Bonner Data Center
Project overview
A property owner in Bonner has submitted a preliminary application to Missoula County Planning, Development and Sustainability for a proposal to lease the planer building at the Old Bonner Mill to a company planning to establish a data center. The site, generally located at 9314 Bonner Mill Road in the Bonner Mill Industrial Park, is zoned Industrial Center, Heavy. A data center would be an allowed use on the property.
Missoula County has additional zoning regulations that apply to data centers and cryptocurrency operations throughout the county. These include:
All power for the operation must come from a new renewable energy source (meaning it has not been on the market yet)
The operation must recycle all electronic waste
Because it is located within 500 feet of a residential area, the proposal must go through a special exception review to ensure impacts to nearby properties are addressed, including traffic, noise, lighting, landscaping, and screening and buffering
Project process
The project would be subject to approval by the Missoula County Consolidated Land Use Board, not the county commissioners. While the land use board at times only has authority to make recommendations to the commissioners, the board does have final decision-making authority in some cases, including zoning variances, zoning special exceptions and administrative action appeals.
The land use board has authority to approve or deny a proposal to locate a data center within 500 feet of residential use, but the applicant must still secure a zoning compliance permit from the County ensuring they meet the requirements to recycle e-waste and supply the operation with new renewable energy, as required by the cryptocurrency zoning. The board may consider this project in early May at the earliest. The project would also need to get other County permits to operate, such as building and other trade permits. These are subject to administrative review and do not involve a public process.
What is a special exception?
A special exception is defined as an allowed use that meets the intent of the zoning in an area, but which, because of location, scale, required infrastructure or other potential impacts, requires a special degree of consideration and control to ensure it is consistent and compatible with the overall community character.
State law and local regulations require the Board of Adjustment to be the reviewing and approving authority for special exception requests. (The Consolidated Land Board serves as the Board of Adjustment for Missoula County.)
What’s next?
The project is still in its initial stages, and Missoula County has not received a formal application yet, which is typically the point when public engagement starts. Due to heightened public interest though, residents are invited to ask questions and submit comments using the tools below.
County staff attended, but did not organize, a community meeting Friends of 2 Rivers hosted on March 20 in Bonner. If a formal application is received, the public will have a chance to weigh in on this project at a public meeting of the land board. Follow this project page to be notified when a meeting is set.
Who's Listening
-
Phone 406-258-4946 -
Climate Action Program Manager
Missoula County Planning, Development and Sustainability
Phone (406) 258-3442
Data centers all over thr us, more than 50% failed to even get built. Its a gut check and shotgun spread. They're trying to see what sticks where. Apathy is not an option in this scenario. We need clean water more than we need AI slop. The building owner needs to consider other venues, perhaps a farmers market or flea market for time being.
I absolutely do not support an AI facility at the confluence of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot Rivers. We have no need to endanger another waterway for absolutely nothing but greed. Our Montana constitution mandates protection of our water. To give vague information regarding long term impacts to our water is a joke. No good will come of this facility. Protect our small community. Do the right thing Missoula, keep AI facilities out of Missoula and the rest of our small towns.
Upon attending the most recent Bonner city council meeting and hearing from some of the folks with the land use board and the Dept of health (?), it is abundantly clear how unequipped Montana and Missoula county are to handle proposals for AI data centers without federal and state regulations.
There are too many unknowns due to lack of research on AI centers and a dearth of information from Krambu themselves, for our land use board to feel comfortable with approving this project. It is unnerving to hear that a project may still be approved as long as it falls within the confines of zoning laws when our county government and officials know how deeply unpopular this development would be. It is doubly unnerving for the remainder of our state, that a progressive county with strict zoning laws may still allow a data center to be built. I fear that this would lead to a proliferation of AI centers along with those planned or proposed in Butte and Broadview.
It is also extremely disappointing to know that the public will essentially be unable to hold the commissioners, the land board, or our politicians accountable for something that is deeply unpopular with the vast majority of people if they were to approve the data center.
I am absolutely against this project for all the aforementioned reasons and would further suggest Missoula Co. implement conservation standards that would prevent similar project proposals in the future. We should not have to keep fighting the same battles to protect our natural resources!
I have a home directly across the street from the Mill.
I am horrified that this project will have a dramatically negative impact on our water, power, mental health and way-of-life. Not to mention the drastic effects it will have on the schoolchildren at Bonner Elementary.
Please consider this lovely community and decline this project!!
The consequences of this project will lead to more inflation of energy costs, pollute our rivers and environment, threaten our aquifer, etc, and offer no benefit to the local economy. It is a just plain ugly project for our beautiful communities, Bonner and downstream. The County must say no.
