Response to interpellation 2023/24:14 on wildlife adaptation of power line corridors
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the wildlife adaptation of power line corridors. KD argues that electrification is crucial for a fossil-free society and that power line corridors should be maintained sustainably 1. KD considers that wildlife adaptation and biodiversity can be combined or balanced depending on the environment 1 2. KD emphasizes that the government follows Svenska kraftnät and that the authority shall consult with the County Administrative Board in cases of major environmental impact 1 3. KD is prepared to investigate gaps in the dialogue with landowners and hunters 3. KD argues that the debate works best through exchange in the chamber 4, that companies need electricity at sensible prices, that the forest should be cared for, and that wildlife management should be handled through sound common sense 4. C argues that wildlife is important for biodiversity and food supply 5. C considers that the power line corridors can be used to benefit wildlife and wants Svenska kraftnät to lead the way 5 6. C argues that Svenska kraftnät sometimes does not want to discuss the issue with landowners and hunters 6. C considers it important to include landowners and hunters in the dialogue because they have the best local knowledge 7. C argues that the issue is a kitchen-table issue for people in rural areas and that dialogue is necessary to find a solution 7. C emphasizes that wildlife adaptation can benefit biodiversity and reduce damage to the forest 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)
Madam Speaker! Audience! Mikael Larsson has asked me if I intend to work for the business enterprise Svenska kraftnät, sometimes abbreviated as SVK, to be commissioned to adapt power line corridors to favor wildlife and if I intend to take any other initiatives to facilitate cooperation between the responsible authority and forest owners and hunters.
Electrification is truly crucial for us to succeed in building a fossil-free society. As the power grid is expanded, it is important that the power line corridors are designed and maintained in a sustainable manner.
In the management of the power line corridors, there are quite many interests to safeguard and take into account. Among these is the interest in favoring wildlife and biodiversity – both parts. Increased fodder production can, in some cases, be combined with favoring biodiversity, but in other cases, they are opposing interests. The regular clearing of the power line corridors means that wildlife forage disappears for a number of years. At the same time, it has been shown that the open areas in the power line corridors are positive for certain endangered species and thus also for biodiversity. Since the conditions along our power line corridors differ, it is important that the correct management measures are taken in the correct environment, where wildlife adaptation may be appropriate to apply in some cases.
I also want to mention that the state-owned enterprise Svenska kraftnät, together with other actors, has worked on evaluating and compiling different types of management methods. During 2019-2021, Svenska kraftnät carried out a project together with Södra Skogsägarna, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, and Ecogain, which resulted in the report Management for increased biodiversity and ecosystem services in power line corridors. In that report, it is detailed which different management methods, including wildlife adaptation, can be useful.
The Government will continue to follow the ongoing work of SVK, i.e., the business enterprise Svenska kraftnät.
Mikael Larsson (C)
Madam Speaker! I would like to begin by thanking Minister Busch for the answer. With this interpellation, I want to delve a little deeper into this issue, for it is an issue that truly engages people all around in our regions.
Just as it is described, the game we have in our forests is important for biodiversity but also for the forest and our nature as a whole. The game we have in our forests can also be an important part of the food supply that we have in the country. So that is seen from a food supply perspective but also so that we can have food on the tables. Game is perhaps increasingly being served even in public kitchens, within elderly care and schools.
For many years, ungulate wildlife - which includes both moose and roe deer - has caused significant damage in our forests, for example to Scots pine and Norway spruce. This is something that costs our forest owners very large sums of money. It is therefore necessary to truly find new ways to provide feed specifically for the wildlife in our forests.
In Sweden, we have approximately 140,000 hectares of power line corridors. We have great opportunities to also utilize the power line corridors for something else, so that they do not just - excuse the expression - stand there. They serve a function so that we can deliver electricity throughout our country. But - and it is perhaps this that is the actual dilemma - how can we utilize the power line corridors in two ways? It is, of course, about continuing to be able to transport electricity, but it is also about how we can use the power line corridors in another way.
The power line corridors are primarily for us to transmit electricity. But how can we benefit wildlife in another way?
I hear in the Minister's answer that there has been a project regarding this. What has become of the project? Can one see out in the regions that there will be a change? That is what is somewhat interesting in this.
This is a question that has been picked up from my home constituency, Västra Götalands län's southern constituency, and the border areas of Sjuhäradsbygden and Halland, where many are very engaged in precisely this issue.
Based on the report that has been prepared and the management methods contained in the report, I wonder if the Minister can already see that there has been a change regarding how Svenska kraftnät works with this issue. Is the Minister prepared to make that specific work permanent when it comes to clearing power line corridors in such a way that it benefits our wildlife population - and in this case, particularly in southern Sweden?
Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)
Madam Speaker! I note diligently the specific questions from the member and also want to take the opportunity to truly thank for this interpellation, which is very well-initiated. Given that I am a combination of a rural resident, a hunter, and the Minister for Energy, one might say that it landed very well, so to speak. We share the interest and commitment for these issues.
