Bonner Data Center

We don't need an AI data center in Bonner. As a Missoula resident, I am extremely wary of how plans can change from original promises, in terms of energy used, pollution expected and general impact contained. Things like this always balloon more than expected. Allowing this project opens the door to future projects getting pushed through. Once built, this will never go away. It needs to be extremely clear who is benefiting and why. If it is not clear, there is absolutely reason to be concerned.

We should absolutely not approve this. This story has already played out across the country, with the same result every time. This will only result in higher energy prices, environmental degradation, and no notable boost to the local economy. We should take a lesson from the numerous other communities this has happened to, and not allow this project to proceed, especially on the banks on the Blackfoot river, an invaluable treasure to our community. I strongly oppose this plan.

I would like to express dismay that this project is being considered. Several research studies have shown that data centers raise the temperature of the surrounding area (up to 6.2 miles away) by an average of 9.1 degrees. In an era of global warming this seems like a bad idea. Plus I doubt the residents of Bonner will be happy when they experience these higher temperatures.

Also, where is the water used to cool the center going to go? Into the river which does not bode well for fish or fishermen.

I am a constituent living in district 3, Missoula, Montana and am desperately urging you to please do everything in your power to protect our sacred lands, including forests, groundwater, air, and waterways from data centers. Though Montana has signed letters of intent to invite data centers into our state, data centers are a huge draw on public services and increase prices for local governments, residents, and municipalities to support their extreme energy usage. On top of that, these centers do little to nothing to reinvest resources or capital into the local economy. For local residents, including humans and wildlife, they create sound and light pollution, contaminate drinking water, use up valuable freshwater resources for cooling. This effectively destroys fish and wildlife habitat and ecosystems - on which many Montana residents depend for their food and livelihood - as well as reduces availability for agriculture and farming communities who depend on water to grow and raise food. Data centers in Montana would be catastrophic for every single resident. Please do everything you can to require these data centers to generate and use 100% renewable energy at the very least to reduce the financial and energy burden on your constituents.

It should not even be a question that this project needs to be cancelled.
Lack of contribution to the local community aside- this data center is going to result in infrasonic sound waves that are known to cause environmental damage and have effects on HUMAN HEALTH.
Data centers like these, however small, do not belong in populated areas. Full stop.

This project meets Missoula County Zoning guidelines and is an approved use for this property. The property owners need to lease this property. It is a major portion of the property and its occupancy impacts the Mill sites overall viability. Manufacturers are not seeking this Bonner location. We have low wages, high housing costs and huge transportation costs. Ther may not be any other uses for the site except for a data center. The Mill Manager reached out to numerous manufacturers without receiving any interest. This data center will pay an enormous amount of property and business equipment tax. The Bonner School and the Rural Fire Department should be in support of this opportunity. They use minimal water, it's a closed loop system. The noise level is below Missoula County standards. The construction jobs and the data center jobs will be above manufacturing job levels. I support this project.

Please do not go forward with a proposal or contract for this project. Even if a project like this moved forward, it would take years to fully understand the environmental, energy, and community impacts of something like this - and there is already talk of this opening in June. And once its here, its here to stay, as you can read from many other communities that had data centers built in them. They often need more water and energy than initially planned or promised. The company is unclear who their client would be for the data center, and without even knowing a client, how would they be making the promises they are already making on their impact to the community? What's more, with guaranteed impacts on the community and environment, I can't imagine the company has made any guarantees about generating local jobs or giving back to the community. I understand we are in the age of rapidly developing technology with astronomically growing needs, but this site is right next to the Blackfoot, a school, and many houses. I imagine the same promises this company is making now are the same made about the Smurfit-Stone site - and yes, this mill at least provided about 400-500 jobs to the community, but now this sits as an eyesore in our valley, an almost Superfund site, and no end in sight to who will clean it up or when. Bonner would be an awful place for a similar story. https://missoulacountyvoice.com/smurfit-stone-mill-site-cleanup/news_feed/the-smurfit-stone-story

As a Missoula resident I strongly oppose this plan. Building a data center like this has no benefit for our community. This project would pose numerous environmental and health problems for or community and give us nothing. The amount of power required would certainly affect our power supply. The radiation from this large of a center would cause long term health problems for those living nearby. No one benefits from this except the company. Please do not let them take advantage of our community for their own profit.

**Absolutely not.** We have nothing to gain from this and so very much to lose. Other comments here say plenty about that, so I’ll leave it there.

One thing though: on NPR today, the person proposing this data center said that its water requirements would not affect the Blackfoot River because water would come from the ground instead. Except…it’s all connected, from ground water to the river to broader impacts (as is everything). For example, see: https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/fs20133001
Again, all costs, no benefit. NO to this awful idea!

I strongly oppose the data center. Data Centers like these pose environmental hazards and health risks to our community. This project will cause noise pollution to our Bonner and East Missoula community members and potentially cause long term health effects. The location of this near the Blackfoot river is a huge concern for recreation and one of our city's most valuable assets. Don't even get me started on the potential health impacts for Missoulians living downstream from this. Datacenters are power-hungry and will strain our grid, driving up costs for Missoula county residents. The supposed economic benefits this project will bring will be negligible because AI datacenters simply do not create a significant number of new job opportunities, and any benefits are heavily outweighed by the negative impacts. Don't let this AI company profit at our expense!