This project is of no benefit to the general public, is a huge draw on state water resources, and will result in ecological catastrophe if implemented. The County should refuse this project in its entirety.
I strongly urge the Missoula County Consolidated Land Use Board to deny this proposal. This project is not in the communities best interests. The future of Missoula County’s natural resources are uncertain and are stressed. They are only going to get worse. A project such as this would only stress our natural resources further. We live in a time where we need to conserve our resources, not allow them to be experimented with.
The fact that the reps for the company thought it was fine to be half-hearten and vague about their resource consumption is enough to decline their proposal. From the Berkeley Pit to the Smurfit-Stone Mill, these extraction companies never show the communities upfront what messes will be left for us to clean up. Let’s not wait and find out. It is hard to claim that this project is sustainable. Sadly most e-waste is not recyclable. It would be terrible to see our community contribute to more carbon emissions by enabling companies to extract the minerals to make the batteries, and then throw it back into the soil. If the company were to go bankrupt, will the infrastructure be sitting around? Or will it be shipped somewhere else on the planet to rot and pollute the soil.
Almost every concern a person could have for this data center are high risk concerns. They are not mild or moderate concerns, they are great big huge concerns. What’s worse, is that each concern a person could have about a data center is too new to humanity to be fully understood. If in a decade we find that there are harms to human health, will Krambu still be around to pay their medical bills? If their water-cooling system, that has never been deployed at the proposed scale, doesn’t have the results they promised, do we get to revoke their permit? I do not want this community to become a test dummy for this corporation or this industry. It is unfair to place the burden of such magnitude of uncertainty on the community.
Additionally, the moral and societal implications of supporting an industry that may lower cognitive abilities, memory, and exploit and pirate off of others skills and creativity are so vast, they could not possibly be accounted for or responsibly planned for.
The priorities of this community are for community health, student health, environmental stewardship, local business, and to work to lower housing costs, and responsible planning. Please do not let this cooperation take advantage of our community. We are demanding that this project be not approved.
Clean water is the lifeblood of Montana. The Krambu AI data center raises many issues, and water is a critical one. Without protection, the AI data center could put the Blackfoot River in a tightening vice, choking it between consumption and contamination.
Consumption:
When it comes to water consumption, timing is everything.
Krambu claims that using a closed-loop system will minimize its water consumption. That is credible --- but we need full transparency around these claims. For example, Sabey Data Centers, has said its proposed Butte data center will use about 16 million gallons of water annually, equating that to about the impact of a 100 room hotel. Sabey Data Centers, like Krambu, is claiming that its use of a closed-loop system will cut its water consumption. What is important to understand is that nearly all 16 million gallons will be used in July and August, when the temperatures are hottest and when the rivers and landscape need that water the most (see slides 17 and 18 of this presentation: https://www.buttedatacenterinfo.com/_files/ugd/261bfd_85c42a797eba456d9436b509ddefdb14.pdf).
Again, timing is everything.
A 100-room hotel typically uses between 300,000 and 600,000 gallons of water per month, assuming a standard occupancy rate of approximately 60–70%. Taking the average of 450,000 and then dividing 16,000,000 by that average equals about 36. Divide that by 2 for two months (July and August) and you arrive at 18. So, the Sabey Data Center water consumption is actually like adding eighteen 100 room hotels for the two months that matter most when it comes to water consumption. I would like to know if Krambu's projections are similar. In Krambu's case, water will be drawn from onsite wells, and we know that groundwater and surface water are connected (https://morrisoninstitute.asu.edu/content/study-confirms-groundwater-pumping-drying-arizona-rivers). Groundwater and surface water are connected, meaning groundwater level changes significantly impact above-ground water in rivers and streams.
Contamination:
Forever chemicals are forever.
Regarding contamination, Krambu claims its closed-loop system uses a "food safe" propylene glycol fluid. That may be true, but the public needs verification. It needs independent testing of Krambu’s cooling fluids, and Krambu should pay for that. Until Krambu provides full disclosure of its cooling fluid recipe and allows independent testing, we should be very hesitant to believe it is "food safe." Material Safety Data Sheets for propylene glycol-based cooling fluids for data center cooling can be found online. One popular brand, DOWFROST™ LC 25 Heat Transfer Fluid, which markets its fluid as a, “prediluted 25% propylene glycol solution in water with a purpose-built corrosion inhibitor package designed to help protect system metals while maintaining reliable heat transfer performance,” has a Material Safety Data Sheets disclosing it poses an inhalation risk. Here's a sample: "Hazards: Suspected of damaging fertility or the unborn child." Given the proximity to residential housing and an elementary school, and of course, the Blackfoot River, verification that Krambu’s cooling fluids are non-toxic is necessary.
