BUTTE — Rolling land of dirt and sagebrush is part of the 600 acres where a data center is considering locating just south of Butte.
It’s caused a lot of questions and concerns from the community, and Butte-Silver Bow has released this report from an ad hoc committee that hopes to address those concerns.
“Background information about the industry, what it looks like, how these operate, and then also all the questions all the people have had and concerns about a location here in Butte,” Ad Hoc Committee Member Karen Byrnes said.
WATCH: An ad hoc committee report addresses community concerns about a proposed Sabey data center planned south of Butte
An ad hoc committee spent about six weeks compiling information on a proposed Sabey Data Center being built at the Montana Connection Industrial Park south of Butte. The final report can be viewed online at buttedatacenterinfo.com.
Many citizens were concerned about water use for data centers. The report shows the center would use industrial water from Silver Lake. The lake has a capacity of 25 million gallons per day, while the data center would use about 16 million gallons per year.
“They are looking to use our industrial water system, which has a very, very large capacity; we are only using about 10 percent of the capacity right now to service are largest industrial customers,” Brynes said.
Many worry that large energy users, like a data center, will increase energy bills. NorthWestern Energy has sent a request to the Public Service Commission to put a tariff on large energy users to protect regular customers.
In an email from NorthWestern Energy to MTN News: “The proposed Large Load Tariff filing will define the financial and contractual responsibilities of large-load customers and establish safeguards designed to protect all customer classes—particularly existing customers—from undue financial risk.”
Gov. Greg Gianforte’s Energy Task Force will be hosting a public meeting in Butte on Feb. 25th that will include representatives from Sabey, NorthWestern Energy, and Butte to discuss the proposed data center. The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m.at the Copper Lounge Room in the Montana Tech Student Union.
