Missoula County Data Center Study, Moratorium, and Montana’s Right to Compute Act

Last updated: November 2026

Key Takeaways

• Missoula County's draft data center study, presented to community councils on Oct. 28, 2026, found that data centers can harm public health, safety, and the environment across 13 impact areas, and recommends thorough zoning, a seat at the Public Service Commission, engagement with the 2027 Legislature, and extending the moratorium past its July 8, 2027 expiration.
• Montana's Right to Compute Act (SB 212, signed April 16, 2025) requires any restriction on owning or using computing resources to be "demonstrably necessary and narrowly tailored to fulfill a compelling government interest." County counsel has advised Missoula that an outright ban is likely untenable; officials in Yellowstone and Jefferson counties read the law as an even tighter constraint.
• Public hearings are set for Nov. 4 (Consolidated Land Use Board) and Nov. 12 (county commissioners). Staff have counted 17 data center bill drafts headed to the Legislature, which convenes in January 2027.

Missoula County is a year into a public debate over whether, and how, AI data centers should be built here. In July, commissioners froze new construction. In October, county staff released the study that state law required them to produce. On Oct. 27 residents filled the Home Arts Building at the fairgrounds to hear the results, and on Oct. 28 planners presented the findings to the county's All Community Council Town Hall, a monthly virtual meeting of the volunteer councils that represent Bonner-Milltown, Seeley Lake, and other unincorporated communities. The county has posted the full recording: All Community Council Town Hall, October 28, 2026. The data center discussion starts at about 8:46.

This article covers what the study found, what was said at the town hall, what the Right to Compute Act does and does not allow, why counties disagree about it, where ModemGuides stands, what all of this means for people running AI hardware at home, and how to weigh in before decisions are made. Nothing here is legal advice; see the note at the end.

What did the data center study find?

The study was prepared by the county's Office of Planning, Development and Sustainability. Planner Patrick Swart and climate action program manager Svein Newman presented it, joined by planner Jenny Dixon. Montana's interim zoning statute requires the study to do three things, as Swart explained: verify the problem used to justify the emergency zoning, evaluate options for mitigating it, and identify a course of action.

Staff identified 13 impact areas. Swart was careful about scope: "we're not necessarily saying that every data center is going to have every one of these issues, but we did find that data centers can have impacts in each of these areas, and sometimes pretty significantly." He added that the problem is not limited to hyperscale campuses: "the scale of the facility is often proportionate to the size or degree of impacts," and even a 10 MW facility "is still enough power to power thousands of homes."

The findings staff chose to highlight, in their words and numbers:

• Energy. "The average modern data center we're seeing built today is around 40 megawatts, which is roughly equivalent to the entire combined residential power demand of Missoula," Swart said. Newman added that data centers "are the primary driver of growth in new power plants and grid infrastructure in the US," with natural gas the dominant fuel. Clean-powered facilities exist, he said, "but that's very much not how it generally goes, and therefore cannot be guaranteed unless required." The county's pre-moratorium zoning already required 100 percent new renewable energy for data centers and crypto mines, and Newman said staff "fully expect that to be a part of a proposal moving forward."
• Water quantity. During review of the Bonner proposal, water "was probably by far the biggest concern that we heard," Swart said, "and throughout the study we found that that is a very valid concern." Evaporative cooling is the industry's most common system and loses "something like 80 percent" of the water it uses. Closed-loop and immersion cooling use "dramatically less water" but "significantly more electricity," which, if not renewable, pushes water use onto coal and gas plants instead. Staff called the two impacts "pretty interconnected."
• Water quality. Cooling liquids commonly include glycol, corrosion inhibitors, and biocides. Staff found examples of PFAS, or forever chemicals, in immersion cooling fluids and in data center fire suppression systems. Heated discharge water can harm surface water where facilities hold discharge permits, making chemical storage, spill prevention, and containment "super important."
• Air quality. Because data centers "essentially can never afford to lose power," roughly 80 percent back up their full IT and cooling load with on-site diesel generators. A 40 MW facility, Swart said, "could have a diesel generator fleet sized to power... all of the homes in Missoula." Even limited to outages and testing, those fleets "can still have some pretty stark and real local air quality impacts."
• Noise. Noise is one of the most common community complaints, Newman said, citing Loudoun County, Virginia, the "data center alley" of the United States. The problem is low-frequency and tonal noise that most local regulations, "including ours, are not currently set up to address." A recording is linked in the digital version of the study.
• Heat. Electrical power becomes heat, which is "generally exhausted or rejected into the surrounding environment via cooling towers." Newman cited recent studies showing nearby areas warming "frequently by several degrees," a health concern on 90 to 100 degree summer days and one the public raised repeatedly during the Bonner review.

