Nord Stream replies to questions from the Administrative Round
Jan. 23, 2009 | Stockholm | Nord Stream AG submitted yesterday supplementary information to the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications to the questions raised during last year's administrative round.
The administrative round constitutes a logical stage of the authorisation process, and has the purpose of providing not only the authorisation agency with its viewpoints on the contents of the application, but also important referral bodies. The process with a so-called administrative round is quite normal pursuant to both the Swedish Environmental Code and – in this particular case – pursuant to the Swedish Continental Shelf Act.
Further to this background, Nord Stream submitted yesterday supplementary information in accordance with each respective public authority's pronouncements. There are however a few exceptions. Nord Stream will return with a complete report with regard to effects on fishing along the route of the pipelines. Furthermore, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) is currently updating its report concerning potential effects on deep-water flows in the Baltic Sea in conjunction with the presence of the pipelines. The Swedish Board of Fisheries and the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) inquiries will be answered in connection with the finalisation of the Espoo report and authorisation applications in the remaining jurisdictions.
However, in this context, Nord Stream would like to emphasise that the Swedish Energy Agency, the Swedish Police Service and the Swedish Coast Guard consider the application to be complete and that no further information is required.
The viewpoints that the project received from the Government in the spring of 2008, as well as from the referral bodies during the administrative round, constitute a natural stage of the authorisation process with the objective that the general public and the authorisation agency shall ultimately have the most comprehensive and complete material on which to submit comments and to take decisions.
Nord Stream's natural gas pipelines are an important European environment and energy project. Nord Stream's ambition is at each stage to reduce and mitigate environmental effects, and has performed extensive environmental studies, surveys and planning at a cost of 100 million Euros. The project contributes to Europe being able to achieve the European Union’s climate goals.
