Have your say
You do not need to be a lawyer, an engineer or an insider to have a real voice in whether and how a data centre gets built near you. Alberta's approval system builds in formal moments where your voice carries legal weight, and this page walks you through every one of them, in order: what to do, where to do it, and when.
The Alberta approach
Your voice has legal weight
Public input in Alberta is built into the approval system itself. You can speak before your council votes, participate at the utilities commission, file concerns with the environmental regulator, and preserve rights of appeal. This page shows you how, step by step.
Step 1
Find out what is proposed near you
The earlier you know, the more influence you have. Four places tell you what is coming:
Your municipality
Council agendas, public hearing notices and development permit notices are published by your town, city or county. Many municipalities let you subscribe to notifications.
The utilities commission
Every power plant application, with its maps and technical documents, is a public record you can read on the AUC's eFiling system.
Provincial public notices
Water and environmental applications post public notice, searchable online.
The company itself
For power plant projects, the company is required to contact people nearby before it can even file. If a project is coming, you will often hear about it from the proponent first.
Step 2
When the company knocks, engage
Before a company can apply for a power plant approval, the utilities commission requires it to run a participant involvement program: contacting nearby residents, landowners, municipalities and Indigenous communities, documenting what it heard, and reporting to the regulator what remains unresolved.
Use that. Ask your questions. Put your concerns in writing and keep copies, because concerns raised early and documented well carry weight all the way through the process.
Step 3
At your council
If rezoning is required for the project, council must hold a public hearing before deciding. This is the public's chance to have a say.
If the land does not require rezoning, the project still needs development permits. Persons affected by decisions on development permits can appeal in accordance with applicable laws.
Step 4
At the utilities commission
When a power plant application is filed, the commission publishes notice. Read the application on eFiling, and if the project affects you, file a statement of intent to participate by the date in the notice.
People who think they are directly and adversely affected may apply for intervener status, and, if granted, would be allowed to ask the company questions it must answer on the record, file evidence, and take part in a hearing where company witnesses can be cross-examined under oath. The commission can also help with participation costs for eligible participants.
Step 5
At the environmental regulator
Water Act and environmental approval applications post public notice with a comment window. If you are directly affected, filing a statement of concern during that window does two things: it puts your concerns in front of the decision-maker before the decision, and it preserves your right to appeal the decision to the independent Environmental Appeals Board afterward.
A good statement of concern is specific: who you are, where you are relative to the project, and how it could affect you, whether that is your water, your land, your health or your livelihood. It does not need legal language. It needs your facts.
Step 6
After a project is approved
Your voice does not retire on approval day. Noise complaints go to the utilities commission at any point in a facility's operating life, under enforceable noise rules. Environmental concerns go to Alberta's 24-hour environmental hotline. And every facility's compliance and enforcement record is public, so you can check whether concerns are being acted on.
More information+
What to include in a statement of concern: your name and contact details, your location relative to the project, the specific approval you are commenting on, and the specific ways it could affect you.
Key destinations: AUC eFiling system · Environmental Appeals Board · Provincial public notice search · Your municipality's planning department · 24-hour environmental hotline.
Make yourself heard
Alberta set out to attract this industry on Alberta's terms, and your participation is part of those terms. The process works best, and decisions are strongest, when the people closest to a project are in the record.