On jobs, which the study addressed only briefly because the interim zoning statute confines it to health, safety, and welfare, Swart said most employment opportunities from these centers comes only during construction, while permanent jobs "tend to be pretty limited."

Documents: the draft study, executive summary, and interim zoning resolution are posted on Missoula County Voice.

What options did staff consider, and what do they recommend?

The study weighed everything from an outright ban to community benefits agreements. Newman said a ban "would likely be difficult to uphold under state law." Community benefits agreements, voluntary contracts between developers and community groups, "can't really replace regulatory frameworks," and the county "likely can't require them," so they are not among the recommendations.

Staff's three recommendations to the commission:

• Direct the planning department to "craft updated, thorough and protective zoning regulations to manage what we have the power to manage." Other communities have used data center zoning to address noise, backup power, cooling towers, water use, renewable energy, and setbacks from homes.
• Stay involved in the large new load docket at the Montana Public Service Commission "to help require data centers in Montana to pay their own way," so that power and transmission costs are "contained to those customers and not pushed onto other ratepayers like residential households."
• Engage at the Legislature with the county's delegation and other local governments, "because that's where a lot of the decision-making authority lies." The state, not the county, has primary authority over air quality, water quality, and utility rates.

On timing, Newman said staff recommend starting draft regulations now but not finishing "before the legislature adjourns," because "it's hard to build a house on shifting sands." Given the long legal notice and adoption timeline for zoning and the July 8, 2027 expiration, "our recommended timing would likely also require extending the interim zoning moratorium."

Newman summed up: the county should take "the most protective steps legally available to us."

What did community council members say at the town hall?

Emily, representing the Bonner-Milltown Community Council, whose meetings on the Bonner proposal drew "over 60 to close to 100 people," thanked staff for keeping the moratorium in place: "the big topics you had were what many of our community members in Bonner said they were worried about. So I think you guys are hitting the right notes."

Commissioner Juanita Vero asked whether labor, trades, and unions had been part of the conversation. Swart said no labor groups had reached out, though the county's stakeholder list runs to several hundred parties. Newman said staff would do targeted outreach to the trades and noted they had already met with the Missoula Chamber, Missoula Economic Partnership, the realtors, and the building industry association.

A council member named Stephanie said the meeting was "the first I heard about the right to compute law," and asked how binding it is, whether it can change, and whether "the people in Helena [are] generally in favor of data centers and we are kind of swimming against the tide, or do we have a chance?"

Swart answered that the Act "does directly address authorities of local governments" and, based on consultation with the county attorney's office, "does have a pretty significant impact on the approaches we can take." It can be amended, he said: "so far we've heard there's 17 proposed bill drafts related to data centers," and lawmakers "very well may look at amending or altering the right to compute act."

Newman added that other counties are moving. Custer County, seated in Miles City, had drafted data center zoning, and Butte-Silver Bow was "deliberating on their own potential interim zoning." At the Montana Association of Planners, he said, "there was definitely a lot of hunger on the issue." On predicting the Legislature: "If I had a dollar for every time I successfully predicted the legislature's actions, I would have zero dollars." He noted the Legislature has historically taken "a pretty pro-data center path," including a lower tax rate, but that public concern "has changed pretty dramatically within the last few years," with worry now coming "from both major parties."

Stephanie's reply: "I think they might have jumped the gun on the right to compute bill. Things are changing rapidly."

