Stop the Foothills Beacon AI Data Center

A private company wants to build a $4 billion, 400-megawatt industrial computing facility on 260+ acres directly across Highway 2 from High River. Foothills County already approved the rezoning in February 2025, after a public hearing where only three residents showed up with questions. Most of us are only now hearing the real details.

Here's what should give us pause:

 We don't actually know what will power it. Alberta's grid is maxed out; the province's cap on new large industrial power connections is already fully claimed by other projects. Beacon, the company behind this data centre, has responded to that exact problem at its other Alberta sites by proposing to build its own on-site natural gas power plant. Nothing like that has been filed here yet, but if High River follows the same playbook, we could end up next to a gas plant, not just server racks.

 The "zero water" promise is only half the story. Air-cooled design avoids direct water use, but it does so by drawing significantly more electricity. If that power comes from an on-site gas plant, we haven't avoided an environmental cost. We've just moved it from water to emissions.

 This sits near one of Alberta's most important bird habitats. Frank Lake draws birders from around the world and hundreds of visitors a day in migration season. This community has organized before to protect it; a solar farm proposed near the lake drew real local pushback over habitat risk. A 24/7 industrial complex raises the same kind of questions, and so far nobody's had to answer them.

 Foothills County brands itself as Dark Sky Country, with an actual bylaw protecting our night skies and a partnership with a real observatory. A facility running security lighting and equipment around the clock doesn't fit that identity, and no lighting plan has been made public.

 Farmland, converted for good. This land was rezoned from agricultural to industrial business park. Once something this size is built, it doesn't revert to farmland.

300 jobs for a $4 billion, 260-acre footprint. That's the developer's own number. These facilities are built to run largely on their own; this is a massive amount of land and investment for a relatively small number of permanent local jobs.

The rezoning already happened. The next step, the development permit, where noise limits, lighting plans, and emergency response actually get decided, hasn't been filed yet. That's our window.