A regional conservation group has asked Cascade County commissioners to temporarily halt the development of data centers, mirroring other grassroots efforts across the state.
During a commission meeting Tuesday, members of the Golden Triangle Resource Council presented commissioners with a petition with about 250 signatures. The petition asked the commission to take three actions: urge the Montana Public Service Commission to explore consumer protections, ask Gov. Greg Gianforte to do the same through his Energy Task Force and, finally, for commissioners to enact a county-level moratorium on hyperscale data center development until regulations are enacted.
“We had a petition that about 250 signed that they want the county commission to take some steps to safeguard ourselves, our pocketbook and our natural resources and put some positive steps in place before the hyperscale lands on us,” Steve Grout, a Golden Triangle Resource Council member, told Montana Free Press.
A “hyperscale” data center refers to one of the largest and most energy-intensive of those facilities. Great Falls was the proposed site of such a project last year. Real estate developer TAC Data Centers proposed a project that would consume up to 600 megawatts of electricity. At the time, it was the largest proposed data center in the state, but that kind of power wasn’t readily available in northcentral Montana.
By the fall, TAC Data Centers dropped its proposal, but the topic has remained relevant in the community. The Great Falls Development Alliance has continued to pursue data center development as part of its broader development mission. The organization formed a data center task force and has held community meetings featuring speakers who presented details on smaller existing data centers in Great Falls and the development of multiple centers in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
“We formed a data center task force to learn about the potential benefits and potential negative impacts, so if we do have another proposed data center project, we’re better informed,” Brett Doney, GFDA’s president and CEO, told MTFP Tuesday.
Data centers continue to be a hot topic across Montana, where other projects are moving forward and citizen-led initiatives are under discussion. The Golden Triangle Resource Council’s letter to county commissioners cited a New York Times report about Kassi Solberg and her efforts to combat a data center project in Broadview that would be among the world’s largest.
Solberg has spearheaded a ballot initiative effort in Yellowstone County that would require voter approval of data center projects. A similar initiative is underway in Silver Bow County, where a company is exploring sites for a potential data center.
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In Missoula County, a repeat site for prospective data centers, commissioners passed a temporary moratorium on data centers earlier this month. The measure is an interim zoning proposal lasting up to a year. County officials will study the potential impacts to public health, safety and natural resources during the moratorium and plans to revise regulations if necessary.
The Missoula County moratorium is similar to what the Golden Triangle Resource Council members requested this week in Cascade County. The speakers in Great Falls Tuesday requested that county officials address concerns about data center energy and water use in a public forum.
“We’d prefer to have that done in a public hearing and hope you can schedule something on the agenda quite soon,” Gordon Whirry, another council member, told commissioners at the meeting.
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