The Alberta Wilderness Association, Calgary Climate Hub, Climate Justice Edmonton, Calgary Philippines Solidarity Organizing Group, The Council of Canadians Edmonton Chapter, Water Watchers, and the Southern Alberta Group for the Environment have requested that the Government of Alberta place a moratorium on Data Centres in the province pending a review of impacts.

From the letter:

The environmental, climate, and community organizations undersigned are writing to request that a moratorium be placed on the development of Hyperscale Artificial
Intelligence (AI) data centres and their associated infrastructure until the full impacts are known to the public. At present, these are our four major concerns:

• The economic benefits for the public aren’t clear, engagement has been limited, and processes and projects are not transparent
• Power demands from proposed data centres are significant, which may strain the grid, compete for supply, and deepen fossil fuel dependence in the province.
• Natural gas production and consumption will markedly increase to generate the required power, which has negative implications for the environment, public health, and climate change, as well as real-world costs.
• Data centres, natural gas power plants, and any carbon capture and storage technology used onsite all require large volumes of water, which many watersheds in Alberta cannot afford to lose.

For the complete letter, click here.

From the St. Albert Gazette, the NDP has proposed the following standards:

“The first proposed standard is community benefit. The NDP wants projects to create meaningful economic value for Albertans, including local jobs and training opportunities, and to use Canadian companies for materials and supplies where possible.

The second is land use planning, including respect for municipal zoning, protection of farmland, and appropriate setbacks from residential communities and environmentally sensitive areas.

The third is water protection. Projects would have to minimize freshwater use and demonstrate how they would manage drought conditions and pressure on local water supplies.

The fourth is electricity affordability. The NDP says projects should demonstrate that they will not increase electricity costs for households or undermine grid reliability.

Ip cited a recent Pembina Institute report estimating that Meta’s proposed hyperscale data centre could add as much as $460 per year to Alberta electricity bills.”