Saskatchewan NDP still seeking answers on Bell data centre

More than 200 days after asking why Bell’s massive artificial intelligence data centre near Regina didn’t undergo an environmental impact assessment, Saskatchewan’s Opposition NDP says it’s still waiting for answers.

The party released a letter from Environment Minister Darlene Rowden on Thursday, arguing the response fails to explain why the original development in the Rural Municipality of Sherwood was allowed to proceed without a full environmental impact assessment.

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Sally Housser, the NDP’s energy and resource development critic, said the government’s response raises more questions than it answers.

“These are really basic questions that any competent, honest government that is proud of this project should be able to answer,” Housser said during a news conference Thursday.

“Instead, we’ve got an arrogant and out-of-touch government, an entitled Sask. Party that’s refused this basic level of accountability.”

The questions date back to April, when NDP environment critic Jared Clarke wrote to Rowden asking why the project hadn’t undergone an assessment under Saskatchewan’s Environmental Assessment Act.

According to the Opposition, it took more than 200 days to receive a response.

In her letter, Rowden said the Ministry of Environment was aware Bell had incorporated measures into the project’s design to reduce potential environmental impacts.

However, Housser questioned why those measures were considered sufficient without a full assessment.

“There are four-storey condo buildings in Regina being built that go through a more rigorous process than this massive hyperscale data centre has,” she said.

The original development is designed to use 300 megawatts of electricity, but Bell has announced plans to expand the project to as much as 1.2 gigawatts, including additional natural gas power generation.

The province has promoted the expansion as a major economic opportunity, potentially bringing more than $50 billion in private investment.

Bell has said the proposed expansion will require a provincial environmental impact assessment, but Housser isn’t convinced that offers enough reassurance.

“Not particularly. You know, if anybody’s been out there, I mean, I have, and you look at the scale of it so far; it’s already massive,” she said.

“And again, there’s no details on when that’s going to happen. How is that going to happen? Who’s going to be in charge of it?”

The NDP is also questioning what the development could mean for Saskatchewan residents’ electricity bills and how other potential data centres will be assessed.

Housser said the party isn’t opposed to the technology or the jobs it could bring.

“We’re not ideologically opposed to it,” she said.

“What we’re opposed to is bad business decisions that are going to leave the people of Saskatchewan holding the bag.”

The government has defended the project as an important investment in Saskatchewan’s economy and maintained that applicable environmental requirements must be followed.

But Housser said the Opposition will continue pushing for answers about why an assessment wasn’t required before construction began and what oversight will be in place as the project expands.

—With files from 980 CJME’s Gillian Massie