Sweden: Court halts wind farm; approval of limestone quarry is appealed

Sweden’s Land and Environmental Court of Appeal rejected on Wednesday a proposed wind farm off the coast of Falkenberg after it was determined the project could threaten the livelihoods of fish and porpoises.

Swedish Radio’s local channel in Halland said the wind farm could scare away cod from their spawning grounds and hurt the mating of porpoises. It also cast doubt on whether the revenue from the wind power generated would exceed the project’s costs.

Jan-Åke Jacobson, chief executive officer of the developer Favonius, said the decision was hard to swallow.

“Well, I’m a little disappointed and confused. They agreed, in fact, to our environmental impact report but still rejected our application,” he said.

Falkenberg municipality, which lies on Sweden’s west coast south of Gothenburg, had previously said yes to the project, called Kattegatt Offshore. The wind farm would have included some 50 wind in an area of ​​8.5 square miles in the sea.

Quarry decision appealed

The Swedish Environment Protection Agency and the Gotland county council are appealing a court ruling allowing the Nordkalk company to mine limestone in a protected area.

The land and environment court gave the go-ahead for the quarry earlier this month, after the Swedish Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s previous approval and sent the case back for reconsideration. That followed the occupation of the site by environmentalists.

In appealing the latest approval, the two agencies say the ruling is not consistent with both European Union and Swedish law. They argue that the company has failed to demonstrate how the quarrying would affect the water in three nearby EU protected areas.