Rural Queenslanders have seen gas projects come and go – but a 725-hectare datacentre poses a whole new level of ‘stupidity’
Summary
A $31 billion data center project by AI company Anthropic is planned for rural Queensland, Australia, on a 725-hectare site currently used as a feedlot near Dalby. The data center would be the largest in Australia, using a huge amount of energy, sparking local opposition due to concerns about environmental impact and repeating past boom-and-bust cycles from gas projects.Key Facts
- The project site is near Denver Kanowski’s home, which is surrounded by gas wells, a coal mine, and gas power plants.
- Anthropic’s data center will power a large AI language model called Claude.
- The data center will use a cooling system claimed to need less water than typical data centers.
- It will require up to 2.16 gigawatts of power, about one-quarter of Queensland’s total energy demand.
- The project is expected to create thousands of construction jobs and about 1,400 permanent jobs.
- Local residents and farmers have raised concerns based on past negative experiences with gas industry projects.
- Over 21,500 people signed a petition opposing the project, fearing environmental and economic harm.
- Similar data center projects have faced backlash and restrictions in parts of the United States due to energy use and noise.
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