Alaska’s Cook Inlet is under threat, and its remaining, endangered 331 beluga whales who call it home are counting on you.
DeepGreen, a Delaware-based company, is proposing a massive, 100-megawatt underwater AI data center project right in the beluga’s home.
The proposed project would span 1,400-1,650 offshore acres near Nikiski, including up to 350 tidal turbines, 66 subsea data-center pods, and a 3.5-mile underwater sea cable.
Meanwhile, there are only an estimated 331 beluga whales left in the Cook Inlet, which is where National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) designates 7,800 sq kilometers of as beluga’s ‘critical habitat.’
This represents a long-term decline of approximately 75% from a historic population of about 1,300 in 1979.
Their numbers are so few because they’re already competing with commercial shipping, port and coastal development, oil and gas exploration and production, and other anthropogenic activities, like fishing.
For them, this means more noise, vessel activity, more disturbances from construction, and potentially even warmer water, disrupting the entire ecosystem they rely on.
Belugas are among NOAA’s marine species at greatest near-term extinction risk. That’s why we’re asking for your help to stop this massive industrial project proposed directly within their critical habitat.
Friends of Animals is submitting comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in opposition of DeepGreen’s proposed project, and we’re asking our members to join us in doing so.
The FERC is accepting public comments on this project until 5 pm ET Monday, Nov. 2.
To submit a comment, click on this link
https://ferconline.ferc.gov/QuickComment.aspx, fill out your information, check your email for a note from efiling@ferc.gov, follow that email’s link, enter docket number P-15423-000, enter your comment, and submit!
In your comment, be sure to explain that beluga whales are echolocators, meaning they use a biological sonar system to “see” in Cook Inlet’s dark, icy waters. They rely on sound to communicate, navigate, find food, and detect danger, making underwater noise a serious concern for their survival and recovery.
DeepGreen’s proposed project could contribute to hearing impairment, separation of family groups, loss of prey or habitat, disruption of biologically important feeding and mating areas, physical injury, and behavioral changes. We cannot afford to make an already challenging environment even harsher for these belugas.
NOAA recognizes this, and recognizes the Cook Inlet’s human activity, and the burden it causes. The agency recognizes that noise from ships, construction, oil and gas activity, and now, potentially, data centers, make it harder for belugas to thrive.
In a five-year review, NOAA actually reported that several anthropogenic noise sources were found at levels with the potential to chronically mask beluga communication and hearing, and that shipping and dredging sounds exceeded behavioral-harassment levels daily in some monitored settings.
And that was found before a 100-megawatt data center right in the middle of their critical habitat was proposed.
Meanwhile, under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), it is unlawful to take any marine mammal unless permitted by statutory exception. Take is defined as “to harass, hunt, capture, or kill, or attempt to harass, hunt, capture, or kill any marine mammal. In other words, this proposed project threatens to violate the MMPA.
Make sure to also include that, as the project is proposed, there are still many unanswered questions; the project can potentially and likely would have water warming impacts. DeepGreen’s selling point—and the selling point of underwater data centers, generally—is the passive cooling system, but it will still release waste heat.
Compounding the problem, the project is proposed in a narrow bottleneck of the Cook Inlet, where salmon runs will need to pass.
There’s the potential for this data center to create a warm-water plume in this relatively confined and important area. This would impact the health and behavior of salmon, plankton, and the whole ecosystem as a result.
The application reportedly lacks a thermal-plume model, dispersion analysis, or heat budget for the 66 subsea compute pods; so, there’s no sure way of knowing just how hot the water will get for salmon, and other beluga food sources.
And, of course, the potential impacts extend beyond belugas. Seals, orcas, sea lions, and even humpback whales could also face disturbances, as well as changes in availability of salmon and other prey.
A continuous computing operation releases heat; without modeling, FERC cannot evaluate localized water-temperature effects on salmon habitat, migration timing, or use of the area.
This goes without even mentioning the heavy metals and chemicals DeepGreen’s project would risk releasing into the Cook Inlet. Cook Inlet already has a documented history of spills from oil and gas operations.
A study published in Frontiers found that thermal discharge from power plants can alter oxygen and pH levels and sediment composition, which ultimately reduces the number and variety of creatures that live nearby and on the seabed. The study also flagged increased heavy metals in one discharge scenario and research on how thermal discharge affects metal uptake in marine organisms.
And for a species like the beluga, with only an estimated 331 remaining in the Cook Inlet, the loss of even one Cook Inlet beluga whale should be considered devastating to the current population, as well as to the recovery of this magnificent species.
These cumulative impacts coalescing is what spells trouble. NOAA identifies “cumulative and synergistic stressors” as a “high-concern threat” to beluga recovery.
FERC needs to evaluate what this project adds to the belugas existing burden; not pretend it’s being developed in a vacuum.