Federal regulators will stop taking comments and requests to intervene at 5 p.m. Eastern Time (1 p.m. Alaska Time) on Monday, Nov. 2, on a proposal to place an AI data center on the floor of Alaska's Cook Inlet. The project, filed by DeepGreen Cook Inlet SPV LLC under Federal Energy Regulatory Commission docket P-15423, would power up to 66 underwater server pods with roughly 100 megawatts from about 330 to 350 tidal turbines west of Nikiski, according to the project's FERC record as tracked by Alaska AI HQ.

The site sits in the habitat of the Cook Inlet beluga whale — one of the most endangered marine mammal populations in the United States. The deadline also applies to competing applications, which means Nov. 2 is the last formal chance for residents, fishing groups, local governments, and others to shape what FERC weighs before deciding whether to grant the permit.

For Kenai Peninsula communities, the stakes are practical as well as ecological. The proposal touches commercial fishing grounds, a planned state transmission line and a whale population that the local economy and Alaska Native communities have watched decline for decades.

A Permit to Study, Not to Build

The request is for a preliminary permit, which is narrower than many readers might assume. A FERC preliminary permit gives the holder priority over competing developers at a site and time to study it, for up to four years. It does not authorize construction, and any project would need a separate license with full environmental review.

DeepGreen founder Louis Wolfson has described the filing in those terms, calling it "a license to study, not a license to construct," in comments to Oceanographic Magazine. The company argues that seafloor sites offer steady tidal power and natural cooling that land-based data centers struggle to match.

The application has had a rocky path. DeepGreen filed on Feb. 11, and FERC found the application incomplete on June 18, citing missing design details and incomplete notice to the City of Kenai and to tribes and Alaska Native corporations. After the company supplemented its filing, FERC accepted it and published a Federal Register notice on Sept. 4.

The design would land about 3.5 miles of power and fiber-optic cable in the Nikiski industrial area and connect to the Alaska Energy Authority's planned Cook Inlet PowerLink, a proposed $400 million, 38-mile line that has not been built. AEA chief executive Curtis Thayer told the Anchorage Daily News in August, "It's extremely disappointing that they would send something to FERC without contacting us."

Belugas That Hunt and Talk by Sound

Cook Inlet belugas were listed as endangered in 2008. The most recent official estimate from NOAA Fisheries, based on a June 2022 survey, puts the population at a median of 331 whales, with a range of 290 to 386. Results from a 2025 survey had not been published as of late October. The population numbered about 1,300 in the 1970s.

Noise is central to the concern — Cook Inlet's water is thick with glacial silt, so belugas rely on echolocation clicks to find salmon and other prey and on whistles and calls to keep mothers and calves together. The federal recovery plan ranks anthropogenic noise among the threats of greatest concern, and earlier NOAA-backed research found ship traffic already dominates the inlet's human-made soundscape.

The project record does not yet describe how loud 330 to 350 operating turbines would be, how installation would be done, or how pods and cables would be anchored in one of North America's strongest tidal currents. Those are the questions site studies would be meant to answer, and they are why critics want limits set before studies begin.

Kenai, Fishermen and Conservation Groups Push Back

The docket held 141 filings as of Oct. 25, including 124 comments from individuals. The Center for Biological Diversity, the Kenai Peninsula Borough, the Alaska Commercial Fisheries Conservation Alliance and the City of Kenai have all moved to intervene, giving them formal standing in the case. The Alaska Energy Authority also intervened but took no position for or against the permit.

The Center for Biological Diversity has called the concept a terrible idea for endangered whales and urged FERC to reject it outright. The fisheries alliance also filed a formal protest, while Kenai officials have questioned the lack of early consultation.

DeepGreen has a second, smaller application in Maine. That project, P-15424 in the Western Passage near Eastport, sits in waters used by North Atlantic right whales, a species with an estimated 384 animals as of 2024. Comments on it closed Oct. 19. Eastport adopted an ordinance banning large-scale data centers in September, and Passamaquoddy Chief Pos Bassett told the Maine Monitor that "the Tribe is not interested in partnering with DeepGreen."

Deadlines and Decisions Ahead

The wider question is whether the AI boom's demand for power and cooling will push data centers into public waters, where federal law protects endangered species and shared fisheries. A preliminary permit is not a final decision, but it can set a site's development path and lock out competitors for years.

What remains unknown is considerable. FERC has not issued or denied the Cook Inlet permit, has not set a decision date, and no noise or habitat study has been filed. DeepGreen has not identified customers for the computing capacity, and the transmission line it would rely on does not yet exist.

Alaskans who want to weigh in can file comments through FERC's eLibrary system using docket number P-15423 before 5 p.m. Eastern Time (1 p.m. Alaska Time) on Nov. 2. Intervention gives formal party status and the right to challenge a decision, while a comment simply goes on the record. Readers should rely on the FERC docket itself rather than social media summaries for project details.

The bottom line: DeepGreen is seeking permission to study, not build, an underwater AI data center in endangered beluga habitat. The Nov. 2 deadline is the public's main remaining opening before FERC decides, and the biggest unknown is how much noise the turbines would add to an inlet whose whales depend on hearing to survive.

What Readers Want to Know

What is DeepGreen proposing in Cook Inlet? About 330 to 350 tidal turbines producing roughly 100 megawatts to power 66 underwater AI server pods on the seabed west of Nikiski.

Has the project been approved? No. DeepGreen is seeking a preliminary permit, which allows site studies for up to four years but not construction.

What is the Nov. 2 deadline? It is FERC's cutoff for comments, motions to intervene, and competing applications on docket P-15423, at 5 p.m. Eastern Time or 1 p.m. Alaska Time.

Why are belugas a concern? Cook Inlet belugas are endangered, number about 331, and rely on sound to hunt and communicate in murky water, so added noise is a key threat.

Who has intervened? The Center for Biological Diversity, Kenai Peninsula Borough, City of Kenai and Alaska Commercial Fisheries Conservation Alliance, plus AEA without taking a position.

Is the Maine project still open for comment? No. Comments on the Western Passage project, P-15424, closed Oct. 19.