Tom Browder of the Seeley Lake Community Council raised the economic side. Seeley lost its mill two and a half years ago, he said, and "we're really starting to feel the impact now about jobs." He pointed to the empty Smurfit-Stone site in Frenchtown and the former Pyramid mill, and to the possibility that quantum chips could shrink the footprint of a viable data center. "I think we owe something to our workforce," he said, "that if we say no, a blanket no, then what's the option?" He asked whether the study looked at socioeconomic dimensions.

Commissioner Josh Slotnick answered directly. The study "was not to weigh the pros and cons of data centers and decide if we should do one or not," he said, but to ask what the impacts would be "to people, land, water, wildlife, quality of life," and how the county can regulate them "so if a data center is in our midst, we all continue to live well." On jobs: "I don't see a data center as a potential replacement for a traditional large-scale, relatively low-skill manufacturing plant. That's just not what data centers are."

Staff agreed to present at individual community council meetings on request. "Just shoot us an invite," Swart said.

At the larger Oct. 27 fairgrounds session the night before, which drew about 50 residents for a 90-minute Q&A, attendees floated size caps, a ban on evaporative cooling, and industry collaboration on lower-impact designs, according to The Pulp. Newman told that crowd, "The study is not regulation, the study is not the path." Slotnick, on the pace of government: "Only an autocracy could work fast."

How did Missoula County get here?

• 2021: County adopts Chapter 5.10 zoning rules after a crypto mine at Bonner Mill Industrial Park caused energy and noise problems.
• Spring 2026: A 7 MW AI data center, known locally as Blackfoot Crossing, is proposed for the Bonner Mill site. The property manager later withdrew support, stalling the project.
• July 9, 2026: Commissioners unanimously adopt a one-year countywide moratorium on new or expanded data centers outside Missoula city limits under MCA 76-2-206. About 30 residents spoke, all in favor. Commissioner Dave Strohmaier said the county would be "at the tip of the spear" in Montana.
• July 10, 2026: The required study begins.
• Oct. 21, 2026: Draft study released for public review.
• Oct. 27, 2026: Public presentation and Q&A at the fairgrounds.
• Oct. 28, 2026: All Community Council Town Hall (video).
• Nov. 4, 2026, 6 p.m.: Consolidated Land Use Board presentation and public comment.
• Nov. 12, 2026, 2 p.m.: Commissioners' public hearing, where the board may choose its "big-picture path," or defer.
• January 2027: Montana Legislature convenes.
• July 8, 2027: Moratorium expires unless replaced by new zoning or extended once, for up to one more year, after another public hearing.

What is Montana's Right to Compute Act?

Senate Bill 212, the Right to Compute Act, was sponsored by Sen. Daniel Zolnikov, R-Billings. It was introduced Jan. 24, 2025, passed the Senate 50-0 on March 1, passed the House 61-38 on March 28 (every Republican in favor, nearly every Democrat opposed), and was signed by Gov. Greg Gianforte on April 16, 2025. It took effect on signing and is codified at Title 2, Chapter 10, Part 2 of the Montana Code Annotated (Chapter 150, Laws of 2025). Montana was the first state to pass a law of this kind.

The law does three main things:

• It declares a right. The findings section (MCA 2-10-202) states that the Montana Constitution's protections for property and free expression include a fundamental right to own and use technological tools, including computing resources.
• It sets a strict legal test. Under MCA 2-10-204, any government action that restricts the ability to privately own or use "computational resources" for lawful purposes must be limited to what is "demonstrably necessary and narrowly tailored to fulfill a compelling government interest." Lawyers call this strict scrutiny, the same standard courts apply to laws that burden speech or religion. "Government entity" expressly includes counties, cities, and towns, and "government actions" include ordinances, fees, and permits.
• It requires AI kill switches for critical infrastructure. Anyone deploying an AI system to control critical infrastructure must be able to return control to humans and must maintain a tested risk management plan.

The Act lists examples of compelling interests, and one matters a great deal here: "taking actions that prevent or abate common law nuisances created by physical datacenter infrastructure." Noise, vibration, and similar nuisances are explicitly fair game. The open question is how much further a county can go.

"Computational resources" is defined broadly to include hardware, software, algorithms, networks, cryptography, and machine learning. That breadth is why the law covers a 5,000-acre hyperscale campus and a GPU in your closet in the same sentence.

