Bonner Data Center

I am strongly opposed to this project because of all of the negative environmental and community impacts that it will bring. It will consume large amounts of water, power, and take up land that could be used for actual community development. Additionally, data centers are a nuisance to the community by creating sound and light pollution as well. This data center would be a blemish on our community and only serve an industry that values profit over people.

This is resource extraction, plain and simple. Zero benefit to the community. No job creation. I cannot think of a single person in my neighborhood who would appreciate anything about this monstrosity.

I believe a data center should absolutely not be built in the Bonner/Milltown area. I very strongly oppose the idea. AI data centers have many harmful effects, some of those effects being the fact that it’s a nuisance, both visually and acoustically, it will cause a significant increase in pollution, and it will take up large amounts of land. Beyond that, AI data centers consume enormous amounts of fresh water, depleting our resources and depleting water pressure for local residents. They use exorbitant amounts of power, which will drive up energy bills for locals. Despite this area being used primarily for industrial reasons, people still live here and consider it home. If a business is to profit here, the residents should as well. The center will hardly add any jobs to the workforce. I have trouble in seeing the positive benefits from adding the AI center here besides it being a money-grab for the people who want to build it and run it. I don’t believe the economic and social benefits outweigh the negatives of such a center being built and operated in Bonner. The constant vibration and noise, the unavoidable sight of it, the water use and pollution, and all other basic traits of it make it a problem that shouldn’t need to be tolerated by residents of the area. Beyond the physical negative attributes and the decrease in quality of life for residents once it’s running, there’s also the moral and ethical implications to consider. While AI is gaining traction and being used more each and every day, we shouldn’t contribute to its use. We are a city that cares about art and creativity and humanity, all things that AI is not. AI seems like a simple, effective tool to make our lives easier, but it also makes us less sharp and will handicap us in the long run. I urge you to listen to those speaking up about the center and to explore within yourselves the ramifications of letting it be built. We do not need the AI data center here.

I want to believe that the County Consolidated Land Use Board would like to hear what the community has to say about the Bonner data center, but a public meeting space with a 30 person audience capacity puts a severe restriction on the number of participants that can attend. Maybe Krambu can rent out the Adams Center?

It’s insane to allow any project that consumes so much water in the drought driven west

I am adamantly opposed to this project. Our electric rates are already high with recently imposed peak rates because MEC cannot supply the power needed for the current demands and have to purchase power from Bonneville. This project will use electricity we do not have and once again raise rates. Please say no to this and any future similar requests.

I strongly oppose this project for all the many environmental impacts that inevitably come with the operation of a data center like this. This is not a sustainable or clean way to use our finite natural resources. Water should be used for growing food and giving life— not for fueling an industry that doesn’t have our community’s wellbeing in mind.

Oh boy! I cant wait to pay more in electricity and natural gas while some jerks from San Jose California aquire more capital. Not to mention that the ai data center model is a horribly bad business model and they are destined to fail in a few years. I hope the planning committee uses their brains for once and think critically. No one wants this. Its going to hurt the surrounding community and our natural resources.

Please see below. I am joining many concerned Missoulians who adamantly oppose this project!

As a resident of Missoula, I strongly oppose this. The proposed industrial use, including its equipment and operations, would negatively impact the nearby community and those impacts cannot be successfully mitigated or avoided. Any pollution from wastewater discharge impacting water quality near the confluence of The Blackfoot and Clark Fork River is unacceptable especially considering that it is a Superfund site. The noise, light, and water pollution will disrupt our community and the animals we share this land with. This will not provide jobs for our community since the facility is unstaffed instead it will just use our water and energy causing noise and light pollution with no benefit to the people who reside here.

I am 100% opposed to this project as 35 year resident of the areas. WE should not be building these data surveilance centers at all. WE do not need this kind of infrastructure. It does NOT benefit this community and the people living here or in this nation in any way. THEY DO NOT BENEFIT THIS COMMUNITY IN ANY WAY. That show be enough to shut this down. That should be all anyone needs to know. There is NO BENEFIT for us.

