Is it bad, good, or have we been misinformed?

Common Concerns

The worries people raise about data centres, each one taken seriously and checked. For every concern: what people fear, what the record actually shows, the workaround, the risk that remains even with the workaround, and what a community should demand.

We are not here to calm you down or to scare you. Each concern below gets a plain verdict, then the honest detail behind it. Where the honest answer is “it depends” or “we do not know,” we say so.

Water use

It depends
The worry

That a data centre drains scarce water for cooling, in a semi-arid province, during drought.

What the record shows

There is no single Alberta figure. Cooling designs differ enormously, and most alarming numbers online describe evaporative-cooled facilities on other continents, not the builds proposed here. Two provincial rules matter more than the volume: a newly issued data-centre licence is the most junior in its basin, last in line in a shortage and first to be cut off, and household water is never curtailed. The Bow, Oldman and South Saskatchewan basins have been closed to new surface-water licences since 2006. 1114151849

The workaround

Closed-loop and direct-to-chip or air cooling recirculate the same water and can cut freshwater use dramatically; some designs use reclaimed, non-potable water.

The risk that remains

“Closed-loop” is a choice, not a guarantee, and it still needs makeup water. Wonder Valley's water licence is being litigated by the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, so even a licensed draw can be contested. And the licence may not be the developer's at all: for Wonder Valley, a preliminary certificate to divert up to 24 million cubic metres a year was granted to the municipality, and the Environmental Law Centre argues developers should hold their own licence, for transparency and accountability.

What to demand

Make each project disclose its exact cooling design, its water source, and a hard cap, and keep cooling off the potable supply.

The grid & power prices

Real risk
The worry

That new demand strains the grid and pushes up everyone's electricity bills.

What the record shows

The grid can connect just 1,200 MW of new large load through 2028, and it is already fully allocated to two projects, against 16 to 21 GW requested. The grid operator's own CEO says the system cannot connect them all. 1234214652

The workaround

“Bring your own power”: projects that opt in to the tethered route pair their demand with dedicated new generation, and that generation and transmission can outlast the project. But the pairing is not immediate. Under Alberta's Data Centre Regulation, a “bridged” project may draw from the public grid for up to three years before its own plant is connected, and bridged sites are the first to be cut back if supply runs short.

The risk that remains

On-site power usually means burning gas locally, and the gap before it arrives can land on everyone. The 932 MW Greenlight gas plant, for example, is not due in service until the second half of 2030. The Pembina Institute estimates Meta's campus could add about $267 to $462 a year to the average household's power bill from 2027 to 2031, against a transmission-bill saving of up to 6%, worth less than $20 a year.

What to demand

Ratepayer protection in writing: the project funds its own connection and upgrades, with public transparency on who pays for what.

Emissions

Real risk
The worry

That on-site gas plants add greenhouse gases and air pollution next to communities.

What the record shows

Several projects plan to bring their own power, which often means a gas plant. The gas plant behind the Olds project failed twice at the Alberta Utilities Commission: the AUC closed the first application in March 2026 over errors, incomplete information and internal inconsistencies, then rejected the second on August 17, 2026, finding that “the site is simply not suitable for the proposed development.” The Town of Olds says it has not received an active development permit application for the data centre. Scale matters too: the Greenlight project is designed for up to 1,864 MW, expected to run for at least 40 years, and the federal regulator decided no further impact assessment was required. For Wonder Valley at its planned 7.5 GW, Pembina Institute analyst Jason Wang estimates 25.7 to 30.5 megatonnes of emissions a year if it is built as planned. 382247535455

The workaround

Gas paired with carbon capture, geothermal (Wonder Valley claims gas plus geothermal), or clean grid power where it is available, though the grid operator's provisional proposal would exclude renewables and stand-alone storage from counting as a project's own supply.

The risk that remains

Carbon capture and geothermal at this scale are largely unproven here, and “off-grid gas” moves the emissions on-site rather than removing them.

What to demand

Require a verified emissions plan, with independent monitoring, before approval, and count the power plant's emissions as part of the project.

Noise

Open question
The worry

That cooling fans, generators and transformers create a constant low-frequency hum next to homes.

What the record shows

Nobody has measured it properly yet. A 2026 review in the journal Clean Technologies found the standard noise measure is the wrong tool for this: A-weighted (dBA) readings discount sound at 63 Hz by more than 26 dB and infrasound by more than 50 dB. The same authors state that no published study has yet measured the infrasound and low-frequency noise spectrum of an operating data centre. 48

The workaround

Setbacks from homes, enclosed and low-speed cooling equipment, and noise limits written into the permit.

The risk that remains

The mechanism is documented and so is the measurement gap, but a link between data-centre noise and harm is not. That cuts both ways: it is not evidence of harm, and it is not evidence of safety.

What to demand

Require low-frequency measurement (G-weighted and flat-response, not just dBA) before and after operation, published, with enforceable limits.

Farmland & land use

Real risk
The worry

That prime agricultural land is paved over for industrial campuses.

What the record shows

Rocky View County rejected a 448-hectare campus proposed by Kineticor Asset Management six votes to one in September 2025, with residents citing the loss of high-quality farmable soil. The county said at the time it would still pursue data centres at better-suited locations — but on July 21, 2026, after further proposals, council voted 5–2 to impose a moratorium on new data-centre applications until its sector strategy and regulatory framework are complete. 9121351

The workaround

Siting projects on industrial or marginal land rather than prime farmland, and the zoning lever Rocky View actually used: Bylaw C-8766-2026 changed a data-centre campus from a permitted use to a discretionary one, so the county can refuse an application on its merits. Any municipality can copy that, and it outlasts a moratorium.

The risk that remains

The best combinations of cheap power, water and flat land often sit right next to farms and towns, so the pressure on farmland is real.

