Google is facing a backlash in Finland after clearing an estimated 250,000 trees near Muhos for a data center without the environmental impact assessments the law requires, according to Miranda Bryant at The Guardian. Finland’s environmental regulator ordered work stopped there and at a second site in Otanmäki, where a conservation group estimates 150,000 more trees were cut. Antti Järvinen, who runs Google in Finland, apologized but said the company acted on its best understanding of the law at the time. A petition calling for stricter data center rules and payments to affected towns has passed 93,000 signatures, and Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, who championed Google’s €13 billion investment, called the clearing a “cold shower.”