These surveillance centers present real health risks andhigher energy costs, They threaten energy stability and the cost will no doubt be transferred to consumers it always is. There are real pollution risks. This is especially keen to Missoula County as we have a precious aquifer that we should never be put at risk. Noise is a real concern as well. We all remember the bitcoin mine debacle.

Bottomline: There is no benefit for the people of Missoula County and instead it is a risk to our aquifer, general environment, and the health of all life in the area. NO! We do not want this!

This data center will hurt our local environment, community, and economy. Its massive environmental impact will affect the Clark Fork and other waterways, and will consume exorbitant amounts of water and energy, all while we are in a growing energy crisis and drought. It will hurt tourism, impact pedestrian and recreation paths, and severely impact communities in Bonner and East Missoula.

More importantly, however, we DO NOT WANT THIS. Data centers like this one extract data and information from communities without our informed consent, destroy the environment, and feed into big tech corporations that exploit labor and fund war and surveillance technologies in the US and abroad. It’s a terrible idea, and is not worth the cost. The AI and big data bubble is already bursting. Don’t sacrifice our communities for profit and surveillance. Do better by your community. With love, grow a fucking backbone.

Nothing good will come from adding an AI data center to our county. The added noise and water pollution is not something I want in this state. This state has always prided its self in being the big sky and the last thing I want to see added is a huge concrete building which will not only negatively affect noise and water quality, it will also negatively affect wild life pushing more animals away from their home. I want to ask that you all will consider rejecting this proposal of adding this AI data center to our beautiful state.

To the Missoula County Consolidated Land Use and Planning Board:

I am writing as a Missoula resident to oppose the Special Exception requested by Krambu, Inc. to operate an AI data center at 9314 Bonner Mill Road (the former UFP Edge planer building), and to urge the Board to deny it.

I want to be clear about what I am not arguing. I am not anti-technology, anti-AI, or anti-industry. I run a software company in Missoula and work with cloud infrastructure every day. My objection is narrower and, I believe, more defensible: this specific application, in this specific location, does not meet the standards Missoula County adopted in 2021 after the Hyperblock failure, and the record before the Board is not adequate to grant a Special Exception within 500 feet of a residential neighborhood and an elementary school.

Four concerns, in order of weight:

1. The application is materially incomplete and internally inconsistent. County planner Jennie Dixon has already found the initial submission incomplete. Krambu's electrical engineer publicly stated the initial request is 3 MW. The site manager has stated the project could grow to 20–30 MW under existing infrastructure. The application itself references capacity up to 29 MW. Krambu's own July 2025 press release describes a 100 MW "AI factory in Montana," despite the CEO telling the public he had only learned of the Bonner site six weeks before the March meeting. The Board cannot evaluate traffic, noise, water, or grid impact against a load figure that ranges from 1 to 100 MW depending on who is speaking. The honest scope of this project is unknown, and a Special Exception cannot be granted on a moving target.

2. The 100% new-renewable requirement has not been demonstrated. Under the county's 2021 regulations, the operator must develop or procure sufficient new renewable energy to offset 100% of electricity consumed — generation that would not otherwise have come onto the grid. Public statements from Krambu have pointed to existing hydro (Energy Keepers / Polson) and unspecified out-of-area sources. The county's own climate program manager has confirmed Krambu has not yet shown how it will meet the new-renewable standard. Granting a Special Exception before that showing is made would, in effect, allow the renewable-energy condition to be resolved in private after the public review has closed. That inverts the regulatory order.

