Missoula County approves one-year moratorium for data centers

"Missoula County today will be at the tip of the spear in the state of Montana in taking a deep breath to take a deliberative, methodical approach over the next year or potentially more to assess the impacts of data centers on our communities," Commissioner Dave Strohmaier said at the meeting. 

County officials said Thursday that while there are some zoning tools on the books that regulate data centers, county staff need to address other issues around energy, water, heat, vibrations and noise.

The interim zoning casts a one-year moratorium on new data center applications across all lands within Missoula County while staff members develop the new regulations.

Missoula County does already have some regulations in connection to cryptocurrency mines, like requiring they use new renewable energy sources and recycle all electronic waste. 

Still, county staff said more regulations around artificial intelligence centers are needed.

"These are a really relatively new use that communities across the nation are struggling with, and throughout the world," county planning director Karen Hughes said at the meeting, citing impacts on water quality and consumption, as well as noise and heat from data centers.  

The interim rules allow for the moratorium to be extended by one year if the emergency zoning is still needed, but county civil attorney John Hart told the commissioners that the county does not have the authority to outright ban data centers. 

The moratorium does not affect land within the City of Missoula. Planners at the city recently said that any data center application would need to secure a property rezone and Missoula City Council approval before moving forward, the Missoulian reported.

Roughly 100 residents attended the Thursday meeting to voice their support for the moratorium in public comment. Many spoke of the negative impacts data centers have on energy and water supply. 

Others mentioned the need to protect neighborhoods from the possibility of 24-hour operations that produce low-level noise and vibrations that, over time, can create negative health impacts. 

County resident Allie Duvall said having more public involvement, like a citizens advisory committee, could better identify local priorities of residents and specific rules for different areas of the county. 

"Let this community be a part of creating a grassroots future for our home as it relates to data centers," Duvall said.  

Residents called for a longer moratorium of two to five years, and suggested officials develop a new public approval process specific to data centers.

East Missoula resident Lisa Thompson said adding more rules around the process would be helpful for future proposals and create a strong county-wide standard for data centers.

"Whether we move forward after this or not, we will have the knowledge to move forward intelligently and with regulations that will again speak to not having staff need to go application by application," Thompson said. 

No person who commented at the meeting opposed the moratorium. 

There was a proposal to install an artificial intelligence data center at the Bonner Mill Industrial Park. Data center company Krambu sought to build out a 100 megawatt system over the next several years. 

Citing community opposition, Bonner Mill Industrial Park general manager Mike Heisey on Monday informed the county he pulled his signature from an application for the proposed Krambu data center, leaving the project dead in the water. Krambu had planned to build a 100-megawatt artificial intelligence data center at the site over the next several years, but had not yet secured the special exception permit from the Missoula County Consolidated Planning Board that's required to move forward.

Commissioner Josh Slotnick said residents should continue to advocate for zoning both at the city and with the Montana Legislature, which convenes in January 2027. 

"The word 'fight' has been used a whole bunch. It has just begun," Slotnick said.  

The moratorium went into effect immediately and is set to expire on July 8, 2027.