It looks like a well-thought-out arrangement with the Minister for Rural Affairs in the plenary hall today as well. I had the pleasure of being able to combine both some recreation and wildlife management with the Minister for Rural Affairs as recently as this weekend. We just saw a power line corridor in one of the passes. It becomes very obvious that it fulfills its function for the electricity, as the member very rightly points out. But here there is also a very unique opportunity to alternate in shifts.
It is about, among other things, increasing biodiversity. There are species that thrive very well in the type of meadow-like environment that is created after one has properly cleared the ground all the way down a power line corridor, which is done at regular intervals. One can perhaps also complement. If one has more wildlife feed inside the forest – it looks a bit different – that type of biodiversity can make it so that we get more wildlife feed naturally in the more overgrown forest. In other power line corridors, we need the opposite. In those cases, we do not necessarily need to have so much more of that sort of – in quotation marks – biodiversity, but there we would be benefited by more that can serve as wildlife feed, not least for the ungulates, especially during very tough winters. It then becomes a bit more accessible.
What I actually want to establish for those who do not nerd out as often in the border area between hunting and energy issues as I have reason to do – or as one obviously does in the southern part of Västgötaslätten – is that there does not need to be a contradiction here.
It is this that the government, through the authorities, is trying to achieve. It must be possible to balance. That is what this report, Management for increased biodiversity and ecosystem services in power line corridors, and what has been looked at, has been about.
We in the government are aware of the situation. I think it is difficult, given the basis we have at the current moment, to assess whether it works as intended all the way through. One then needs to be aware that in some areas it may be the biological diversity that carries more weight, while in other areas it will be the wildlife feed that carries more weight.
In the total, the balance must be able to be maintained in an area. This means that one cannot just listen to one voice or the other. It might be right in the total, but one side might be less satisfied when it comes to the specific power line street in a part of the country or in a part of an area.
Here I believe it would be good with increased dialogue and that we encourage both landowners and hunters to follow this issue. That is the ambition. We are clear from the government that biodiversity, wildlife feed and electrical safety can go hand in hand but that we gladly receive input on how it works and if it works as intended. There I mean that we perhaps need to have more underlying data.
Mikael Larsson (C)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister Busch, for the answer!
I believe we agree that the power line corridors look different around our country. Something that the interpellation is not about, but which perhaps is a larger and more interesting question, is whether we should have power lines in the air or bury them. Ground-based technology can be the subject of another interpellation.
When it comes to the power line corridors, I think what the Minister says is interesting. Perhaps there should not be any contradictions between keeping the power lines, favoring wildlife, and achieving biodiversity.
Several landowners and hunters whom I have spoken with at home in my constituency Sjuhärad believe that when it comes to clearing brush in the somewhat smaller power line corridors that the private grid owners provide, it is much easier to establish a dialogue and write maintenance agreements if one clears in a way that benefits both the wildlife and the biodiversity together.
It may be the case, and perhaps it should also be the case, that if one clears land in the right way to benefit wildlife, it can also strengthen biodiversity. There should be no contradictions in this.
Power line corridors are often large, wide and long, which means that one could save certain parts of them for biodiversity and also benefit wildlife in a completely different way. Here, I think that the state, via Affärsverket svenska kraftnät, should take the lead and show the way and that it really is possible. There are private actors who can do it in a completely different way and who believe that it really works and that nothing speaks against it.
I think it is a bit interesting. The report has been produced, there are maintenance methods, and work has been done on this. Still, it is my view that Svenska kraftnät in some parts of the country does not even want to discuss the issue, but that it is closed doors. It is not even possible to initiate projects. The landowners and the hunters feel that one does not even want to discuss or listen to them, but that it is completely erased.
I think it is a bit of a shame that the state in this case, when there are methods, reports, and projects carried out, says no thanks to the little person who wants to engage in this type of case. I do not want the Minister to comment on specific cases, but rather generally how she views that Svenska kraftnät does not want to discuss it when there are nevertheless methods and reports for this.
The Minister has preceded me. I also observed that the Minister for Rural Affairs entered the chamber. My second question, Madam Speaker, is: Does the Minister, based on what I have said, based on the report, and based on other information the Minister has received, intend to take some other initiatives, perhaps together with the Minister for Rural Affairs, who is also from the Kristdemokraterna, to obtain a different type of measures?
Dialogues and such can be introduced with forest companies, forest owners' associations, the Swedish Association of Hunters and Fishers, and Svenska kraftnät so that they can sit at the same table to map out a way forward. Is the Minister prepared to do this in the near future to establish a good dialogue and to benefit the wildlife in our Swedish forests?
Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)
Madam Speaker! I also note this specific question.
