EASTPORT, Maine — Washington County residents gathered Wednesday to air fears and frustrations over Eastport’s economic and environmental future at the first of two public hearings on citizen‑initiated ordinances that could halt early preparations for an underwater artificial intelligence data center in the Bay of Fundy’s Western Passage.
The first hearing focused on an ordinance prohibiting data centers larger than 25,000 square feet in Eastport and its coastal waters.
The second hearing addressed a measure that would require voter approval for any new industrial or commercial development exceeding 25,000 square feet on land or 10,000 square feet in the ocean if the permanent ban passes. Both proposed ordinances include a retroactive effective date of June 1, 2026.
“We need to come together as one voice, one people. Let’s do this together,” Dwayne Tomah, museum director and curator for the Passamaquoddy Tribe of Sipayik, said.
Turning toward the packed bleachers at Shead High School, which can seat more than 200 people, he urged residents to contact their representatives and oppose the artificial intelligence data center.
“They are coming. They’re here,” Tomah said of developers promoting what he called financially-motivated ideas that threaten Eastport’s sacred waters.
In February, DeepGreen Western Passage SVP LLC, led by Louis Wolfson, a Needham, Massachusetts, real estate developer who serves as the company’s managing member, applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, for a 48‑month preliminary permit to conduct engineering and environmental studies at the 400‑acre Bay of Fundy site.
The project has faced strong public pushback since its announcement, fueled by citizen‑led petitions on the proposed ordinances and vocal advocacy from the grassroots group Eastport Coalition for Healthy Oceans, or ECHO, along with broader community opposition.
Last month, the Passamaquoddy Tribe of Sipayik denounced the project and rejected any future collaboration with DeepGreen Western Passage.
Later in the month, Eastport City Manager Brian Schuth notified FERC of a potential deficiency in DeepGreen’s preliminary permit application.
In May, Eastport’s City Council sent a letter of dissent to the developer, echoing one sent in April by Washington County Commissioners, who cited the county’s “long, involved history, dependency and respect for maritime industry.”
In response to concerns and criticism, Wolfson told Monitor Local in July that the permit gives DeepGreen “a right to study the area, not a right to construct” the data center, which the filing describes as fully submersible, self‑contained and powered by new turbine technology designed to harness strong tides.
Residents and visitors overwhelmingly urged councilors to act now to stop data centers like DeepGreen, pushing back against earlier city statements that it is “too early” to intervene — a sentiment repeated throughout the evening.
“We are in a speculative bubble,” Colleen O’Connell of Edmunds said, arguing that private equity firms and real estate developers are “teaming up” and taking risks in search of the next profitable artificial intelligence venture. “They are literally just trying to make money and protect each other in doing that. We don’t want to be a part of that.”
Though not an Eastport resident, O’Connell said she felt compelled to speak because “it’s not just an Eastport problem.”
One recurring concern in the community is heat discharge from the underwater artificial intelligence system and the impact that fluctuations in water temperature can have on the lobstering industry and local wildlife.
Mark Canney of Eastport said, “I don’t know why we, in Eastport, would even consider anything that would take away the last part of the industry that Eastport is based on.” He recalled a once‑thriving fishing sector that collapsed when sardine fishing declined because of overfishing and regulations decades ago.
The proposed containerized computing system is designed with a plug‑and‑play infrastructure to connect third‑party assets, including tidal turbines built in Maine by Ocean Renewable Power Co., or ORPC.
The company, which maintains an office at the Port Authority, once operated under a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, with the city to support an underwater turbine‑powered microgrid project in the same Western Passage location as DeepGreen’s proposed data center.
The MOU expired in 2025, but years earlier, in 2021, the project made Eastport one of the first of 11 cities to receive Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project, or ETIPP, federal funding.
The award came through a collaboration with another partner organization, the Island Institute, which supports ETIPP recipients along the Northeastern seaboard, according to the National Laboratory of the Rockies. The historical microgrid project also launched a 20‑year purchase agreement between ORPC and Versant Power.
ORPC once held a FERC preliminary permit at the Western Passage location that DeepGreen now proposes to develop, a detail noted in DeepGreen’s initial application. ORPC’s permit expired in February 2026. DeepGreen Western Passage applied for its preliminary permit the same month.
ORPC cited funding hurdles as the reason it is not continuing its Western Passage project at this time, and reported in a letter to FERC earlier this year that it would return to Cobscook Bay to continue testing, where jurisdiction over the project and its licensing requirements shifted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2021.
DeepGreen’s preliminary permit application stated it would use energy from the turbines “behind‑the‑meter” to avoid competing with residential users of the city’s experimental microgrid. It would do this by diverting power at the turbine source to data center computing “hives” before the electricity is ever sent to the microgrid for residential emergency use, effectively creating a self‑contained power‑generation system that does not add stress to the grid.
Proposed as an independent “infrastructure layer expansion” to ORPC’s turbine microgrid project, the DeepGreen Western Passage project faced intense FERC scrutiny in July when its application was cited with four deficiencies:
- Failure to identify all tribes affected by the project.
- Failure to specify all physical dimensions and configurations required by statute.
- Inclusion of maps extending beyond the required physical project dimensions.
- Lack of a detailed technical explanation for requesting a 400‑acre “operational envelope” when the active infrastructure footprint is significantly smaller.
DeepGreen was quick to respond to the letter of deficiency, supplying requested names of Tribal leaders and contact information to FERC, as well as a new map showing an “active infrastructure” footprint of 27.1 acres, down from the 400‑acre “operational envelope” in its earlier proposal. Wolfson also updated DeepGreen’s technical specifications to include a downsized foundation and identified materials, such as grade 5 titanium, for locking mechanisms.
The new boundaries include only Phase I specifications. DeepGreen said in its updated filing that it would seek additional permitting for Phase II in the future.
Despite public curiosity about Wolfson and the company, DeepGreen did not have a representative speak at the hearing, though its legal and public‑relations officials were present to observe the proceedings. Wolfson told Monitor Local moments before the hearing that he was entertaining family guests. In an email afterward, he said his “developer background” is why he is “taking a cautious, phased, research‑first approach here instead of trying to rush anything into the water.”
Many at the hearing had earlier attended a rally at the Port Authority on Wednesday, organized with support from the citizens group ECHO and the Passamaquoddy Tribe of Sipayik. Other organizations at the press event included the Maine Party for Socialism and Liberation and Maine People’s Alliance. Reps. William Tuell, R-East Machias, and Tiffany Strout, R-Harrington, were at the rally and the hearing.
The City Council did not take action on the ordinances at either hearing. Instead, newly appointed Councilor Karen Raye recommended a moratorium on all data‑center projects at the end of the second hearing, two hours and 10 minutes after the first began.
Speaking to the dwindled crowd, Raye said she had presented her recommendation to councilors, citing a similar ordinance in Bangor that she referenced while drafting it. The councilors said they will consider it at the regular City Council meeting tentatively set for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12.
The next step is for the Planning Board to review the ordinances or recommend nonsubstantive changes.
During the hearing, Deborah Gilespie of Eastport, presenting on behalf of ECHO and petitioners, urged officials to place the ordinances on the ballot as written, citing state law that mandates how a citizen‑initiated ballot question must be formatted to preserve intent.
This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. To get regular coverage from The Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.