EverWind’s CFO was one of several invitees to the Natural Resources and Economic Development Committee meeting on Tuesday, Oct 27, where MLAs were able to publicly question the energy company on their proposed $10-billion data centre planned for Point Tupper.
NSNDP and Nova Scotia Liberal party leaders Claudia Chender and Iain Rankin were present amongst several PC MLAs, asking questions of EverWind representatives, department deputies and Richmond County’s warden about the data centre, its environmental impacts and if Nova Scotians will end up paying for the strain on the province’s electrical grid.
There were softballs, hard balls, and a few answers that could be dug from the committee meeting about what regulations are (or aren’t) in place and what the government may (or may not) intend to do about it.
1. This wasn’t a provincial announcement
One of Chender’s first questions to the deputy ministers in the room was a simple one: when did EverWind first come to the province with the proposal for a data centre?
Deputy minister of the Department of Energy Stephen MacDonald says it came to them in Q1 or Q2 of 2026. When followed up with a question about the lack of public consultation before the announcement was made by EverWind at their Point Tupper site, MacDonald responded by saying it was, “not an announcement by the province.”
One takeaway that could be gleaned from this statement is one of responsibility. It was not the responsibility of the province to ensure public participation ahead of the announcement because it wasn’t their announcement to be responsible for.
But as Chender points out, provincial officials were present for the announcement, including premier Tim Houston, who opened up the floor for this kind of development in a Facebook post.
Not only was Houston there, Chender notes he was “seated next to the CEO of the company”, the Australian-American billionaire Trent Vichie.
“Whether it was officially a provincial announcement or not, certainly the interpretation by the public is that the province is greenlighting a data centre,” says Chender during the meeting.
It is later mentioned by EverWind’s CFO Matthew Tinari the plan was kept confidential due to contractual obligations. It was also mentioned that EverWind would start holding engagement sessions in impacted communities soon.
2. Electricity concerns
There was plenty of discussion on the significant load a data centre would add the Nova Scotia’s power grid. Initial capacity estimates from EverWind assume the centre will use 95 megawatts in its first phase and 320 in its second phase for a total of 425 megawatts.
The concern is that all of the electricity used will increase the rates for customers beyond just EverWind, leading to Nova Scotians paying higher bills due to the company’s project. This was refuted in part by Stephen MacDonald, who said fuel costs would go to the user, not ratepayers generally, but he admitted in typical circumstances, over-capacity costs would in fact be pushed onto customers.
This could, in theory, be addressed by legislation, but as it’s mentioned throughout the meeting, it’s up to the Utility and Review Board to figure that one out, whether it be by creating a new customer rate class (as suggested during the meeting) or otherwise.
The concern of electric rates increasing due to the centre were also addressed by Houston when he first made his Facebook post, where he says one of the requirements he has for the centre is that it does not increase electrical rates for customers. It’s also apart of the Canadian government’s data centre principles.
Energy Planning executive director David Miller adds later that the system impact study for phase one has been completed and the study for phase two has just been received. Neither study is publicly available as of yet, but he says EverWind was studied as an “interruptable customer”, whose services can be shut off temporarily to divert energy needs elsewhere, though he admits work still needs to be done on the project.
3. No specific environmental assessment
The discussion around an environmental plan for the data centre is dominated by the notion that this has already been done and achieved through environmental assessments for EverWind’s green hydrogen project in Point Tupper.
Initial estimates from EverWind assume the closed-loop cooling system for the data centre will use 500,000 litres of water per day from Landrie Lake, a man-made reservoir with a daily safe yield of 34 million litres per day. Like the electricity grid, however, the question is whether the estimate of 500,000 litres will be accurate once the data centre gets going.
When Rankin asked about environmental assessments that would be applicable to specifically the data centre project, deputy minister of Environment and Climate Change Lora MacEachern identified two areas where industrial regulations apply. Firstly, to the on-site, diesel-fueled power generator which has an application in-review, and second, the water withdrawal from Landrie Lake, which was recently approved.
“Environmental assessment is a tool that we use in some cases, but it is not absolutely required for effective environmental regulation,” says MacEachern in the meeting.
However, Tinari says EverWind is open to any environmental assessment the province wants to institute.
“EverWind is committed to responsible development in whatever form that takes,” says Tinari. “If the government decides that an environmental approval for any component for any of our projects is required and not achieved, we would pursue that.”
When it comes to emissions, Tinari says the only emissions EverWind expects is from the on-site power generator.
4. Money allegedly owed to Newfoundland & Labrador
As part of a three-way partnership, EverWind allegedly leased crown land from the Newfoundland & Labrador government for projects planned in the province. Now, they’re on the hook for fees related to that land—fees that have not been publicly stated as of yet, but The Coast is actively attempting to uncover.
We say “allegedly” because it has not been proven in court whether or not EverWind truly owes the Newfoundland & Labrador government money for this land. Tinari says the company was awarded crown land that it never asked for, and refutes owing any fees to the government for said land. According to Tinari, the company couldn’t find a structure that worked for that particular plan.
Tinari also says the $10-billion investment into the data centre and green hydrogen project is entirely privately funded with no funding from the province’s capital budget.
Whether or not EverWind owes money to Newfoundland & Labrador is up for debate and for now, must be left to the parties involved and, potentially, the courts. However, this has prompted questions among residents about the trustworthiness of EverWind as a business partner.
5. Promises are just that—promises
Perhaps the largest takeaway from the committee hearing is the lack of solutions that aren’t just verbal.
While the Nova Scotia Liberals have standards drafted for responsible data centre development in Nova Scotia and the federal government has general principles for developers to follow (such as minimizing water usage and not shifting electricity costs to costumers), there has yet to be any known contractual agreement that guarantees any sort of legal protection for the province or its residents if EverWind doesn’t hold up its end of the bargain.
Besides for the two applications mentioned by MacEachern—which do not replace a full environmental assessment—Nova Scotians have to go on the word of Houston in his Facebook post. But a Facebook post, comments made in a meeting, or questions answered to the press do not constitute legislation. As Chender says early on in the meeting, “we need some pretty complex and iron-clad contracting” to fulfill any such promises.
Dartmouth North MLA Susan Leblanc says it best during the meeting.
“People are mad, and upset and scared because nothing is written down.”