What to demand

Zoning that protects prime farmland, and genuine community consent before rezoning.

First Nations consent

Unresolved
The worry

That projects move ahead on traditional territory without the consultation and consent that treaty rights require.

What the record shows

The Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation says a water licence tied to Wonder Valley was issued without proper consultation, and no provincial environmental impact assessment was required for the project. Two separate challenges followed: an Environmental Appeals Board appeal, dismissed in April 2026, and a judicial review in the Court of King's Bench, which is live. O'Leary Digital's bid to strike that judicial review was dismissed in August 2026; the court is expected to hear in December 2026 whether Alberta breached its duty to consult, and O'Leary Digital is appealing the August ruling. 141549

The workaround

Real, early duty-to-consult, formal benefit and equity agreements, and First Nations partnership or ownership stakes.

The risk that remains

Consultation can become a box-ticking exercise, and a benefit deal signed later does not fix a licence granted without consent in the first place.

What to demand

Free, prior and informed consultation, honoured treaty rights, and an independent environmental assessment, not a waiver. Data centres are not a mandatory assessment activity under Alberta's Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, and assessment was ruled not required for both Wonder Valley and the Olds project; the assessment process should cover them.

Jobs vs. hype

Overblown
The worry

That the promised jobs justify the footprint and the public support.

What the record shows

The construction phase is large, but the permanent workforce is small: Meta and the province cite 3,000+ construction jobs and about 300 permanent, which one analyst framed as roughly $43 million of investment per permanent job. We have found no independent, published study of the benefits. 691011

The workaround

Binding local-hire and local-contract commitments, and training programs, written into the agreement.

The risk that remains

Operating jobs are few and specialised, and much of the economic benefit can flow out of the province.

What to demand

An independent benefit study, and local-hire and local-contract commitments in writing before incentives are granted.

Are we being played?

Open question
Our reading, not a source claim
The worry

That opposition to data centres here is amplified while rival economies build them aggressively, so the investment, and the leverage, goes somewhere else.

What the record shows

What is verifiable: the United States and China are racing to build data-centre capacity at enormous scale. What is not verifiable: any coordinated campaign to make Alberta reject them. We have seen no evidence of that, and we will not present a theory as a fact.

The workaround

Judge each project on its own merits, using the cost-and-benefit questions on the rest of this page, rather than on who might gain if we say no.

The risk that remains

The real risk cuts both ways: dismissing every concern as “foreign influence” is just as misleading as accepting every scary number. Both shut down the honest math.

What to demand

Decide on the evidence in front of us. If a project is a genuine asset, prove it on the merits; if it is a genuine risk, fix it on the merits.

Lifespan & the afterlife

Real risk
The worry

That when the compute is obsolete or the operator walks away, the community is left with a giant stranded building , an “orphan data centre” , and the cleanup bill.

What the record shows

The computing equipment inside is typically replaced every three to five years (Microsoft extended its equipment from four years to six, and with planning and maintenance equipment can last up to ten). Abandoned data centres do happen, and hyperscale ones are hard to repurpose. The province says that “when any facility reaches the end of its life, the company that built it is responsible for decommissioning it,” and that regulators can require financial security. Can, not must: Alberta has no data-centre decommissioning-security requirement yet, a live gap in a province that knows the orphan-well problem well. 2750

The workaround

The tools already exist for wind, solar and wells: require a decommissioning plan and financial assurance (a bond) up front, plus responsible e-waste / IT-asset-disposition obligations.

The risk that remains

Without a posted bond or plan, the cleanup risk lands on the municipality and the taxpayer , the orphan-well problem, transplanted onto data centres.

What to demand

Require a decommissioning plan and financial security before approval, sized to the real end-of-life cleanup cost.

Ground & heat

It depends
The worry

That the constant heat these facilities reject warms the ground, the air and the homes around them.

What the record shows

Two different things have been measured. Peer-reviewed field work found downwind air up to 2.2°C warmer (0.7 to 0.9°C on average), detectable about 500 m out. A separate study that has not yet been peer-reviewed, using satellite data, estimated nearby land-surface temperatures about 3.6°F higher on average and up to 16°F in places, with effects reaching up to about 6 miles. Land-surface and air temperature are not the same measurement, and the larger figure is the less settled one. 2829

The workaround

Waste-heat recovery (district heating, greenhouses), generous setbacks, and closed-loop or air cooling that rejects heat up and away can cut the local effect , some of the heat becomes a resource instead of a nuisance.

The risk that remains

Heat recovery needs a nearby use for the warmth, which rural sites often lack; left unmanaged, a cluster of facilities could create a genuine local heat-island.

What to demand

Require a thermal / heat-management plan with setbacks and, where feasible, a heat-reuse commitment, plus independent temperature monitoring.

Indirect footprint

Real risk
The worry

That judging a data centre by its own four walls hides the real cost: the power plants, transmission lines and substations built to feed it carry their own water, emissions and land footprint.

What the record shows

A campus can look light on paper and heavy in the province. A closed-loop centre may sip water directly, but the gas generation built to power it burns fuel and, depending on the plant, draws its own cooling water, while new transmission and substations claim land. Under Alberta's “bring your own power” model, much of a project's true footprint sits in the power plant next door, not the server hall, and it is reviewed in a separate process, if at all. 1238

The workaround

Judge each project on the whole system: the data hall plus its dedicated generation plus its transmission, and prefer clean or already-existing power that adds no new footprint.

The risk that remains

“Bring your own power” can shift the water, emissions and land impacts off the data centre's ledger and onto a gas plant approved separately, so no single review ever sees the full footprint.

What to demand

Require one whole-system impact assessment that counts the data centre and every plant, line and substation built to serve it, not the building alone.

Every source is on Citations. See the projects these concerns attach to on the tracker.