- by TI
- The Guardian
- Issue #2200
Google data centre, Iowa. Photo: Chad Davis – flickr.com (CC BY 2.0)
Energy giant Firmus has claimed at numerous points that the Launceston St Leonards site’s water usage will be equivalent to that of a restaurant. However the tests they have conducted have only tested for small scale and not actual scale.
It’s unsure if the coolant Firmus was thinking of using was described at multiple points as being highly toxic and usually transported offsite after use. Whether it is sent off to a treatment plant or simply dumped, who knows. Whether they wind up using coolant or not, these sites will still use an enormous amount of water.
If former fire chief Greg Mullins is right about another black summer within the next year, we can expect to see low water yields from the North Esk from which this data centre will be taking, in an era of anthropogenic climate change in which this river is likely to receive less rain.
There is also a concern about how St Leonards site may interact with Launceston’s notorious wood heater pollution problem during winter.
Overall, there has been very little community consultation in St Leonards and George Town communities on the part of LGAs and state government (let alone Firmus). Overall community resistance seems to be growing in response to inadequate consultation.
In terms of State politics the only resistance seems to be coming from the Greens with Tabitha Badger (member for Lyons, which covers central and eastern Tasmania) leading the charge. Whilst she has been privy to some documents of the state government, she is not at liberty to say what they are exactly, only that she found them concerning.
Tabitha gives the impression that there is very little in the way of state regulations around AI and the state government is rushing headlong into its development. She thinks she may be able to wrangle some members of Labor and independence into an anti-AI coalition but it’s still early days.
