When a proposed data center began sparking council meetings in Butte last January, real estate broker Denise Kelly was getting frustrated. She’d never been involved in politics. But she worried about the impact Washington-based Sabey Corporation’s massive complex could have on her community, especially when it comes to water use and electric rates.
“I think the majority of people in this country — not just Butte — don’t want data centers,” Kelly said. “But I don’t know why the government, especially our local governments, aren’t listening to us. I don’t know why they’re selling out their towns.”
In February, furious at what she saw as a one-sided push to get a data center on the ground, Kelly decided to take control. She started the nonprofit 406 People First, talked with local advocates, and met with a lawyer to eventually draft language that, after gathering enough supportive signatures, could eventually make its way onto Butte-Silver Bow ballots and for the first time give community members a voice in checking data centers. Kelly is now in the signature-gathering phase of the effort and is also not alone; a similar initiative is in the works in Yellowstone County. Taken together, the ground-up petitions could upend the future of major data centers in Montana.
As an artificial intelligence race takes hold around the globe, data centers that fuel the speed and efficacy of AI systems are sprouting up in communities across the country — and drawing fierce opposition from locals. In Montana, where the state offers little in the way of oversight, citizen-led initiatives in Butte-Silver Bow and Yellowstone counties are forging a potentially new regulatory path: a grassroots approach that, if successful, would put the power to approve new or expanded data centers in the hands of voters.
“Butte has a long history of citizens asserting their collective power against corporations and government,” Kelly said in a June 11 press release. “We can do it again and make sure development happens on our terms.”
The model of the petitions in both Butte-Silver Bow and Yellowstone counties are identical. Citizen-led petitions need to gather signatures from 15 percent of registered voters. That means 3,652 and 16,560 signatures, respectively. If organizers pass that hurdle, voters will have a voice in November. Ballot language would say that the counties may not approve construction or expansion of any data center without a special election in which two-thirds of voters approve.
“That is democracy,” Anne Hedges, Executive Director of Montana Environmental Information Center, said about the initiatives. “When our government fails to do its job and protect people from this threat that has caused catastrophes across the country, then it’s up to the people to step up and demand that they be heard.”
Three major data centers have so far been in the works in Montana near Missoula, Butte and Broadview. Washington-based Sabey pulled out of their agreement in Butte in May, but the company is still exploring other sites in southwest Montana, including in Silver Bow County. Hedges said thanks to local concern over a disruptive cryptocurrency operation years ago, Missoula is the only county in the state that’s already ahead of the curve in terms of data center regulation.
Missoula County will hold a hearing on the fate of Idaho-based Krambu’s “Special Exception” permit for their facility at an industrial site in Bonner. The county will consider factors including noise, natural resource protection, impacts on local utilities and effects on neighboring properties. A citizen-led petition launched in April on change.org to reject the permit already has more than 40,000 signatures.
The largest proposed data center of them all is in Broadview, north of Billings. Houston-based Quantica’s “Big Sky Digital Infrastructure Campus” is slated to cover 5,000 acres using 1,100 megawatts of power generation. Last month, the company asked NorthWestern Energy for “7,235 megawatts of maximum additional capacity,” according to a May 20 press release. That energy draw would dwarf the entirety of demand across the rest of Montana, though the company said in the statement that Quantica would pay for the additional power and ratepayers would not be on the hook.
Kassi Solberg, a Broadview-based homesteading mother of six, says she’s tried everything to thwart Quantica’s data center. She showed up to all the meetings, proposed a special zoning ordinance and circulated a petition focused on accountability. But still, Solberg felt her voice wasn’t getting heard by local officials. “I’ve tried everything,” she said.
With nowhere else to turn, Solberg spearheaded the Yellowstone County Ballot Initiative. While the language is still under review by the county attorney’s office, it functions almost identically to the Butte-Silver Bow petition: If enough voters sign by the August 12 deadline, ballot language will appear in November that, if passed, would mean voters must approve any new or expanded data center.
“This initiative gives citizens a voice,” Solberg said. “When elected officials fail to do their jobs, citizens must step in. And that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
No matter what happens with the petition and in November, Solberg described her efforts as a “blueprint” that other communities could follow if similar data-center proposals sprout in their own backyards.
“When we do get the greenlight on this,” she said, “we need to be hitting the ground running.”
In Butte, Kelly said signature gathering has so far gone exceptionally well. Organizers have turned out at public events, including the farmer’s market and an antique car and airplane show, and they plan to attend the city’s Fourth of July Parade. So far, she says, the reception is nearly unanimous in support of the petition. She can count on one hand the number of folks she’s spoken with who were in favor of the data center. Roughly 1,500 registered voters have signed so far, with a deadline of late August to gather all the necessary signatures.
If her group gets the initiative on the ballot, and voters agree in November that data centers need citizen review, the approach could be a game-changer, according to Kelly. “It would be huge,” she said. “Then we won’t have a data center in Butte. And that to me saves our water. It saves our wallets. It saves our way of life.”
Hedges said initiatives like the petitions in Butte-Silver Bow and Yellowstone counties are crucial in Montana, where the Legislature meets just every two years. Montanans, she contended, can’t wait for lawmakers to take up data centers in next year’s legislative session.
“Whether or not [the petitions] succeed or fail, it shows government that they can no longer continue to ignore the concerns of these communities,” Hedges said. “It’s sending a message to our elected officials that they need to get off their behinds and actually protect the people of the state.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article indicated that Missoula County would hold a hearing in early July to approve or deny Krambu’s “Special Exception” permit for their facility at an industrial site in Bonner. The hearing was canceled after Missoula County planning staff determined the application was insufficient. A hearing date has not yet been determined.