The use of "dielectric fluids" for cooling---fluids that are thermally conductive but not electrically conductive—is booming in AI data centers. These fluids are fluorocarbon-based, meaning they are "forever chemicals." AI chips run really, really hot. Cooling these chips is a new frontier. They generally demand direct, liquid cooling. This very recent data center industry article highlights the top 10 cooling companies' current solutions: https://datacentremagazine.com/top10/top-10-liquid-cooling-companies. They all depend on strange liquids. These cooling fluid markets are expanding into the billions of dollars. The city of Kalispell currently needs an $18 million investment in new wells and water transmission to shield the public from PFAS contamination (https://deq.mt.gov/files/Water/WQInfo/Documents/SRF/DWSRF/Kalispell%20PFAS_FONSI-EA_Public%20Notice.pdf). The source of Kalispell’s drinking water contamination is currently unknown. Bonner needs verification that its residents' drinking water supplies will not be threatened by dangerous forever chemicals. Not now. Not in the future. These are chemicals that are hazardous to human health at a parts per trillion scale. That’s a scale of one drop of liquid in twenty Olympic swimming pools.
Unanswered Questions:
The Bonner community must ask itself if this the best long-term use of the Bonner mill site, given the: low employment benefits, potential resource demands, uncertainty about impacts to affordable and reliable electricity, uncertainty about future expansion and potential for larger energy and water use if expanded, unclear data tenants (Krambu says they’d like “biomedical AI clients” but that they are not closing the door on any clientele).
Bonner needs transparency and certainty. Krambu has not provided either.
Clean water is Montana's lifeblood. There are many issues with the Krambu proposal, water is a critical one. The AI data center could place the Blackfoot River in a tightening vice, choking it between consumption and contamination.
Consumption:
When it comes to water consumption, timing is everything.
Krambu claims that using a closed-loop system will minimize its water consumption. That is credible --- but we need full transparency around these claims. For example, Sabey Data Centers, has said its proposed Butte data center will use about 16 million gallons of water annually, equating that to about the impact of a 100 room hotel. Sabey Data Centers, like Krambu, is claiming that its use of a closed-loop system will cut its water consumption. What is important to understand is that nearly all 16 million gallons will be used in July and August, when the temperatures are hottest and when the rivers and landscape need that water the most (see slides 17 and 18 of this presentation: https://www.buttedatacenterinfo.com/_files/ugd/261bfd_85c42a797eba456d9436b509ddefdb14.pdf).
Again, timing is everything.
A 100-room hotel typically uses between 300,000 and 600,000 gallons of water per month, assuming a standard occupancy rate of approximately 60–70%. Taking the average of 450,000 and then dividing 16,000,000 by that average equals about 36. Divide that by 2 for two months (July and August) and you arrive at 18. So, the Sabey Data Center water consumption is actually like adding eighteen 100 room hotels for the two months that matter most when it comes to water consumption. Are Krambu's needs similar? In Krambu's case, water will be drawn from onsite wells, and we know that groundwater and surface water are connected (https://morrisoninstitute.asu.edu/content/study-confirms-groundwater-pumping-drying-arizona-rivers). When groundwater level changes, it significantly impacts above-ground water in rivers and streams.
Contamination:
Forever chemicals are forever.
Regarding contamination, Krambu claims its closed-loop system uses a "food safe" propylene glycol fluid. That may be true, but the public needs verification. It needs independent testing of Krambu’s cooling fluids, and Krambu should pay for that. Until Krambu provides full disclosure of its cooling fluid recipe and allows independent testing, we should be very hesitant to believe it is "food safe." Material Safety Data Sheets for propylene glycol-based cooling fluids for data center cooling can be found online. One popular brand, DOWFROST™ LC 25 Heat Transfer Fluid, which markets its fluid as a, “prediluted 25% propylene glycol solution in water with a purpose-built corrosion inhibitor package designed to help protect system metals while maintaining reliable heat transfer performance,” has a Material Safety Data Sheets disclosing it poses an inhalation risk. Here's a sample: "Hazards: Suspected of damaging fertility or the unborn child." Given the proximity to residential housing and an elementary school, and of course, the Blackfoot River, verification that Krambu’s cooling fluids are non-toxic is necessary.
The use of "dielectric fluids" for cooling---fluids that are thermally conductive but not electrically conductive—is booming in AI data centers. These fluids are fluorocarbon-based, meaning they are "forever chemicals." AI chips run really, really hot. Cooling these chips is a new frontier. They generally demand direct, liquid cooling. This very recent data center industry article highlights the top 10 cooling companies' current solutions: https://datacentremagazine.com/top10/top-10-liquid-cooling-companies. They all depend on strange liquids. These cooling fluid markets are expanding into the billions of dollars. No community wants to be the guinea pig for these new chemicals.