What does the Act mean for the moratorium and new data centers?

In Missoula County, the practical effect is that the county can pause, study, and regulate, but almost certainly cannot ban. Newman put it this way at the town hall: "I'm not an attorney, but we have been advised by the county's legal counsel that [the] act likely makes an outright local ban untenable, even while it still preserves space for specific regulations of identifiable impacts, such as the abatement of common law nuisances." County civil attorney John Hart told commissioners in July that the moratorium can be extended once but that the county cannot permanently prohibit data centers.

What the county believes it can do is write zoning aimed at documented impacts: noise limits written for continuous low-frequency sound, restrictions on backup generation, cooling and water requirements, renewable energy requirements, size limits, and setbacks. Each would have to survive the "narrowly tailored" test if challenged, which is why staff keep pointing back to the study: it is the evidentiary record that would be used to show a compelling interest.

For developers, the moratorium means no new or expanded data center permits in unincorporated Missoula County until at least July 8, 2027, and likely a year longer. The City of Missoula is not covered by the county's action.

Why do Montana counties disagree about what the law allows?

Montana Free Press reported in September that officials across the state are reading the same statute and reaching different conclusions.

Missoula County has taken the confident position. Commissioner Slotnick told MTFP he is not worried about a legal challenge: "I believe we have created [interim] zoning that is narrowly tailored to meet a compelling public interest."

Yellowstone County, where Quantica Infrastructure is building a 5,000-acre data center near Broadview, has taken the opposite view. County Attorney Scott Twito argued it would be hard to prove the public health or safety emergency that interim zoning requires, leaving the county exposed to a lawsuit under the Act. A Sept. 3 proposal for emergency zoning stalled on that advice. Commission Chair Mark Morse told MTFP, "We are between a rock and a hard spot right now," and that the compelling-interest language is vague: "I don't think anybody knows what that compelling interest could be." On Sept. 22, 2026, the three commissioners sent a letter asking their legislative delegation to amend the Act in 2027 to clarify that it does not change counties' authority over siting, construction, and operations through zoning and permitting. On Oct. 6, the county sued to test the validity of a citizen initiative that would require two-thirds voter approval before any data center could operate; Twito cited the Right to Compute Act as one possible hurdle.

Jefferson County Commissioner Cory Kirsch summed up the squeeze between residents demanding a ban and a law that forbids one: "We can't legally do that. It's kind of a conundrum."

Billings attorney Gene Jarussi, in private practice, has argued the other way: that state law already allows emergency interim zoning to prevent a public health or safety emergency, and the Act does not erase that.

The sponsor sees no conflict. "As long as regulation is done for public health and safety, I don't see why there would be any issue," Zolnikov told MTFP. He told Lee Newspapers in July, "We can't just ban something because it's scary," and said he intends to pursue additional data center regulation in 2027.

East Helena's planning board has recommended removing data centers from its industrial and commercial zoning, which would effectively block them inside city limits. Whether that survives a Right to Compute challenge is untested. Custer County has drafted data center zoning and Butte-Silver Bow is weighing interim zoning, according to Missoula County staff.

No court has yet ruled on how the Act applies to local zoning. The district court decision that invalidated the first Broadview initiative turned on a missed deadline and did not reach the Right to Compute question. Until a court does, every county is making its own bet on legal risk.

A note on who is saying what: the Frontier Institute, a Helena free-market think tank whose president Kendall Cotton championed the bill, has described the Act as declaring that Montanans have a right to use AI and operate data centers. The Montana Environmental Information Center, an environmental advocacy nonprofit, did not oppose the bill in 2025 and is now backing ratepayer-protection legislation. Montanans Against Data Centers Action Team is an advocacy group opposing the facilities. Montana Free Press is a nonprofit newsroom.

Where does ModemGuides stand?

We use AI every day, and we think it is a useful tool with the potential to help with problems humanity has struggled with for a long time. That is exactly why the infrastructure behind it deserves scrutiny rather than a pass.

