Saint John residents turn data centre open house into town hall to question proponents

Nipun Tiwari · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 06, 2025 7:23 AM EST | Last Updated: November 6

Residents of a agrarian Saint John assemblage grilled 2 institution co-founders proposing a information centre for a precocious expanded concern parkland adjacent their neighbourhood.

The connection comes from Calgary-based Beacon AI Centers and Volta Grid, based successful Texas, who program to physique the information centre connected a 120-hectare parcel successful the Spruce Lake Industrial Park, approved for enlargement successful July contempt important pushback from the community.

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Data centres are facilities with monolithic machine servers that store and process immense amounts of information for companies, governments and unreality platforms. They powerfulness overmuch of the net — moving websites, apps and AI systems similar Google’s Gemini and ChatGPT.

Nathan Ough and Joseph Shovlin, VoltaGrid and Beacon AI’s respective co-founders, held an accusation league Wednesday night.

It was intended to beryllium an informal unfastened location to let Lorneville residents to inquire questions astatine their section assemblage centre. An hr into the session, residents acceptable up rows of chairs, turning it into a two-hour “townhall.”

The 2 co-founders fielded questions from a country packed with implicit 100 radical — astir each of whom don't privation the task determination forward.

The Spruce Lake Industrial Park enlargement volition marque hundreds of hectares successful the country 'pad ready' for concern improvement to pull ample businesses operations to the city. (Roger Cosman/CBC)

Residents asked astir however overmuch h2o the task volition use, the size of the building, sound and what contingency plans are successful spot should thing hap to residential drinking wells. The institution heads were not capable to reply immoderate of the posed questions.

Ian MacKinnon, Saint John Industrial Park’s director, attended the session, arsenic did Green Party Leader David Coon. No metropolis councillors were present.

Unanswered questions astir promised 'economic driver'

Ough spoke to reporters and to the assemblage astir communal criticisms astir information centres, including their drain connected powerfulness grids and that they don’t meaningfully supply long-term, imperishable jobs beyond construction.

He said the task volition beryllium a “gargantuan economical driver” that would bring implicit 200 permanent, full-time jobs.

It volition beryllium fueled by an on-site, natural-gas generating system. This, according to Ough, “will make astir fractional of the powerfulness depletion of the information centre, truly mitigating immoderate grid disruption risks.” He besides said the installation volition devour astir zero water.

Residents said this doesn’t quadrate with the committedness that came with expansion: that it would lone beryllium unfastened to non-emitting projects. Ough said the works would usage what helium called a “reactive catalyst” that would fundamentally destruct pollutants.

“We're committing to 98 per cent emissions abatement connected the site, which would beryllium the cleanest burning earthy state powerfulness works successful Canada,” helium said.

Lorneville residents questioned the 2 institution co-founders astir impacts to resources and assemblage benefits. They besides asked for commitments. (Nipun Tiwari/CBC)

Residents don’t judge the information centre tin run without consuming a ample magnitude of water. Community person Leah Alexander challenged MacKinnon connected emissions.

“Ian, tin you talk to however galore times we were promised ‘no smokestacks’ by metropolis unit and council,” Alexander asked.

MacKinnon said helium could not talk to the question.

Ough and Shovlin said the information centre volition usage what's called a “closed-loop system” — a cooling strategy that needs liquid, which would negociate the vigor caused by instrumentality successful the information centre.

Neither could accidental however overmuch h2o this loop would use, but said they would supply the accusation arsenic portion of the biology interaction appraisal process.

Many asked: what's successful this for Lorneville?

Community benefits were discussed during the nationalist proceeding process earlier council, but determination are presently nary wide ideas connected what these volition be. Ough said helium would similar to springiness thing back.

“We're going to beryllium the champion imaginable citizens for this project,” helium said.

Community members brought up assorted imaginable benefits. Some mentioned compensation to the community. Many attendees said that immoderate payment should spell specifically to Lorneville and its residents.

Leah Alexander, 1 of the leaders of the assemblage absorption against the concern parkland expansion, says there's inactive a batch the assemblage doesn't know. (Nipun Tiwari/CBC)

Shovlin asked what residents see just assemblage compensation. The 2 were not fixed a figure, with immoderate saying the champion compensation would beryllium for the task to not spell forward.

“I deliberation the just magnitude is our wetland intact and our past 400-year-old trees near standing,” Alexander said to applause.

“You can't regenerate these. You can't regenerate our prime of life. You can't regenerate the usage of hiking trails and quiescent oceanside community. You volition not regenerate that."

Community volition combat 'every step' of the process

The expansion’s Environmental Impact Assessment was approved successful August, giving it the afloat greenish light. The concern parks radical said astatine the clip that it would beryllium forming a caller liaison committee to prosecute with the community.

The radical met erstwhile successful August but person not had a gathering since. MacKinnon said this is due to the fact that helium couldn’t uncover details of immoderate coming projects successful that time.

Community members asked for different commitments arsenic well, including a 30-day assemblage reappraisal of the EIA, truthful the assemblage tin person autarkic experts reappraisal the results and springiness them clip to respond, Alexander said.

Shovlin said the companies volition “work wrong the statutory parameters, immoderate they are.” He besides said he's “not saying no” and would revisit the issue.

Alexander besides asked if the proponents would perpetrate to a 30-metre buffer betwixt the improvement and wetlands and watercourse. The regulations for the tract lone mandate a 15-metre buffer and permits for thing closer.

Nathan Ough said helium is committed to giving backmost to the assemblage and that the companies privation to beryllium the champion citizens for the project. (Nipun Tiwari/CBC)

Ough said helium would not conscionable "make commitments."

"That's not however I work,” helium said.

“What I promised myself erstwhile I came up present was not to provender you bullshit and to springiness the information of what I tin and cannot do. What I can't bash is accidental yes oregon nary close now.”

But Ough said the 2 companies would interact with Lorneville residents done the process.

“We should besides beryllium honest. We’re going to combat you each measurement of this process,” Alexander said.

Ough said determination are nary plans to grow the information centre successful the future.

Alexander, speaking with reporters aft the session, said she was blessed that Ough and Shovlin were unfastened to answering questions.

“We inactive consciousness similar there's a batch of details that we're missing, conscionable similar basal answers to questions similar the size of the footprint of the project, however galore buildings are successful the project,” she said.

“Those things that we thought would beryllium benignant of elemental answers that there's inactive nary definitive numbers connected — conscionable a batch of questions that are inactive unanswered astatine this point.”

Ough said helium felt affirmative astir the outcome, calling it “time good spent.”