Lipponen, recently retired from politics, took up a job as a private consultant for Nord Stream, the company pressing for permission to build the pipeline.
Nord Stream proposes connecting Germany's gas grid with Russia's vast natural gas resources via a massive pipe on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Finland's Ministry of the Environment is investigating the project's effects on marine life.
Lipponen says he won't be looking over his former colleagues' shoulders, nor using his influence on Ministry officials.
The project will no doubt travel a tortuous path through various negotiations, since all parties involved agree that there is a great deal of room for interpretation in the applicable national and international treaties, as well as in the rights of companies.
