EverWind’s Anthropic Data Center Faces Backlash Over Power, Water
EverWind Fuels’ planned data center for Anthropic in Nova Scotia is facing calls for an urgent review by lawmakers. Protests and a petition are challenging the government’s promises that the project will protect electricity customers and water supplies.
Claudia Chender, leader of Nova Scotia’s New Democratic Party, asked Premier Tim Houston on Monday to call the legislature back into session. She said the government had supported AI data centers without giving the public enough chances to share their views or creating specific rules for them. According to a report by The Canadian Press, a petition opposing AI data center development in the province had received 12,700 signatures by that afternoon.
“Guidelines that are not legally binding are not laws,” Chender said, according to the report. “This project needs to be regulated in the legislature, not on Facebook.”
The dispute began after EverWind’s October 16 announcement of more than C$10 billion in planned private investment. More than C$8 billion is planned for the Point Tupper campus in Cape Breton, and C$2 billion is planned for wind projects. Anthropic has signed a 20-year lease for the first phase. This is the AI company’s first data center agreement in Canada.
More than 100 people protested in Halifax on October 17. They marched from Nova Scotia Power’s headquarters to Province House, according to a report by the Dalhousie Gazette. Protesters raised concerns about water supplies and how quickly the project had moved forward.
EverWind aims to start operating the first 95-megawatt phase in late 2027. It plans to expand this to 325 megawatts in 2028, if business, technical and regulatory requirements are met. The company expects the campus and wind projects together to create about 2,000 construction jobs and 215 permanent jobs.
Houston defended the approval process on October 19. He said existing environmental and industrial approvals would provide oversight. He recognized residents’ concerns and said the process would include checks and safeguards.
The disagreement is about how the company’s promises will be enforced. EverWind says it will pay for electricity connections, network upgrades and other power-system costs caused by the project. It plans to use batteries to store energy and to reduce its demand on the electricity grid when needed. The expansion cannot connect to the grid until the required studies and approvals are complete.
The data center’s cooling system will mainly use air, with some water to help during hot weather. EverWind estimates that the project will use an average of 100,000 liters of water per day at first and 500,000 liters per day when fully developed.
The Ecology Action Centre says estimates of water use alone are not enough to settle the issue. The group wants clear, enforceable limits. Thomas McNeil, a senior energy coordinator, told local broadcaster Your Halifax Now that the public needs clear information about water-use permissions and how electricity customers will be protected.
Richmond County Warden Lois Landry told the broadcaster that written conditions on water supplies could be enforced by suspending service if the project went over its limits. The broadcaster also reported that public meetings are expected in early November.
The Canadian federal government introduced its Responsible Data Centre Development Principles on September 3. They call for safeguards to stop data centers from shifting electricity costs onto other customers, reduce harm to water supplies and make information more open to the public. Anthropic has signed the principles, and EverWind announced on October 16 that it would join them. The federal government says these principles work alongside existing rules and approval processes run by provincial, municipal and Indigenous authorities.