A second data centre could be coming to Saint John. What does that mean for Lorneville?
A second proposed AI data centre in Saint John has Lorneville residents, already fighting one project in their community, asking who will pay for the province’s AI ambitions.
Documents Save Lorneville obtained from the province through a right-to-information request show that Cross River Infrastructure Partners, a U.S. company, pitched a data centre campus at the Saint John Industrial Park in an April 28 email to Economic Development Minister Luke Randall.
Managing director Rishi Jain wrote that the project would start with a 50-megawatt request for network-firm power under the existing Large Industrial tariff, with room to expand. Lorneville resident Chris Watson shared the email on Facebook.
The City of Saint John confirmed it received preliminary inquiries but has no update and Opportunities New Brunswick did not comment.
The first proposal is much larger. Alberta-based Beacon Data Centers and Texas-based VoltaGrid want to build a 390-megawatt facility at the expanded Spruce Lake Industrial Park, now under provincial environmental review.
A VoltaGrid gas plant would supply about 190 megawatts and the rest would come from NB Power. The Narwhal reports said it would be one of the province’s largest carbon emitters and Green MLA Megan Mitton says about 27 hectares of wetland would be cleared.
Residents also cite noise, light pollution, air and water quality and old-growth forest. Save Lorneville member Lauren Smith says regulations haven’t kept pace with the technology. She asks whether ratepayers will fund grid upgrades or subsidies.
“We are concerned citizens and we have questions,” she told Global News. NB Power says projects of this size need contractual flexibility to protect the grid and rates and must fit its long-term supply plan.
The province sees an opportunity. It cites private investment, construction and permanent jobs, tax revenue and domestic computing capacity that supports Canadian data sovereignty.
Billboards in Saint John have promised 1,200 construction jobs from the Beacon project. On water, Randall said the facility would initially need about one and a half Saint John Aquatic Centre pools’ worth, then about what a 100-seat restaurant uses daily.
A public consultation on a draft data centre policy framework ran from Sept. 1 to Oct. 2. It says projects must pay for the costs they create without raising electricity rates, limit impacts on water and land and engage communities and First Nations. The province says it could lead to legislation and enforcement mechanisms.
Critics claim the process lags the projects. Provincial officials have courted the Lorneville project since at least 2024, according to the Narwhal, and in June the Holt government rejected Mitton’s call for a moratorium. About 150 people protested at the legislature on June 11.
The campaign has since spread. The Demonic Brilliance Film Festival said it raised more than $1,400 for Save Lorneville.
In Tantramar, residents are opposing NB Power’s proposed gas plant at Centre Village, which Green Party leader David Coon has linked to the Lorneville project.
That opposition returns to the legislature on Tuesday, Oct. 20, when a Voice of the People Rally is planned for noon. According to the event announcement on the Green Party of New Brunswick’s website, organizers say the Holt government is putting AI data centres, gas plants and fracking on the table.
For Lorneville, a second project elsewhere in Saint John turns a local land-use fight into a provincial question about what New Brunswick is prepared to power and who pays.
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