Suspicious data center block from Sines to military industry

O national coordinator of the Left Block, José Manuel Pureza, today warned about the environmental, social and security impacts of industrial and digital investments in Sines, alluding to a possible connection to the US military industry.

The BE leader today visited some ongoing investments in the Sines industrial and port complex in Setúbal district, accompanied by the local structure of the party.

The delegation indicated to the Lusa agency that it traveled several sites of the complex, accompanied by the local structure of the party, having observed the works of the data center of Start Campus and the site of the future Chinese lithium battery factory CALB.

In statements to journalists, at the end of the visit, José Manuel Pureza considered that the scale of investments in this territory raises doubts about its purpose and the effective benefits to the populations.

“ Everything leads us to believe, by the information we are collecting, that there is a direct link between this ‘mega data-cent’ and the design of artificial intelligence models that will then be applied in the American war industry”, he said.

The coordinator of BE related these suspicions to the strategic location of Sines, as a point of tying underwater telecommunications cables, and to the construction project of a civil and military dock.

“ All this makes what is happening in Sines very worrying both from an environmental point of view and from a security point of view”, he stressed.

From an environmental point of view, he added, “this reality” could consume “about 20% of energy from all over the country” and lead to the deployment “of large photovoltaic plants and a huge line of wind power” in neighboring municipalities.

“If Sines is a strategic link point to the American war industry, Sines is a target,” he argued.

The leader also demanded transparency on the projects and their purpose, accusing politicians of focusing their speeches on technological modernization and job creation.

“ All this to then end up bringing very little benefit to the local community, harm to local communities and the country for equipment that will store data that have nothing to do with us,” he said.

BE’s concerns also extend to housing and public services that are under pressure from new investments.

“ Nowadays buying a house or renting a T1, or T2 to a family that is settling in Sines is as prohibitive as in the big cities of Lisbon and Porto. The housing crisis is in Sines, it is in the whole country”, he stressed.

José Manuel Purez also considered that investments in Sines could represent a “calamitous error” and contribute to the “fragilization of collective life”.

The visit to Sines was the first of a set of movements that the Left Block intends to make to several points in the country where large data centers are planned or under construction.