Dawn Alexander of Save Lorneville

The two companies promoting a hyperscale data centre in Lorneville, west of Saint John, had planned to hold a quiet open house there on Thursday, but ended up listening to a series of passionate speeches after members of the opposition group, Save Lorneville took over the meeting and turned it into a boisterous town hall.

“I’m here to tell you,” said Dawn Alexander, one member of the group, “that you do not have social licence to develop or operate here.”

She then asked a question to company officials from Texas-based VoltaGrid and Beacon Data Centers of Calgary: “Do you think you have social licence?”

“Answer,” someone in the audience called out. “They know they don’t,” someone else shouted.

“Does the Lorneville community give approval for Beacon AI to develop and operate,” Alexander asked.

“No!” came a loud chorus from the crowd of about 250.

“What about VoltaGrid?”

“No!”

“Did you hear it?” Alexander asked. “These people have spoken many  times before. They are loud because they want to be heard. Hear what they’re saying. Lorneville does not want you as a neighbour.”

EIA will not likely stop project

Crystale Harty, director of New Brunswick’s environmental impact assessment branch

As the meeting went on, some of the officials who were there to answer questions at the planned open house, began to participate in the impromptu town hall the protesters were holding.

Crystale Harty, director of  the province’s environmental impact assessment branch explained that the proposed data centre is still undergoing an EIA review.

She described EIA as a project planning tool to help avoid or mitigate harmful environmental effects and, in some cases, compensate for them.

“If the ultimate goal of some of the people here is to stop the project, then, you know, the EIA process is not intended to do that,” she said.

She indicated that most projects are approved with conditions. (This is what happened, for example, with the proposed Tantramar gas plant.)

Harty also said that more stringent, comprehensive environmental assessments are reserved for projects with new and unproven technologies.

She added that, at the moment, the province is conducting only one comprehensive review for the proposed ARC-100 small nuclear reactor at Point Lepreau.

Beacon VP speaks up

Joseph Shovlin, executive vice-president, Beacon Data Centers with town hall moderator Ashley Anthony looking on beside him

Jillian Szabo of the Save Lorneville group raised questions about the security of any Canadian information that would be stored on the servers of the proposed, hyperscale data centre.

She pointed out that the U.S. Cloud Act allows American authorities to compel U.S. companies to hand over data they store anywhere in the world.

After Szabo asked who would be renting the new data centre, Joseph Shovlin, executive vice-president of Beacon called out that he could answer her question.

“Categorically, I can say there is no tenant identified for this project,” he said.

“We don’t even have approval yet,” he added. “There is no tenant for the project currently.”

(A consultant’s report posted on the Beacon/VoltaGrid website says: “After completion, the data centre will be leased by one of the large AI firms.)

‘Sidewalks for cancer’

Lorneville Resident Kasey Roberts shows a photo of her daughters

“I am a new resident of Lorneville,” Kasey Roberts told the crowd.

“Earlier this year, we bought a beautiful piece of property overlooking the Bay of Fundy. This is where my husband and I have chosen to raise our two daughters and to spend the rest of our lives.”

Roberts said she had read all the documents relating to the proposed project and they raised more questions than answers.

She also wondered about the promised benefits to the community such as sidewalks, road improvements and a playground.

“There’s one thing I haven’t been able to review yet,” she said, “and that’s a human health risk assessment.”

Roberts asked how citizens were supposed to make an informed decision when such health information isn’t available.

“We all know what the health risks are related to living next door to a massive, gas-burning plant,” she said.

“So are we expected to trade sidewalks for cancer?” she asked.

“These are my daughters,” she said holding up a photo.

“I want to know what price tag you would put on their heads and on the heads of all the children here in Lorneville.”