteristics and their traditional outdoor activities will be restricted. Some people will be forced to move altogether. All these fears and negative expectations have roused the resentment and disapproval of the inhabitants of the area. Reindeer farming and berry picking, as well as forestry, are important sources of income here. If the reservoir is built these activities will be seriously affected. HUGE - BUT UNPROFITABLE The Government Institute of Economic Research has prepared a report on the economic profitability of the Vuotos project. According to the report the project is not profitable even if all the costs of environmental damage are left out. This conclusion differs greatly from that of the report produced by the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry, which estimated the project to be most profitable with an annual revenue of about FIM 5-10 million. However, if one assumes that these figures are correct, the annual profit should be reduced by the costs of environmental damage. This would considerably reduce the estimated profit. It could even reduce it so heavily that there might be nothing left. In any case, the socioeconomic profitability will be much lower than estimated by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, if not non-existent as calculated by the Government Institute of Economic Research. Kemijoki Oy tends to understate and invalidate the calculations of the Institute, accusing them of being faulty and prejudiced. Such accusations are groundless, though, since information obtained from the company itself and from the Ministry of Trade and Industry is the very basis for the calculations. Furthermore, the Insitute is not an interested party in the matter, but investigated this project as one of many public investments. ALL UP TO THE COURT The Water Rights Appeal Court will be granting a building permit if the Vuotos project is considered a necessary public interest and if the benefits from the projects are considered to be greater than the damages, adverse effects or losses of advantages. This principle leads to a comparison of pros and cons, where not only the applicant's justifications are taken into account. The over all environmental impact and socio economic profitability will be considered as equally important factors in making the final decision. In a national perspective the socioeconomic profitability of the Vuotos project is so insignificant that the project cannot be claimed to be justified as a national interest. This is even more so as the power production company can hardly be said to represent the public interest. However, if the Court finds that the principle of public interest can be applied to advance the interests of a private company, then the Vuotos Reservoir might very well be built. The final decision taken by the Court will be the result of the opinion formed within this body. One can in advance only ponder whether it will be a socioeconomic or political one. It will be even more interesting since there has not been any case of the same magnitude as the Vuotos Reservoir since the reconstruction of the Water Rights Appeal Court in 1987. The Lokka and Porttipahdas reservoirs were decided and built before the renewal of the legislation. Lassi Karivalo Head of Conservation WWF Finland Uudenmaankatu 40 SFQ00120 HELSINGFORS 12 Finland Telephone: +358- 0 644 511 Telefax: +358- 0 602 239 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- FINLAND FORCED TO MAKE EIA FOR VUOTOS? Finland has signed the Espoo Convention, the 1992 Helsinki Convention and the Declaration on the Protection of the Arc tic Environment. These three international agreements should be taken into account when considering the building of the Vuotos Reservoir. The Espoo Convention The impact of the Vuotos project in the northern parts of the Gulf of Bothnia calls for the Finnish authonties to negotiate with the Swedish authorities in this matter. If Finland does not take that initiative Sweden should. When the ECE General Agreement on EIA - the Espoo Convention - was signed in 1991 it was agreed that the principles of the agreement will be adopted by the Signatories even before they have ratified it. In Finland the EIA law will be effective from the beginning of 1993. Thus, an environmental impact assessment should be started immediately in the Vuotos area. An evaluation of the natural resources of the area should also be included in that assessment. Presently there is not enough data available about the environmental impact to make a reliable estimate of the pros and cons. Before the completion of the EIA the Vuotos area should be left in its present state. Any radical changes of the natural environment should be avoided as they would impair the assessment, especially of the natural resources. There is also a Finnish-Swedish agreement about the water area along the common border. The Helsinki Convention According to Article 7 (Environmental Impact Assessment) in the new 1992 Helsinki Convention, both HELCOM and the affected country (countries) should be notified 'whenever an environmental impact assessment of a proposed activity that is likely to cause a significant adverse impact on the marine environment of the Baltic Sea Area is required by international law or supra-national regulations applicable to the Contracting Party of origin'. In the case of Vuotos this means that Finland should carry out an EIA adequately and in co-operation with neighbouring countries that might be affected by the environmental impact of the reservoir. The Declaration on the Arctic In 1991 Finland and eight other countries signed the Declaration on the Protection of the Arctic Environment. An important part of this Declaration deals with the assessment of the impact on the environment of major projects in this area. The Declaration covers all areas north of the Arctic Circle, i.e. also the Vuotos. Environment Minister highly critical After the Finnish Government's Decision-in-Principle about Vuotos the Minister of the Environment, Ms Sirpa Pietikaeinen who voted against the decision - issued a sharp and highly critical press release. It said, among other things, that due to the lack of a proper environmental impact assessment the Finnish Government should not have made its Decision-in-Principle. "In accordance with the principles of its international agreements Finland should have had an assessment made in due course before submitting the matter to the Council of State. If the results of such an assessment had proved that the damages of the project exceed its benefits the uncertainty of the people living in the area could have been eliminated through legal protection of the Vuotos area by Special Law. - - - The Decision of the Council of State should at least, by imposing a fine, have made Kemijoki Oy abstain from any preparatory measures that would cause irreversible or prolonged effects on the environment or the natural resources of the area prior to the decision by the Water Rights Appeal Court. The company should have been forced to make necessary investigations of the natural values before allowed to clear any land in the area. Now the environmental assessment has become meaningless after hundreds of hectares have already been cleared." -------------============------------- Student EnviroLink |*| SEAC |*| Skibo Hall Josh Knauer, Administrator |*| Carnegie Mellon University Voice/fax: (412) 268-4949 |*| 5000 Forbes Ave. |*| Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA >>If your group puts out a newsletter, please send it to the above address!!<< ** Also, PLEASE contact us if you are passing on the Student EnviroLink Networks to other people in any way so we know how extensive our readership is ** ---------