Rahul Somvanshi
What FERC’s Preliminary-Permit Process Means for the Proposed Underwater Data Center Near Eastport, Maine
A proposal to build a subsea data center in the Bay of Fundy near Eastport, Maine, has entered the early stages of federal review after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission accepted an application for filing. The project remains, at this stage, a preliminary-permit request rather than an approved construction plan.
According to records in FERC’s eLibrary system, the applicant is DeepGreen Western Passage SPV LLC, and the project is named the DeepGreen Western Passage Subsea-Compute & Infrastructure Hub Project. It is tracked under docket number P-15424. A filing dated July 30 in that docket shows the applicant responding to a deficiency letter FERC had issued on the preliminary-permit application.
Acceptance for Filing Is Not Construction Approval
It is important to distinguish what FERC’s acceptance of the application actually means. Reporting by The Maine Monitor, which reviewed the public docket, confirms that FERC accepted the application for filing — a procedural step that allows the review process to move forward. It does not grant the applicant authority to begin construction.
A preliminary permit, if issued, would allow the applicant to conduct engineering and environmental studies at the site. It would not authorize construction. The Maine Monitor reported that the permit under consideration here would run for 48 months and is intended specifically for study and planning purposes.
Project Scope as Described in the Application
Based on the application and The Maine Monitor’s reporting, the project as currently described would occupy a 27-acre footprint and has an updated maximum output listed at 15 megawatts. These figures come from the applicant’s filings and reporting on them; they describe what is being proposed for study, not a finalized design or a guaranteed outcome.
The Maine Monitor also reported that the docket had included an October 19 deadline for members of the public to file comments, interventions, or competing applications related to the preliminary permit. That comment window has since closed, and this article does not solicit further public comment on the docket.
Ecological Context, Without Site-Specific Claims
NOAA Fisheries lists the North Atlantic right whale as endangered and identifies New England waters generally as designated foraging critical habitat. NOAA’s general guidance notes that human-caused ocean noise, vessel traffic, and construction or energy-development activity can disrupt right whale communication and behavior.
That NOAA guidance is general in nature and is not specific to this site or this application. It does not establish, and this reporting does not claim, that the location proposed for the Eastport project functions as right-whale nursing habitat, nor does it establish that any studies conducted under a preliminary permit would affect whales or other marine life.
What Happens Next
With the deficiency response filed and the application accepted, the docket will continue to move through FERC’s review. A preliminary permit, if granted, would allow DeepGreen Western Passage SPV LLC to conduct the engineering and environmental studies described in the application — not to build anything. The docket is publicly accessible through FERC’s eLibrary system for anyone who wants to follow its progress.
For now, the project remains in an exploratory regulatory phase. No construction has been approved, and no final determination has been made about whether the project will be built.
Sources
- FERC eLibrary docket P-15424, DeepGreen Western Passage SPV LLC filing: https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/filelist?accession_num=20260730-5041
- The Maine Monitor, “Regulators accept preliminary permit for Eastport data center”: https://themainemonitor.org/regulators-accept-preliminary-permit-eastport-datacenter/
- NOAA Fisheries, North Atlantic Right Whale species page: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/north-atlantic-right-whale
