Home · Entertainment · Oct 16 archive
Maine Residents Oppose Underwater Data Center Proposal
Confirmed
In Short: Local residents and policymakers in Eastport, Maine, are pushing back against a proposed underwater data center that could harm endangered whales and disrupt local fisheries.
The Eastport City Council voted unanimously to enact a 180-day moratorium on the project, halting all progress on the proposed underwater artificial intelligence data center planned for waters off Eastport.
DeepGreen, the company behind the project, applied for a preliminary permit with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in February to begin engineering and environmental tests.
The proposed data center would use up to 50 tidal turbines to generate a maximum of 15 megawatts of power, but there are no concrete construction plans yet.
Local resident Suellen Hendrix, who helped gather signatures in support of blocking the data center, said, "Nobody was questioning, 'Well, we need the jobs.' Nobody was questioning why it should be here because no one really wants it here."
Wolfson, a property manager and developer with 40 years of experience, wrote in a letter to Monitor Local, "As a property manager and developer who has operated within coastal dynamics for 40 years, I have too much respect for working waterfronts to introduce a project that threatens them."
The city's legal counsel has said that a minor formatting change to the question could put a permanent ban on data centers to a vote.
However, a second ordinance requiring voter approval for any new industrial or commercial development larger than 10,000 square feet in the ocean or 25,000 square feet on land was found to be unenforceable and unlawful.
Skip Johnson and his grandson, Parker Jarrett, fish for mackerel in Eastport, which is being considered as the site of the underwater data center, alarming locals and the fishing industry.
DeepGreen's application was found to have multiple deficiencies by FERC, including failure to identify all Tribes affected by the project and a lack of detailed technical explanation for a 400-acre operational envelope.
The company told FERC that the total proposed project operational capacity has been scaled down to a maximum of 15 MW to align with revised commercial modeling.
The moratorium gives the city time to consult with the planning board about the two citizen-led initiatives to pass new ordinances.
Dwayne Tomah, a historian with the Sipayik Passamaquoddy community adjacent to Eastport, told a crowd of data center opponents at a recent rally, "This has happened nationwide, folks, it's nothing new."
What this adds
The proposed data center could cause thermal pollution and disrupt local water temperatures, current dynamics, and critical benthic habitats that support Eastport’s commercial fisheries.
DeepGreen's preliminary permit application does not grant permission to actually build the center, and the company has no immediate concrete plans to do so.
The community has mobilized against the proposed data center since DeepGreen applied for the permit in February.
Public support for data centers has collapsed, with 75% of respondents to a poll by Embold Research saying they would not support a data center near where they live.
Background
A drone attack caused a fire at Yandex's data center in Sasovo, Russia, leading to service disruptions.
A drone attack caused a fire at Yandex's data center in Sasovo, Russia, leading to service disruptions.
What's confirmed
- The Eastport City Council voted unanimously to enact a 180-day moratorium on the project, halting all progress on the proposed underwater artificial intelligence data center planned for waters off Eastport.
- DeepGreen, the company behind the project, applied for a preliminary permit with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in February to begin engineering and environmental tests.
- The proposed data center would use up to 50 tidal turbines to generate a maximum of 15 megawatts of power, but there are no concrete construction plans yet.
- The city's legal counsel has said that a minor formatting change to the question could put a permanent ban on data centers to a vote.
- However, a second ordinance requiring voter approval for any new industrial or commercial development larger than 10,000 square feet in the ocean or 25,000 square feet on land was found to be unenforceable and unlawful.
- Skip Johnson and his grandson, Parker Jarrett, fish for mackerel in Eastport, which is being considered as the site of the underwater data center, alarming locals and the fishing industry.
- DeepGreen's application was found to have multiple deficiencies by FERC, including failure to identify all Tribes affected by the project and a lack of detailed technical explanation for a 400-acre operational envelope.
- The company told FERC that the total proposed project operational capacity has been scaled down to a maximum of 15 MW to align with revised commercial modeling.
- The moratorium gives the city time to consult with the planning board about the two citizen-led initiatives to pass new ordinances.
What's still developing
- As Common Dreams reported last week, as the Trump administration and AI executives have aggressively pushed for the expansion of data centers, public support has collapsed, with 75% of respondents to a poll by Embold Research saying they would not support a data center near where they live.
- “There is lacking evidence to promote the potential benefit versus risk,” she said.
- A citizen‑initiative proposal for a permanent ban on data centers could go to voters with only minor formatting changes to the original language, according to the city’s legal counsel, the law firm Rudman Winchell.
- According to posts on Facebook, YouTube ( archived ) and Reddit, construction of the supposed data center could harm endangered North Atlantic right whales, which are found in the Bay of Fundy, which is off the coast of Maine's city of Eastport.
- The city of Eastport has said this project "will require significant additional permitting or licensure from the State and Federal governments" in order to get moving, and there's no evidence that's happening as of this writing.
- The company also said its activities under the permit "will remain strictly independent, non-invasive, and focused purely on information gathering, data synthesis, and scientific modeling to provide transparent details to the wider local community" ( Page 2 ).
- We rely on advertising to help fund our reporting.
- In other words, the permit "holds your place in line so you can spend private capital" to study whether the project is possible "without a competitor jumping your spot," Wolfson said.
- DeepGreen's preliminary permit application documents are all available on FERC's eLibrary website under docket number " P-15424." A document dated Aug.
- "priority to pursue development of this project at this location for up to four years."