Data Center Interim Zoning

Please vote yes on pausing data centers. They do not fall in line with the values on Montanans, and are incredibly taxing on our resources and are harmful to the environment. They also do not support the local economy. We need affordable housing and opportunities for the local economy to grow, not data centers.

I strongly recommend that Missoula County adopt interim zoning under the emergency of:
- no sufficient legal framework at the local, state, or federal levels for data centers and AI
- the climate crisis that Missoula County and Missoula City claim to be leaders in addressing
- a rapid progression of fascism utilizing data centers as a method to control resources and the populous
- preventing the negating of all historical investments in environmental rehab
- and most importantly, the severe lack of public trust as more corruption is uncovered at the state and local levels, all related to the "demand" for data centers and AI

In light of how this emergency includes so many categories of statute, and the severe lack of independent and scientific assessments on data centers and AI, the minimum time for emergency zoning should be 2 years. Even this timeline is hardly sufficient for scientific studies, so a much more appropriate timeline would be 4 years, which allows for studies to occur, and the Legislative / Local Rule processes to follow.

Your voters are paying attention. The time to choose between being a dedicated public servant or a holder of empty promise is now.

Thank you to all in the county for permitting public comment. I pray that you listen.

Have you forgotten our state history? Have you forgotten Butte and Anaconda? Has the collective consciousness of our great state sadly forgotten the damage done by outside private interests?

We do not need data centers. We do not need bitcoin mines, we do not need outsiders coming heat and pillaging our beautiful lands to fatten their pockets. We are stewards of the land once we are born here. It is out duty to protect and grow it. Not allow it to be destroyed by thise who do not care.

I implore you to please work towards no Data Centers. Thank you for your time.

Griff B.

I strongly recommend that Missoula County adopt interim zoning under the emergency of:
- no sufficient legal framework at the local, state, or federal levels for data centers and AI
- the climate crisis that Missoula County and Missoula City claim to be leaders in addressing
- a rapid progression of fascism utilizing data centers as a method to control resources and the populous
- preventing the negating of all historical investments in environmental rehab
- and most importantly, the severe lack of public trust as more corruption is uncovered at the state and local levels, all related to the "demand" for data centers and AI

In light of how this emergency includes so many categories of statute, and the severe lack of independent and scientific assessments on data centers and AI, the minimum time for emergency zoning should be 2 years. Even this timeline is hardly sufficient for scientific studies, so a much more appropriate timeline would be 4 years, which allows for studies to occur, and the Legislative / Local Rule processes to follow.

Your voters are paying attention. The time to choose between being a dedicated public servant or a holder of empty promise is now.

I urge Missoula County Commissioners to protect our communities and prioritize the air, water, and health of our people, plants, animals by passing a moratorium on data center development.
Tech companies have financially benefitted from the fast growth of their sector, and we need leaders to stand up to their unchecked expansions into our lives.

I am asking you to please vote yes on pausing data centers. Ideally there would be complete ban on them in the future. We have seen time and again that these facilities do nothing but harm the surrounding communities while further lining the pockets of out of touch millionaires and billionaires. Please listen to the community, we do not want this. Thank you.

Dear Planners,

Please vote to pause all data center zoning in Missoula County.

As a former resident and now a yearly visitor to Missoula county, I come to this area because of the natural values that this place affords. With their water and energy use, data centers negatively impact the very qualities that I and tens of thousands of other visitors who come to fish and hunt the area seek to enjoy. They will deplete a crucial part of what makes Missoula such a unique place.

Thank you.

I think it is important to consider what makes living in Missoula County special - and the improvements over the last 30 years that have made this possible. One of those improvements is the 15-years long superfund clean up on the Clark Fork River - mitigating a century’s worth of very toxic pollution - which we can all see in those giant berms along I-90 near the Smelter Stack. It would be an act of insanity to repeat anything with even a 1% chance of harming this reclaimed area in Bonner, MT. I am glad that proposal has been withdrawn.

There remain other places in the county that are as of yet essentially unmitigated - the paper mill site being one of them. It seems to me that the county should focus on getting things really cleaned up, then deeply take stock as to the causes of past problems, and make a comprehensive plan that does not include repeating past mistakes.

Concerning Data Centers in particular, they do have a very real potential of repeating some of the industrial mistakes of the past. Imagine 20 years from now when quantum computing has probably been developed and these centers essentially have become dinosaurs filled with the detritus of a former technology. If we can’t prevent a paper mill or a mining operation from trashing parts of Missoula County do we think we can prevent the old contents of a data center from doing the same - with its inherent heavy metals and toxic coolants? Anyone who has followed the 5 proposals by Krambu (all deemed insufficient) can’t miss the obfuscations that were in play. How do you get it wrong 5 times? That’s just the proposal - what about construction inspections, if it were to have been ok’d - what would end up being hidden, missed or forgotten about? There was no good faith visible on the part of those proposal makers - that much is apparent.

There really is no provable long term benefit to local residents when it comes to data centers. No, they do not bring a wealth of stable jobs over the long term. No, they do not add positive & healthful environmental benefits to the locations in which they are placed. They do not make our schools better & the noise & light pollution does ruin the livable environment. No, they do not keep energy prices low for the community’s residence (Missoula County is already stressed continually in this regard). No, they do not prevent eminent domain actions on the part of the energy company, of private citizens property (more often they require it for their infrastructure). No (of course), the financial benefit does not trickle back into the community (it DOES go somewhere else).

