00:02This is the site of a proposed 52 megawatt data centre in northwest Tasmania.
00:08Today it's all quiet, but yesterday it was a different story.
00:13Members of the public have provided photographic evidence
00:16which suggests quite significant excavations have taken place
00:19and material has been taken to site along with site offices and the like.
00:25The Latrobe Council says the activity could be illegal.
00:28Firmus Technologies has an approved forest practices plan for the site
00:32to fell trees and remove weeds and stumps.
00:36But the local mayor says it appears the company has gone well beyond the plan's scope.
00:40It's certainly feeding into a proverbial forest form of concern in our community.
00:47After visiting the site yesterday, the council let Firmus know
00:50of its intention to issue an enforcement notice.
00:52The company agreed to stop works.
00:55Further investigations will take place next week.
00:58A Thermus spokesperson said the works underway with general site maintenance
01:02did not require planning approval and are separate to the proposed business application.
01:08They said no major works would get underway until the appropriate approvals had been received.
01:14Some local residents already unhappy about the idea of the data centre in their community
01:18are anxious about the latest development.
01:21We're upset at the idea of the water that's going to be used, the energy that's going to be used,
01:28all the other things.
01:29But the arrogance that they showed towards the local population.
01:35The Greens have praised the Latrobe Council for intervening.
01:39It's very welcome to see any level of government standing up to big AI data centres at the moment
01:45because we're sure not getting that from the state government.
01:48The state government is currently considering a request by the Latrobe Council
01:52to assess the data centre proposal as a major project.
01:56The End
