The interview was conducted by a reporter from All Alberta, an online business and politics newspaper. The conversation takes place ahead of a protest outside the Hyatt Regency in downtown Calgary against the Western Canada Data Centre Alliance conference, which included speakers like Premier Danielle Smith.
I describe how my career began with 12 years focused on oil and gas development, before a shift in 2013 led me to discover problems with reserve reports, including the understating of future costs and overstating of property value. This opened my eyes to environmental liabilities, and I spent the next [10] years focused on that area before being pushed out in 2022 for trying to uphold land stewardship laws. I connect this background to my opposition to AI data centres, arguing that the Alberta Government is seeking to turn wells back on production to power these facilities rather than addressing the estimated $260 billion liability issue and the underfunded Orphan Well Association.
Released today, Drew Anderson of The Narwhal reports a leaked document which outlines the Government of Alberta’s plan to create demand for Alberta oil and gas via AI data centres.
“A leaked document obtained by The Narwhal lays out what appears to be a comprehensive set of recommendations from government staff to help the province ramp up natural gas supply to support AI data centres and increased oil and gas production — including creating a new Crown corporation and changing legislation.
The document says “escalatory and direct measures are now required” after negotiations with TC Energy, which owns and operates Alberta’s main natural gas pipeline system, “produced no viable solutions.”
The document points to AI data centres as a major catalyst for the proposed plan, and says that while these proposals will cost Albertans, the province risks losing investment if it can’t come up with “speed-to-market” solutions.”
Read the full article: https://thenarwhal.ca/alberta-ai-data-centre-takeover-cabinet-doc/.
I call for an immediate moratorium on AI data Centre development in Alberta, arguing they provide no real value to the province and that companies such as Google, Meta, and Elon Musk’s X are misleading the public while funneling money to military and police interests. I also raise the issue of water depletion, warning that Alberta is already extracting more water than the system can sustain, and that AI data centres would accelerate that extraction toward “water bankruptcy”.
In closing, I warn that the tech industry is effectively the face of the fossil fuel industry and that the situation is existential for the province. I single out Beacon AI, noting their corporate registration is in Delaware and that PO boxes linked to them in the Cayman Islands are connected to the Epstein files, characterizing them as nefarious actors that the government should not be inviting into Alberta. I also express a personal desire to return to industry work focused on closing and restoring oil and gas sites, describing a large potential cleanup economy being held back because polluters are not paying.
Want to learn more?
BIG TECH, BIGGER QUESTIONS IN ALBERTA
CJSW radio in Edmonton covered the St. Alberta data centre town hall hosted by Give Voice: a grassroots organization of mostly retired women. Keepers of the Water Director, Jesse Cardinal, Olds Resident and retired Simon Fraser University Professor, Carol Edwards, and I spoke.
DATA CENTRES: Who benefits? Who pays?
Plans for new data centres in Alberta threaten water resources and energy prices, I sat down with The Climate Lens’ Steve Bentley to discuss.
