EIA programme for the Kollaja project submitted to the Regional Environment Centre

On 4 January 2008, Pohjolan Voima submitted the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) programme for the Kollaja project to the North Ostrobothnia Regional Environment Centre. The project comprises the Kollaja reservoir and the Kollaja hydropower plant regulating it. The purpose of the project is to increase hydropower production, particularly by employing flood storage and the Kollaja power plant and five other plants downstream of it. The environmental impacts of the different project options are assessed, including the construction of the reservoir without a power plant. The plan will be developed during the EIA process to minimise adverse effects on the environment and local residents.

The sections above the Haapakoski power plant of the River Iijoki are protected under the Act on the Protection of Rapids. The Act does not prevent the application of the EIA procedure on the assessment of the project's environmental impacts.

The preliminary EIA programme was submitted to the Regional Environment Centre in October 2007. It was discussed by the EIA monitoring group in November, with a few specifications added to the programme document.