So Many Unanswered Questions
In a statement to the media about the Wonder Valley project, Kevin O'Leary said that "people should be very skeptical and they should just watch, because we'll be very transparent as we develop this."
But as of December 26, 2024, the public has virtually no answers to the huge number of questions surrounding this proposed project:
Water
- How much water will this project consume?
- How will the water use affect communities and farmers in the region?
- To what extent will this project worsen drought conditions in the region and/or increase wildfire risk?
- Will the unevaporated portion of water drawn be sufficiently cooled and free of industrial contaminants before being dumped back into the local environment? How will this be ensured?
(see also this post about the extraordinary amount of water consumed by data centres and gas plants)
Cost to the Public
- What subsidies, grants, or loans will this project be asking different levels of government for?
- Will this project be seeking investment capital from any pension funds or sovereign wealth funds?
- how much public money will be spent to provide needed infrastructure for this project (e.g. road upgrades, new water treatment facilities, etc)?
(see also this post about how both the federal Liberals and Alberta's UCP seem to like this AI data centre proposal)
Jobs
Most jobs associated with data centre projects are short term for the construction phase.
- How many of the "thousands of jobs" that will supposedly be created are only temporary, and how many are permanent positions?
- On the Wonder Valley website, the image showing the 'Development Concept Plan' includes a large area labeled 'Worker Camp'. Does this mean that most workers will be temporary employees, and hired from outside the local area?
Noise
Noise from data centres has led to severe health problems for residents (including people, pets and livestock) in surrounding areas.
- How will noise be mitigated?
- How much noise will this project produce?
Finances
AI companies are losing billions of dollars every year. Financial analysts are increasingly worried that AI stock valuations are a bubble. So:
- What happens to this project if the AI market crashes?
- Whose investments will be prioritized in the event this project goes bankrupt?
Carbon emissions
- How much CO2 will this project be responsible for emitting?
- Will this project mean that Canadians end up paying higher carbon taxes, as a method of reducing emissions elsewhere?
Carbon Capture and Storage is expensive and difficult to implement.
- What percentage of carbon emissions will be captured and stored?
- How will those emissions be captured and stored?
Energy Grid
- Will this project need to use any electricity from Alberta's grid?
Have more questions?
If you have a question about the Wonder Valley project, feel free to get in touch, and I'll add it to the list! You can send your questions to:
welcometoblundervalley at protonmail dot com