Missoula County seeks one-year moratorium on new data centers

Missoula County already has some regulations related to cryptocurrency mining, which includes data centers, but county planner Karen Hughes told the commissioners that artificial intelligence data centers have impacts on noise, vibration, heat and air quality not addressed by existing rules.

"(The cryptocurrency regulation) was really focused on energy and on E-waste," Hughes said. "... There are all these other potential impacts that communities are seeing across the nation in their evaluation of data centers, and they have pretty extensive regulations in a lot of those communities." 

Currently, county regulations require data centers to provide a new renewable energy power source and recycle all electronic waste.  

If approved, the interim rules would halt new data proposals in the county for one year, with an option to extend the moratorium for a second year, while the county finalizes permanent rules for data centers.  

The rules affect zoned and unzoned areas of Missoula County outside of Missoula city limits. 

The data center proposed in Bonner would not be affected by the interim zoning, Hughes said, as data center company Krambu has already submitted an application for a 7-megawatt system at the Bonner Mill Industrial Park. 

Krambu seeks to build out a data center in the industrial park that could eventually use 100 megawatts, the Missoulian previously reported, but the site's infrastructure currently can only support 29 megawatts. 

The Krambu data center does not need commissioner approval in the existing regulations, but must secure a special exemption permit from the Missoula County Consolidated Land Use Board (MCCLUB) because it sits within 500 feet of residences. 

No meeting has been scheduled with MCCLUB for the approval since a July 1 meeting was canceled by county officials, who are still seeking additional application materials from Krambu, according to Hughes. 

If the interim zoning is approved, it could go into effect immediately, or at the latest 30 days after the public hearing. The county has yet to release a draft of its interim zoning proposal as of Monday. 

Dozens of cities and counties have established data center moratoriums across the United States, including the City of Spokane last month, according to the Spokesman-Review. 

The meeting is set for Thursday in the Sophie Moiese Room in the Missoula County Courthouse. For more information and ways to comment, visit the Missoula County Voice webpage.