Politics

Hundreds protest Nova Scotia AI data centre over water and power concerns

The $10-billion project planned for Point Tupper would draw water from a local lake and require 420 megawatts of power.

By Marcus Lowe, Politics Reporter
November 8, 2026

HALIFAX · Nearly 1,000 people marched through downtown Halifax on Saturday to protest a proposed $10-billion artificial intelligence data centre in Cape Breton. The rally in front of the provincial legislature was one of seven held across Nova Scotia, organizers said, calling for a moratorium on all large-scale AI data centre proposals. The protest targets a plan by Everwind Fuels to lease a facility in Point Tupper to U.S. AI company Anthropic. A petition to stop AI data centre development in the province has gathered nearly 28,000 signatures. Ned Zimmerman, a tech worker from Dartmouth and one of the rally organizers, said large-scale AI data centres are socially destructive and environmentally irresponsible. "We feel that the push to integrate AI into everything raises a lot of concerns for society, and this is not the kind of thing that we want to see being imposed on our communities, on our landscapes, our ecosystems, and our populations," Zimmerman said. He argued that provincial guidelines are insufficient for a project of this scale and that government communication has been sparse.

Everwind has described the project as the largest private investment in Nova Scotia's history. Anthropic has signed a 20-year lease for the 18,600-square-metre facility, which it will use to power its AI assistant named Claude. The centre is expected to begin operations in 2027, drawing 95 megawatts of electricity in its first phase. A 325-megawatt expansion is scheduled for mid-2028, bringing total energy demand to 420 megawatts. Everwind says it will cover all electricity infrastructure costs and that the project will not increase power rates for customers.

Protesters raised specific concerns about the centre's water use and potential environmental impact. Water from nearby Landrie Lake, which also supplies the town of Port Hawkesbury, will be used to cool the servers. The system will use an average of 100,000 litres of water per day in the first phase, expanding to 500,000 litres daily in the next phase. "I think that one drop of drinking water wasted on generative AI is too much," said protester Rebecca Lawrence from Dartmouth. Everwind said the cooling system will be a closed-loop, similar to a car's radiator, with fluid recycled or disposed of off-site. A statement from Premier Tim Houston's office said the data centre will only proceed if it meets provincial and federal guidelines, which include protecting water, the environment, power rates and capacity. The statement added the province would be open to legislative changes "should we find ourselves in a situation where we require them." Houston has previously said he does not know if new legislation is needed to regulate the data centre.

Regulatory debate

Ashley Drodge, another protest organizer, said she is concerned about the lack of binding regulations for AI data centre development and the absence of a full environmental impact assessment for the project. "This is short-sighted, money in your pocket development," she said. Earlier this month, Nova Scotia's Environment Minister Timothy Halman said the project requires an industrial approval instead of an environmental assessment, a tool he called the most appropriate for this type of project. "What is being utilized here is a very robust regulatory tool to ensure safe construction and operation of a proposed facility," Halman told reporters.

Zimmerman also criticized Everwind's community consultation process, saying it demonstrated a lack of transparency. "It was kept closely under wraps. And broader community consent, community consultation was not engaged until the project was announced," he said. Everwind held two information sessions in Cape Breton earlier this week. Some attendees said they were left with unanswered questions, and the company's engagement director said more consultations would be arranged. Everwind did not respond to a request for comment about Saturday's protests. Nosy Mag reported in October that Everwind announced the $10-billion AI data centre and wind project for Nova Scotia. Lawrence said her message to the premier is to listen to Nova Scotians. "Nova Scotian's are pretty vocal on the fact that we don't want this," she said. "On every side there's people from all across the spectrum who are saying no to these data centres."

With files from The Canadian Press, Global News and CityNews