If you asked anyone why they chose to live in Montana, chances are their answer would be at least somewhat related to the beautiful and diverse nature of the state. The ability to walk right outside and see mountains, trees, rivers and wildlife coexisting with the people and their homes. But as AI data centers are rapidly being built all over the country, lower income and rural communities have become a target for companies to try and build nearby.
In late March, the public was made aware that the company Krambu, whose headquarters are based in San Jose California, was looking to put an AI data center into the old Bonner industrial mill. For those who are unfamiliar, the Bonner mill, which was active from 1886 to 2008, sits right across the street from residential housing, and just up the road from the Kettlehouse Amphitheater venue. When talking about AI data centers, some key concerns are water, light, and noise pollution, all of which are things that would severely decrease the value of a home in the area.
Bonner’s catholic church held a meeting for the public to both listen to the owners of the company talk, as well as hear some public comment and questions from Bonner and Milltown locals. An overwhelming majority of those who showed up strongly opposed the implementation of a data center. Common concerns consisted of pollution of our rivers, the amount of water it would consume, unsafe levels of infrasound for a residential area, and the lack of jobs that this would bring locals.
During this meeting, Bonner and Milltown locals strongly opposed the building of the data center, many of them leaving snide comments on their comment papers, which made the entire room laugh at the business and their responses several times. It was clear to almost everyone there that the company had no real plan that would benefit their community in any way.
A major concern for this data center specifically is its proximity to both residential housing and the kettlehouse amphitheater, due to the sound put off by the structure. Krambu representatives claim that the building will not emit the standard “buzzing” sound known to come from other data centers across the country, though not much evidence was provided to support this claim. Concerns remain present with the level of infrasound it may put off.
Montana isn’t the only place facing these threats to public lands. Currently, billionaire Kevin O’Lleary is trying to build a data center in Box Elder county in Utah, with the goal of it becoming the largest one in the world. We’re not just talking a few city blocks here, O’Leary’s project would take up 40,000 acres of land, or 62 miles. For reference, you could fit the entire island of Manhattan within this space roughly 2.7 times. When the general public opposed the project, O’Leary claimed that they were paid protesters from out of state, which is ironic considering he is not a resident of the state of Utah. There is no reason to be funneling our tax payer’s dollars into a water sucking, giant windowless metal building eyesore triple the size of New York’s most famous borough in a state that’s water resources are already dwindling, but clearly billionaires in support of this project don’t see that.
Despite the strong opposition of the people, Krambu is still trying to move forward with their plan to build, and the city of Missoula has yet to do anything to protect its citizens from this threat and shut things down. This would devastate the surrounding nature, as well as locals in the area. There is currently an instagram page dedicated to opposing this data center with four thousand followers, making it clear that a large portion of Missoula’s community do not agree with it being built.
If the majority of Missoula’s community opposes building this data center, then the wishes of the people should be more important than the profit of this company in the eyes of the city’s officials. The community has been voicing opposition to the project for months, yet the company has yet to have been turned down. The decision on whether or not to approve the project has not been made yet, and won’t be for a few months, but the fact that it is still being considered by the city of Missoula is concerning with all of the public opposition.
