Underwater AI: Innovation or Environmental Risk in Passamaquoddy Bay?

As CBC first reported, a company called Deepgreen Western Passage SPV LLC has proposed building an underwater AI data centre off the coast of Eastport, Maine. The project, submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, would feature up to 34 server pods powered by 50 tidal turbines generating 15 megawatts of electricity. The facility would occupy roughly 11 hectares within a 161.8-hectare study zone in Passamaquoddy Bay's western passage.

The project is facing strong opposition from Indigenous leaders and local officials. Aaron Dana, a tribal representative to the Maine Legislature from the Passamaquoddy Indian Township Reservation, told CBC he fears the environmental impacts could spread into surrounding waters that sustain global food resources. Hugh Akagi, chief of the Peskotomuhkati Nation at Skutik in New Brunswick, told CBC that their identity is inextricably linked to the health of the St. Croix River and Passamaquoddy Bay. Akagi, a former fisheries scientist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, warned against adding further stress to a region where fish and wildlife have already declined.

Local government officials are equally skeptical. The Eastport city council voted against the proposal in August following a public hearing attended by over 100 residents. City manager Brian Schuth noted that no one spoke in favor of the project and cited many "unanswered questions," while adding that the city is still determining its jurisdictional authority over the offshore infrastructure.

Akagi further noted that Peskotomuhkati communities are now caught between two proposed AI data centres: the Eastport project and another planned for Saint John.