MIT did a study proving that artificial intelligence lowers cognitive ability and memory in users. AI has no benefit for our society, and Montana doesn't need that. I spent my entire life in Montana and just recently left for college to study environmental science so I can fight issues just like this. This won't give Missoula more money. Though this data center is supposed to use a "new source of renewable energy", we don't know what that is. For jobs? This will MAYBE provide ten jobs. The thing about artificial intelligence is that it can do all of our jobs. Society doesn't need more artificial intelligence! It's been shown useful in radiology, and only radiology. Generative AI, which is what this database would be used for, provides no benefits that outweigh the cost of mining what's necessary for the computers, the energy required to function, and the water it tends to use to cool down the huge computers. This would ruin views and our recreation around the area of Missoula. The datacenter will generate a constant noise, and people won't be able to enjoy the silence that nature provides.
Don't let this happen.

As a community member close to Bonner, I strongly oppose this AI data center.

The negative impacts to the community far outweigh a data center's possible positive effects. Noise pollution, light pollution and specific land management planning are just some of Krambu’s are clearly missing considerations in their application.

Please decline this contract moving forward as it will damage the Bonner and surrounding communities.

As a community member who lives within a stones throw of the proposed site, I strongly oppose this AI data center.

Negative impacts to the community remain innumerable and unclear, but obvious in their existence. Krambu’s lack of respect for our land, water, and community was clear at the Friends of 2 Rivers meeting.

The people will continue fighting this, so I hope that Mike Heisey will see what is right and decline to move forward with this contract.

I believe the community could come together and support a creative solution to put something in this space that would be beneficial to us all, if the opportunity was given.

This Data center is a bad idea. It does not serve the community. It will use gobs of water destroying the environment, gobs of electricity competing with local residents and creating more pollution. It will employ very few people. It will be noisy for local residents. Training 1 AI model creates as much carbon pollution as 5 lifetimes of a car. One of the creators of this says they won’t expand to full capacity? BS! When has an investor or anyone evolved in this kind of venture stopped short of taking it as far as they can. Do not let this happen!

Absolutely not. Do
Not not let this in!! We are losing our water table every year. This will destroy the river and Bonner. This area is too special to sell is u
It and us out!!

Have we learned nothing from the Berkeley Pit??? Montana is already rife with superfund sites and environmental disasters. And for what? So the rich can get richer while everyone else suffers? This will NOT benefit our community, it will only destroy it. It is unbelievable that this is even being considered!

100% oppose this proposal. The location for one is in a residential area which would not be okay for those who live there. The low grade constant hum would drive anyone crazy. The possible environmental/wildlife effects that could come from the “coolants” is unknown and probably not positive. This does not benefit the community in any way. If this is approved, this just opens the doors for more money hungry companies to come and take all of our resources this great state has to offer. It’s a dangerous line to walk and I really hope Missoula County has some common sense.

AI data centers lower the water table and discharge heavy metals in their wastewater. Many citizens around the country have found that they can't even use their groundwater after datacenters were built nearby as they lower the water table and then leech heavy metals from the cooling towers before discharging that wastewater back into the ground. That wastewater WILL make its way into Bonner resident's wells, as well as the Blackfoot river - one of the lower 48's MOST PRISTINE waterways. Missoula has almost no industry besides tourism, and now this data center wants to put one of the main attractions of our region in danger just to make a buck by hoarding data.

It is entirely possible to create a truly CLOSED loop cooling system using glycol chillers and heat exchangers instead of water cooling towers and fans. Have this company put up the money to install solar and glycol to alleviate the unnessecary draw that will ultimately negatively affect our region and the generations to follow.

I oppose this proposal in its current form, and I think the community deserves far more information before any approval is considered. Sounds like something that will benefit very few and affect very many.

Too much is still unknown. Krambu has no confirmed client, no confirmed power source, and the size of the facility depends entirely on who that client turns out to be. Most critically, their water-cooling system has never been deployed at scale. Do we want Bonner to be the testing site for this?

The job creation argument doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Krambu's own figures are that roughly three employees per 2 megawatts, which is only a handful of permanent positions for a facility with a stated vision of 100 megawatts. Would these be local employees or people who already work for Krambu?

With Krambu based in Idaho, and so few employees, it seems logical that any revenue generated will not actually stay in this community.

The power consumption concern is real. The Hyperblock cryptocurrency operation consumed a third of Missoula's daily power before going bankrupt and leaving. We should be skeptical of assurances that this will be categorically different.

And residents living across the street from this facility deserve honest answers about noise and health. Not guesses. A proven track-record. Communities near operating data centers frequently report health concerns tied to persistent background noise and vibration including infrasound. These are not hypothetical fears.

Communities that have made that same calculation with data centers have frequently ended up with the burdens and not the benefits.

A truly beneficial tenant would come in with specifics, a track record, and a community benefits agreement. Krambu has none of those things yet.

I urge the Land Use Board to require complete, specific answers to these questions before this project moves any further forward.

I vehemently oppose the data center project. There are countless examples of similar projects in other communities creating environmental hazards and inflating costs for residents while contributing nothing in return. Data centers have been shown to create hazardous noise pollution which will at best create a nuisance for nearby residents and students, and at worst pose unknown health risks. The proposed location is near the Blackfoot River, which is one of our greatest and most fragile community assets. A datacenter in this location poses risks to wildlife and the enjoyment of recreationists. Finally, datacenters are power-hungry and will strain our grid, driving up costs for Missoula county residents. The supposed economic benefits this project will bring will be negligible because AI datacenters simply do not create a significant number of new job opportunities. Don't let this AI company profit at our expense!