EASTPORT, Maine — The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s deadline is Monday, Oct. 19, for comments and motions to intervene on a 48-month preliminary permit application for DeepGreen Western Passage SPV, a proposed subsea artificial intelligence data center in Eastport’s coastal waters.
Save Passamaquoddy Bay recently joined the list of groups seeking a voice in the process. Other entities moving to intervene include the city of Eastport, Eastport Community Solar, the Center for Biological Diversity, local residents Carrie Cobb and Gary Fronheiser and the National Marine Fisheries Service – Greater Atlantic Region.
The Eastport City Council denied the Eastport Coalition for Healthy Oceans, or ECHO, a spot on its meeting agenda for the fourth time this week, coalition member Birdy Velveteen said. Velveteen told Monitor Local that the group wants to discuss updates to a previously dismissed voter approval ordinance, but faces resistance.
When ECHO member Joshua Nicholson submitted a written request for an agenda item, Councilor Colleen Dana-Cummings wrote in response, “Can they do that on their own? … I don’t feel like that is something for a City Council meeting.”
However, Councilor Karen Raye posted on Facebook that she will host a community conversation or informal public meeting with ECHO to address residents’ concerns. Raye previously piloted this format in September, inviting constituents to a public forum on downtown revitalization.
Raye told Monitor Local the meeting will happen, “but we need to work on a date and location.”
In August, Eastport’s legal counsel, Bangor law firm Rudman Winchell, called the proposed ordinance “unenforceable and unlawful.” The measure sought to mandate voter approval for any new development larger than existing city structures. Following that determination, the City Council dismissed the ordinance and instead enacted a full ban on large-scale data centers.
The city’s legal counsel cited case law establishing that the city’s charter, which is governed by a legislative process, takes precedence over local ordinances.
Since then, ECHO has gathered signatures for a revised petition for a voter approval ordinance. The group said the measure is necessary — along with the permanent ban on large-scale data centers — to keep projects like DeepGreen Western Passage SPV out of Eastport.
Velveteen told Monitor Local that the voter approval ordinance prevents developers from bypassing broader bans by altering project descriptions. As evidence of a potential semantic loophole, Velveteen cited op-eds in The Quoddy Tides where developer Louis Wolfson, managing member of DeepGreen Holdings LLC, began referring to the project as subsea computing infrastructure.
The voter approval ordinance, Velveteen said, will ensure Eastport residents maintain a say in large development projects, regardless of how they are framed.
Eastport holds a unique position because of its quasi-municipal port authority, which operates under its own charter. That setup raises questions about the effect of citizen initiatives on land and water usage, particularly if case law gives precedence to charters over local ordinances.
Seeking clarity on the legal distinction between charters, policy and enforcement, Velveteen questioned Eastport Port Authority Executive Director Chris Gardner during a September meeting.
“Does the Port Authority’s charter supersede the city charter with regard to citizen initiatives?” Velveteen asked.
Gardner replied: “It does not supersede the city’s charter. They exist on co-equal planes.”
When Velveteen asked what “co-equal planes” meant, Gardner said, “The charter states that all policies and procedures governing the Port Authority are those of the Port Authority board.”
In an attempt to gain further clarity, Velveteen asked: “So, with the ban in place, you still think that the Port Authority charter. … It could happen?”
She also pressed Gardner on whether a legal loophole might allow future board members to pursue a data center partnership despite the citizen initiative.
Gardner reassured her, saying, “Birdy, I don’t think, regardless of the charter, the Port Authority board would even entertain something like that.”
Velveteen said a promise is not policy, telling Monitor Local, “‘Trust me, I wouldn’t’ is very different from ‘yes or no, I do or don’t have that power.’”
DeepGreen Western Passage SPV filed its preliminary permit in February to begin engineering and environmental studies, which FERC accepted for filing in August.
Save Passamaquoddy Bay, an environmental alliance of U.S. and Canadian citizens alongside the Passamaquoddy Tribe, formally joined the list of municipal and local intervenors on the permit.
Following Monday’s deadline, FERC is expected to review the motions and schedule hearings for all parties seeking to intervene.
To read comments and motions that have already been filed, go to elibrary.ferc.gov under docket number P-15424.
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.