project\u2019s exemption from a provincial environmental impact assessment<\/a>.<\/p>\n“I can’t imagine allowing it to go forward without those full assessments,\u201d Davies said, describing the project\u2019s potential to be \u201cthe largest single-site heat source on the entire planet.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Leary Digital Limited\u2019s $70-billion data centre is proposed for the Municipal District of Greenview, south of Grande Prairie and roughly 130 kilometres southwest of SLCN\u2019s reserve, in the First Nation\u2019s traditional territory.<\/p>\n
At full operation, it would release around 18 gigawatts of heat a day and about 30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year \u2014 more than four per cent of Canada\u2019s total emissions, said Davies, whose assessment was based on publicly available information.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people talk about environmental regulations that these projects have to adhere to, those regulations were not created with anything of this scale in mind.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
SLCN filed the judicial review application in September and requested another review in court last month to demand more consultation before the project can go ahead.<\/p>\n
Wonder Valley\u2019s unprecedented scale warrants more rigorous discussion, said SLCN\u2019s lawyer, Orlagh O\u2019Kelly.<\/p>\n
Province responds to judicial reviews<\/p>\n
In a Oct. 30 statement, Alberta\u2019s Ministry of Environment and Protected Areas said it followed the established legal process to determine that no environmental impact assessment (EIA) was required for the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
EIAs \u201care typically required when a project, or components of a project, involve technologies or systems with unknown environmental impacts. In this case, the project uses standard, proven power and water systems that have been safely used in Alberta for decades,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven when an EIA is not triggered, proponents must still obtain all required permits, provide detailed technical assessments on impacts to air, land, and water, and demonstrate the project can be built and operated safely before any project can proceed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The permitting process can\u2019t measure the entire impact of a project, Davies countered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPermits check the parts. An assessment checks the whole. A project this size is exactly what assessments are for.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Indigenous Relations said it is unable to comment on the review regarding consultation, while the matter is before the courts.<\/p>\n
Piecemeal litigation<\/p>\n
Along with the province, the M.D of Greenview and O\u2019Leary Digital are also named as respondents in SLCN\u2019s filings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also respect the robust and stringent regulatory process we must follow in advancing Wonder Valley,\u201d O\u2019Leary Digital CEO Paul Palandjian wrote in an Oct. 27 email. \u201cMeanwhile, we\u2019re having productive dialogue with Indigenous communities through consultation and engagement, and we remain committed to that work.”<\/p>\n
Greenview Reeve Ryan Ratzlaff said the district always pursues development in a \u201cresponsible, respectful and collaborative manner,\u201d noting that environmental oversight and Indigenous consultation fall under the purview of the Alberta government.<\/p>\n
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A new sign, installed earlier this year, sits along Highway 40 at the entrance to the Greenview Industrial Gateway which would be the home of Wonder Valley if the project is green-lit. (Eagle Andersen\/CBC)<\/p>\n
SLCN is also in the midst of another court battle with O\u2019Leary Digital, after a judge dismissed the company\u2019s bid<\/a> to strike down a judicial review on consultation and water rights, which initially went in the nation\u2019s favour.<\/p>\nO\u2019Kelly said the current system forces First Nations to file legal challenges to be heard, calling it “deliberately bifurcated and piecemeal.”<\/p>\n
This is the project that went the absolute wrong way.Chief Sheldon Sunshine<\/p>\n
Chief Sheldon Sunshine said SLCN has built productive relationships with other oil and gas developers, but the nation\u2019s experience with Wonder Valley has been difficult \u00a0since it was announced.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf anybody’s to learn anything about this \u2014 this is the project that went the absolute wrong way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":954891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48],"class_list":["post-954890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/954891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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