Is Premier Danielle Smith betraying her base? Her United Conservative Party (UCP) swept almost every riding outside of Calgary and Edmonton in the last election but the love does not seem to be mutual.

Smith is bulldozing the interests of small town property owners as she plows forward with aggressive plans to attract $100 billion in private sector investment for gas-fired AI data centres despite the concerns of nearby residents.

There are over 40 data centres proposed for construction in Alberta. Often opposed by local residents, these enormous installations create few jobs and require vast amounts of electricity and water – two commodities in limited supply in the province.

Important issues like carbon emissions, water availability, and noise pollution would normally be considered through a provincial environmental assessment process. However, Smith’s government has been excluding large data centre proposals from such routine oversight, including the “Wonder Valley” project shilled by celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary.

The citizens of Olds, Alberta, were alarmed to learn that what could be the largest data centre in the country accompanied by the second largest power generation facility in the province was slated to start construction inside their town boundaries within two months, and without an environmental assessment.

The acting approvals manager of the Alberta Ministry of Environment and Protected Areas assured the proponent Synapse Real Estate Corp., “I have decided that further assessment of the activity is not required. Therefore, a screening report will not be prepared and an environmental impact assessment report is not required.”

Residents of Olds were not so assured, learning of the plan in late January just days before an open house meeting on February 4. Synapse proposed breaking ground in March. Many homes are within less than one kilometre of the proposed two million square foot facility that would run 24 hours a day, requiring natural gas turbines generating 1.4 GW of power and 600 backup diesel generators. As one anti-data centre post on Facebook noted, good neighbours avoid “humming at 90 decibels in your backyard at 3:00 AM”. 

The previously quiet town of 10,000 residents may soon sport 17 metre-high flare stacks from ten massive gas turbines producing as much power as is consumed by the entire city of Edmonton. While the original proposal from Synapse was rejected by the Alberta Utility Commission (AUC) for numerous deficiencies in public consultation, revised documents were resubmitted within a month.

Does Danielle Smith’s government plan to intervene on behalf of concerned citizens? Nope. Alberta’s Minister of Technology and Innovation Nate Glubish washed his hands of responsibility, relating to CBC News that “he can’t endorse, approve or deny a project as minister — that’s the regulator’s job.”

Glubish instead spun the botched initial application to AUC as a positive development. “All data centre projects with power generation must get Alberta Utilities Commission regulatory approval to proceed. Synapse’s first application was inadequate and thus did not proceed. This is evidence of the process working,” Glubish told CBC in a written statement.

The stampede of server farm proposals encouraged by the UCP would collectively consume almost the entire capacity of Alberta electrical grid, so Smith’s government is encouraging data centre companies to “bring their own energy”. This means burning enormous amounts of natural gas, a strategy that dovetails with her plans to double Alberta’s oil and gas production. 

When asked about the climate impacts of scaling up $100 billion in gas-fired AI data centres, Glubish enthused, “this is good news for Alberta because it’s going to create significantly increased drilling, exploration, and production activity in rural Alberta, it’s going to allow for increased distribution investment to get the gas to the different markets that need it, and it’s going to generate significant incremental natural gas royalty revenues for the benefit of all Albertans.” 

The baked-in bias of Smith’s alleged “free-market” government toward fossil fuels stands in stark contrast to her hands-on hostility towards the renewable energy sector. In 2023, Smith announced a surprise seven-month moratorium on wind and solar approvals in 2023, throwing $33 billion in renewable investments into limbo. Onerous land use restrictions and reclamation requirements further decimated the sector, resulting in a 93 percent decline in wind and solar installations in two years. 

Proponents pitching turbine-fired data centres instead enjoy what the gas-loving Smith government fawningly calls their “concierge program”. Companies proposing an AI server farm within municipal boundaries are publicly promised that allegedly impartial regulators will “streamline pathways to partnerships, leveraging existing infrastructure and expertise to deliver unparalleled speed to market.”  

This cozy accommodation of companies over the interests of rural Albertans does not bode well for those unexpectedly living next to a massive new data centre.

Danielle Smith has built a political career as a supposed champion of rural Albertans. Many of these non-urban voters are now learning the hard way that her true allegiance has always been the oil and gas industry.