The special quality of life in Missoula County is not derived from places like Data Centers. It comes from our beautiful mountains, rivers, small businesses, that wonderful University of Montana, our thriving arts scene, and everyday folks being able to do something nice for their neighbors. Data Centers by their very definition will, in both big and small ways, only be an impediment to that quality. I recommend that the moratorium be put in place for these reasons as well as others unstated.

Thank you so much for reading my comment!

Please vote yes on pausing any development of data centers in the county.

Let's not allow our beautiful county to be compromised by data centers. The pollution, noise, heat and other detrimental factors are not acceptable. Our health, safety and quality of life are treasures that are irreplaceable. A permanent moratorium is desirable. Thank you.

“… an emergency that involves public health, safety, morals or general welfare”. This certainly is that. Data centers anywhere are an affront to all of earth’s communities. It is particularly obscene to put them in communities which have managed to maintain some balance with nature. I understand we don’t as yet have laws that prohibit them. I also understand that there is a real possibility these things will be built and then sit idle. Insult on insult. Placing a temporary pause is to exercise a minimum of prudence given the likely grave consequences of chasing after these bubbles.

Dear County Planners,
Missoula is asking you to be the poster child for how to do a data center the right way—by listening to the community and recognizing that we Do Not Want a data center in Missoula County or the surrounding area.
What we want is clean water, clean air, affordable energy prices, and environmentally forward thinking from our leadership.
I do not want my energy bills to rise to benefit an out of state corporation that will bring minimal (if any) jobs to this community. More than that, I do not want to sacrifice the health of our local ecosystems (and especially our rivers). We’ve already seen a gross lack of transparency from these companies with the Krambu proposal. These companies don’t care about the citizens of the towns where they put their energy sucking, noise polluting, water wasting monstrosities. But our political leaders ARE supposed to care. Please hear us. Please adopt the interim zoning to pause the development and expansion of data centers in Missoula county.

Please pause all data center zoning in Missoula county. I am now out of state but as a previous Missoula resident and now frequent visitor, it would be devastating on multiple levels to move forward on any data center projects. They are horrible for the environment and local communities. This is not what Missoula County needs. Prioritize clean water and clean air for all residents and wildlife. Thank you.

I am writing to express my strong support of interim zoning to pause the development or expansion of data centers in Missoula County. Data centers will have a variety of negative impacts on Missoula's environment, wildlife, and community members—including high water and energy usage, noise, and air pollution. There are no apparent benefits of data centers to Missoulians: data centers will not generate jobs or wealth for the local community, just money for distant billionaires. Please pause (or, better yet, ban) data center development in Missoula County for the sake of the land, its people, and its wildlife.

I have no interest or support for any data scenters or crypto outfits in Missoula county.
Missoula County should not be burdening county residence with any monetary cost or overusing are water or polluting are air that's it.
Thank You
G Lazarowski

This is a turning point for Missoula. It is our responsibility to act on behalf of this land during our brief time stewarding it, and it is our responsibility to act in the best interest of this community. Being forced to rush these decisions in order to be on the bleeding edge is the opposite of responsible. Whatever it is you care about, whether it's the fish in the rivers, the rivers themselves, the communities that call Missoula home, the health of you and your family, the affordability of daily life, the access to clean drinking water, the local economy, the unhoused, or anything else, none of it is served by being forced to bend over backwards to accommodate data centers just because they are "inevitable."
Demand transparency.
Demand accountability.
Demand clarity.
Don't settle for anything less.

The 5 valleys and all of Montana continue to be in drought, continue to be plagued by fires, I haven't seen Lake Como at full in years. I choose Como because it's a reservoir. And when it stays low it's a fantastic indication that there is less water to go around than previously. Some of my best memories are of floating the Blackfoot into the Clark Fork. I imagine those memories would be the last if data centers were allowed to take more of our water. And they give nothing back to the community! We cannot let our small towns fall prey to corporations who do not care about us. I support the moratorium on data centers.

Dear Missoula County Commissioners,

I strongly support a data center moratorium in Missoula County.
It is great news that the proposed Bonner data center project fell through due to community opposition, and a data center moratorium would provide temporary protection for Missoula County from another similar project. Missoula County still has a (relatively) pristine environment, to which data centers pose a large threat, and on a national level the AI technology reliant upon these data centers is used to advance authoritarianism, mass surveillance, and war. If it were on the table, I would also support a permanent ban for AI data centers within Missoula County.

Thank you

Do the data center zoning ASAP, and while you're at it include and publish the specific criteria all future proposed center applications must meet to be considered. The Bonner Center application process transparency left much to be desired and no one could find any of the applications on the county website even though full-time county employees were processing it.

I am in favor of interim zoning for data centers throughout Missoula County, but I believe that our state Constitution's provision for "a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations" actually calls for no data centers to be present anywhere in our state. The Constitution clearly dictates that the state and every person must maintain "a clean and healthful environment." There shouldn't even be a question as to whether data centers should be permitted based on this provision. Nevertheless, here we are wasting important time and resources weighing the pros and cons when we need only to look at other communities with data centers to see the irreparable harm being done to water availability, water quality, and habitats. Please place this pause/moratorium as an initial step, but know that there is a very large contingent of concerned and informed citizens who are against data centers not only in Missoula County but throughout the country. The wave of public outcry is only getting stronger as awareness increases. Let's put Missoula on the right side of history and have us join other communities that are leading the way to outright banning data centers. Thank you for your consideration and efforts.