After weeks of public outcry, Yellowstone County asks state to clarify 2025 data center law
Yellowstone County commissioners have asked the Montana Legislature to clarify the 2025 Right to Compute Act, which they say limits their ability to regulate a large data center project by Quantica Infrastructure near Broadview. Meanwhile, local opponents are preparing a new ballot initiative to allow voters to decide on data center operations in the county, after a previous attempt failed due to a deadline issue and faced legal challenges.
Yellowstone County commissioners have formally requested that the Montana Legislature refine the 2025 Right to Compute Act, a state law they believe severely restricts the county's power to regulate data center developments. In a letter approved by Commissioners Mark Morse, Mike Waters, and Chris White, they argued the law's broad language, which mandates government actions be "narrowly tailored" and use "less restrictive means," hinders their ability to address impacts like high electricity and water usage, noise, and strain on public infrastructure from projects such as Quantica Infrastructure's planned 5,000-acre data center near Broadview.
Simultaneously, local opposition efforts led by Broadview resident Kassi Solberg are moving forward with a new ballot initiative for the May 4, 2027, election. This initiative aims to require a two-thirds voter approval for data center operations in Yellowstone County. Solberg's previous attempt failed due to a corrected deadline technicality, and she and her attorney, Brian Miller, anticipate further legal challenges to the revised initiative. County officials previously challenged the first initiative in court, citing the Right to Compute Act and a Montana Supreme Court ruling on wind energy regulations. The Montana Supreme Court also recently vacated an injunction related to a similar data center initiative in Butte-Silver Bow County, highlighting ongoing legal complexities surrounding such local measures.