The city of Kalispell currently needs an $18 million investment in new wells and water transmission to shield the public from PFAS contamination (https://deq.mt.gov/files/Water/WQInfo/Documents/SRF/DWSRF/Kalispell%20PFAS_FONSI-EA_Public%20Notice.pdf). The source of Kalispell’s drinking water contamination is currently unknown. Bonner needs verification that its residents' drinking water supplies will not be threatened by dangerous forever chemicals. Not now. Not in the future. These are chemicals that are hazardous to human health at a parts per trillion scale. That’s a scale of one drop of liquid in twenty Olympic swimming pools.
Unanswered Questions:
The Bonner community must ask itself if this the best long-term use of the Bonner mill site, given the: low employment benefits, potential resource demands, uncertainty about impacts to affordable and reliable electricity, uncertainty about future expansion and potential for larger energy and water use if expanded, and the unclear data tenants (Krambu says they’d like “biomedical AI clients” but that they are not closing the door on any clientele).
Bonner needs transparency and certainty. Krambu has not provided either.
I strongly oppose this proposal which will only benefit Krambu, while threatening our aquifer, the Blackfoot River, our statewide electric costs, and the local communities of Bonner and East Missoula. Krambu's explanation of how they plan to mitigate the heat and waste water generated from this data center's operation are utterly inadequate. Stand Strong, Missoula!
Absolutely against the data center... Taking resources from our community and our wildlife is unacceptable. I hope missoula county understands the tax payers do not want this.
AI data centers strain the power grid and hike up local electricity costs. This is the opposite of the Montana ethos of supporting local business and community. Krambu inc is here to take, not to give. As a born and raised Montanan, and local Missoula business owner, I’m deeply opposed to the establishment of any AI data center in Montana.
I am a Bonner resident, a parent of Bonner School students, and an employee of a Bonner organization. I do not support an AI data center in this community. AI, in its current state, is doing horrific damage to the environment, the future of creative occupations, and the souls of humanity. We are learning to outsource critical thinking, creativity, writing, and art to a plagiarism machine that produces far-worse results than human-made products and does so at the cost of our earthly resources. What a terrible thing to bring to our beautiful community. Please consider whether or not greed and short-sighted financial gains are worth sacrificing our souls for. In my opinion, we can do much, much better. Thank you for your time.
I do not support this data center because it will pollute our eco system and drain our grid. A data center this close to watershed is going to heat it up and cause nasty algae blooms, especially when its low. This won't just affect Bonner but everything down stream. Whatever they run that water through will end up back in our aquafier and river no matter what filters they use it will not be cost efficient to remove all what will be introduced into the water. Definitely harmful to our community. I absolutely do not support this data center.
A better idea than a data center is an indoor flea market or event hosting. That way everyone wins. A data center this close to watershed is going to heat it up and cause nasty algae blooms, especially when its low. This won't just affect bonner but everything down stream. Whatever they run that water through will end up back in our aquafier and river no matter what filters they use it will not be cost efficient to remove all what will be introduced into the water. I think the owner should reach out to the community for alternative ideas than allowing this to occur.
What a pathetic idea for our town. Clear the dollar signs out of your eyes and wake up! AI data companies should never be trusted in any capacity. They are a drain on our resources, pollute our environment, and will negatively impact the power grid. They are also completely dishonest and fail to present actual facts about the resources they consume. Also how will a data center help reduce the cost of living in Missoula? Adding a data center will continue to drive up the price of homes and cost of living in Missoula. This company will bring in new employees from out of the area that will be paid very well and will create a bigger financial imbalance in town. Any member of Missoula government that votes for a data center should be recalled immediately.
I don't think that this project is in the community's best interest. I think that it is resource intensive and comes with a high probability of negative environmental consequence. As someone who lives nearby, I feel nervous at the thought of industry like this moving in so close to my home.
I like my water for drinking, not generating deepfakes and slop.
After reading the comments see no offered alternate ideas for the location, just supported reasons for I-we, dont like it. Anything going there will have an impact. So, if its not going to be something moving the region into the future, we should drop another fuel depot, recycling drop off center and a mini-mall of dispensarys- at least it woulnt sit vacant while some agency works quietly on funding for a shelter complex which will get approved without our input. If all the water/enviro change is happening, we'll have to eventually move further away from a tourism/ag base. Data is one option in a cleaner than a steel mill industry choice. Also, A.I. is letting us bloviate here so it isn't all bad...maybe. No, I dont have any financial dog in this hunt.