3. Water and wastewater claims are unverified and the site is roughly 60 yards from the Blackfoot River. The applicant cites a closed-loop cooling system at "500 gallons per megawatt" for initial fill, with periodic flushes of unspecified frequency, volume, and chemistry, drawn from on-site wells. No annual draw figure, no DNRC water-right analysis, and no DEQ wastewater determination has been put into the record. The Bonner site sits inside the upper Clark Fork / Blackfoot system, downstream of one of the most expensive Superfund remediations in U.S. history. The precautionary baseline for any industrial reuse of this site should be considerably higher than "we will comply with whatever the county requires."

4. The job and tax case is weak relative to the externalities. Public statements have ranged from "about 20" jobs to "roughly two employees per megawatt." At the currently requested 3 MW, that is on the order of six full-time roles. Hyperblock employed 19 and is the closest local comparison. Independent research (America's Rural Future, January 2026) concludes that data-center employment benefits are "variable and often overstated." Loudoun County is not a relevant analog for a 240,000 sq ft retrofit adjacent to a K-8 school on a Superfund-adjacent floodplain.

Montana's Constitution, Article II, Section 3 and Article IX, Section 1, guarantees a clean and healthful environment and obligates the state and each person to maintain and improve it for present and future generations. That obligation runs to local land-use boards as well. When an applicant cannot specify its load, its water draw, its power source, or its end customer, the burden of proof has not been met.

I respectfully ask the Board to deny the Special Exception, or at minimum to continue the hearing until Krambu submits: (a) a single, binding maximum load figure with corresponding infrastructure plan; (b) a specific, executed plan demonstrating compliance with the 100% new-renewable requirement; (c) a DNRC-reviewed annual water budget and DEQ wastewater determination; (d) a binding noise and low-frequency vibration commitment measured at the nearest residential property line and at Bonner Elementary; and (e) a published end-of-life and decommissioning bond, given the Hyperblock precedent of an operator declaring bankruptcy and leaving the site.

Thank you for your service and for considering this comment.

Respectfully,
Jordan Matthew

I was born and raised here in Missoula and appreciate the resources we fought so hard to have as our own, like our Water for instance. There goes that if you put this atrocity in Bonner. Allowing this to happen will Ruin Bonner and most likely all of Missoula for so many reasons. The power grid, the water, the light pollution, THE NOISE POLLUTION, It's a terrible idea and will only lead to the downfall of our amazing community. I strongly oppose this and if you try to do it, you will be meeting me and several thousand caring citizens peacefully protesting it's construction every single day until it doesn't happen. We won't let this happen. This is OUR town and we don't want this. I believe I speak for the majority of the community, at least for those who have taken the time to be informed about the consequences attached to these massive data centers. In conclusion, I passionately oppose 'the Bonner data center'.
Please do your research and think about these things before you decide, and know that if you want to move ahead with it, it is against the wishes of your community.
Thanks for listening.

Removed by moderator.

I am a resident of Missoula County that is strongly opposed to a data center being built in Bonner. There is no mitigation of risk, limitation that can be instated, or way to restrict this initiative that would be acceptable to our community. There is no compromise that makes a data center welcome. Our values are independence and autonomy, protecting the natural lands we hunt and fish on, and being left alone. No AI in our home. Thank you.

I am a long time resident of Missoula and a UM Alumni. I strongly oppose this data center and future data centers in Montana. These data centers cause noise pollution, drain resources and cause large increases in energy costs to residents. Our rivers are already low enough. This would effect not only recreational activities for us but hurt the natural habitat and animals we’re supposed to protect. Another fact is there are residents and a school right next to this proposed data center. What are long term effects to exposure to these data centers? This is a strong NO!

This is a terrible idea. I fear for our river. How you gonna feed a machine fresh water that should be for our native species that need that river!!?? If this is approved I don't know how this board will be able to sleep at night!

As a Montana resident I deeply oppose any special or traditional permitting for the Bonner Mill AI Center. In a world where water is limited, Montanans need to do all they can to conserve water and the sacred spaces surrounding them. As a constituent, I am also concerned about the recycling process, the chemicals used, and the waste of the center.

I strongly oppose this operation and appreciate your consideration.