I want to start with the question of the distribution of responsibility and the roles therein. Svenska kraftnät reviews its power line corridors regularly and as needed, but generally speaking, a forest corridor is cleared of undergrowth approximately every eighth to every twelfth year. In between, additional inspections of the corridors are carried out to ensure that there are no other trees outside the power line corridor itself that could fall and cause interference. A part of the forest corridor and the patrol paths used so that the line can be inspected are also reviewed.
What lies in the responsibility here is that one shall consult with the County Administrative Board regarding measures that may significantly and noticeably change the natural environment. This is clearly stipulated in the Environmental Code, in Chapter 12, Section 6 to be exact – a so-called 12:6 consultation. If the dredging of the pipeline street is of such a character, Svenska kraftnät shall always carry out a 12:6 consultation, and the County Administrative Board can then, within the framework of that consultation, set requirements for Svenska kraftnät to make adaptations of the environment.
The County Administrative Board also has a guiding function towards the authority Svenska kraftnät when it comes to providing valuable comments based on its local knowledge. Svenska kraftnät is a state agency and a state-owned enterprise and has that responsibility, while the County Administrative Board is to possess the local knowledge.
Possibly we need to bring in another minister there, namely Erik Slottner, who is responsible for the county administrative boards, to see if the dialogue is sufficiently active. When Svenska kraftnät does its part, is there then room for the landowners and the hunters to respond and make adjustments? Is this happening to a sufficiently high extent, as the opportunity allows and as I believe should be done?
Before the clearing, Svenska kraftnät shall regularly have a dialogue with the affected landowners and other stakeholders. Svenska kraftnät is currently striving to adapt its measures according to the views that have been received.
I think these are important and major issues. One has a lot of responsibility which is the primary responsibility. If we receive signals that it is not working fully in all parts as it is intended, I think we should be able to be responsive to that.
I have great confidence in my agency, Affärsverket svenska kraftnät. However, there is a clear main focus, and it is clear that there may be reason to follow the application, especially when the working methods change after the report, and obtain deeper information on which management methods are used, as I mentioned earlier.
I think it is difficult but see no reason for mistrust today. I do, however, hear the reports that the members are giving here today. I am prepared to take this seriously and investigate and obtain more information to see if there is a gap here in parts and if there are lessons to be drawn from how work has been done elsewhere, such as the examples that the member himself highlighted with private landowners, where a different success in the dialogue has been experienced.
Mikael Larsson (C)
Madam Speaker! Thank you for that, Minister Busch! Sweden faces many large and important issues ahead, on many different levels. In the grand scheme of things, it is important that we do not forget the kitchen table issues. My view is that this is a typical kitchen table issue in hunting circles and in landowner circles. These are circles that I, as someone living in the countryside, am part of, and where this is discussed.
Then it is about what the Minister says and whether the County Administrative Board should be involved, as they should also be able to have the local knowledge of what the biodiversity and other aspects look like around various power line corridors. It is very important and very good. But I would also really like to weigh in on what this has also been about, namely that those who perhaps have the very best local knowledge are the landowners and the hunters themselves.
What I hope the ministers will take with them - I am looking at both the ministers sitting here in the chamber - is that I believe in dialogue in this issue precisely so that a solution can be found.
For Svenska kraftnät, the main mission is to deliver electricity throughout our country via the lines we have. But this is also something that, in the large whole, can benefit Sweden in terms of food and biodiversity and so that the damage to our forests shall decrease. And we can use the forest for fuels. So much comes into this issue if one wants to make it a bit larger.
I will continue to follow this issue on behalf of my constituents in my home constituency, and I hear that the Minister will also follow this issue. There may therefore be reasons for more interpellations or discussions on this further ahead.
Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)
Madam Speaker! I thank you again for this interpellation.
I think it is when we have this type of exchange of opinions in interpellation debates in this chamber, Sweden's highest legislative assembly, that the debate works best. It increases the knowledge of how this actually works today.
I also think that the member debates this in a commendable way with humility, given that we have had yet another night of brutal shootings and an insecurity that creeps ever closer to people - the greatness of these types of issues and the greatness of the energy supply - and at the same time, with great respect, carves out the very human-centric issues that this interpellation is about and how greatness sometimes also exists in the small things. It is an issue that on paper can look a bit dry - wildlife feed in relation to power line corridors in our country - but there lies something so important as how people and our companies get enough electricity where it is needed and when it is needed at sensible prices. There it is also about how we care for the green gold, the forest, which is one of our most important natural resources, and reduce the damage to it and ensure that it can remain one of our primary competitive advantages. In this lies the wildlife management and the proud tradition we have of folk hunting. There it is often not through detailed regulation but through sound common sense that we can care for our wildlife population. Here also lies the responsibility for Mother Earth and for biodiversity and for us to leave behind a planet that is better than the one we inherited.
As Minister for Energy, as a landowner and as a hunter, I take this issue with me. And I believe we will have reason to follow up on this and be heard again on it.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.