Data centers should not come at the cost of environmental health or the wellness of the people and animals who live near them. The county's own numbers make the stakes plain: one mid-sized facility can draw as much power as every home in Missoula, release that same energy as heat into the valley, lose 80 percent of its cooling water to evaporation, and keep a diesel generator fleet next to neighborhoods. AI needs regulation that limits those harms as much as possible, and that regulation has to have teeth at the local level, where the impacts land.

We also think a one-year moratorium is too short. Twelve months is enough time to characterize a problem, which is what the county has done. It is not enough time to understand the long-term effects of facilities at this scale on an aquifer, an airshed, or a power grid, and it is nowhere near enough time for the Legislature to act and for the county to respond. Extending the pause a second year, as staff recommend, is the minimum.

Finally, it is worth asking why the push to build immediately is so strong. Residents at the fairgrounds heard that current designs may be obsolete within five years, and a Seeley Lake council member raised the same point about quantum hardware at the town hall. If that is true, the rush to permit these facilities now, before the rules exist, serves the people building them more than the communities hosting them. Slowing down costs the industry a little time. Getting it wrong costs Missoula a great deal more.

What does this mean for people building AI rigs at home?

Short answer: the Right to Compute Act is on your side, and the Missoula moratorium does not touch you.

The Act's definition of computational resources covers hardware, software, networks, and machine learning, and it applies to individuals as much as corporations. If a government entity tried to license, tax, or restrict your ability to own a GPU, run a local model, or host your own services for lawful purposes, that action would have to survive strict scrutiny. For people who favor local-first, self-hosted, open-source tools, that is a strong statutory shield, and it is the part of the law almost nobody in the data center debate is talking about.

The county's interim zoning targets "data centers," which it defines using the Montana Department of Environmental Quality's language: a physical facility that houses and operates large computer systems, including servers, storage, and network equipment that provide IT infrastructure. A workstation with a couple of graphics cards, a homelab rack in the garage, or a small business running its own inference server is not a data center under that definition, and the moratorium does not apply to it. If future county zoning adds a megawatt or square-footage threshold, home builders would sit far below it.

The tension is that the same law protects both ends of the scale. A statute written broadly enough to guarantee your right to run an open-weight model on your own hardware is also broad enough to make Yellowstone County's attorney nervous about regulating a 5,000-acre campus. That is the needle the 2027 Legislature will try to thread: preserving the individual right while restoring clear local authority over industrial-scale facilities. Watch for amendments that draw the line by size, power draw, or commercial use rather than by the word "compute."

Two indirect effects do reach home users:

• Your power bill. Staff's second recommendation is specifically about keeping data center power and transmission costs off residential ratepayers through the PSC's large new load docket. Electricity is the main operating cost of a home AI rig. Rate design decisions made for hyperscalers will show up on your meter.
• Hardware prices and availability. Hyperscale buildouts compete for the same GPUs and memory that consumer builders want, and supply pressure on those components has been a recurring theme over the past year. Local regulation in Montana will not change global chip markets, but it is one more reason to buy durable hardware you own outright and keep it running as long as possible.

If you are planning a build, start with our guide to the best hardware for running local AI models.

How can Montanans share their views with local government?

Missoula County

• Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, 6 p.m.: Consolidated Land Use Board. In person at the Missoula County Courthouse, Sophie Moiese Room, 200 W. Broadway, or by Microsoft Teams (link on the agenda at the board's CivicClerk page). Staff will present again, followed by an official public comment period.
• Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, 2 p.m.: Commissioners' public hearing. In person at the Courthouse Annex, Sophie Moiese Room, 200 W. Broadway, or by Teams or phone: 406-272-4824, Conference ID 467 457 758#. Staff will summarize comments received to date, take more comment, and commissioners may choose a direction.
• Written comment: Create an account on Missoula County Voice and use the Submit Comment tab. The Questions tab gets staff answers.
• Email or call staff: datacenter@missoulacounty.us or 406-258-4657 (Svein Newman, Karen Hughes, Patrick Swart). Staff said they will meet with residents or present to any community council that invites them.
• Follow the project on County Voice to get email notices when new meetings or drafts are posted.

Other Montana counties

• Attend your county commission's regular meeting; most publish agendas and accept public comment on any item. Yellowstone, Jefferson, Butte-Silver Bow, Custer, and Lewis and Clark counties, plus East Helena, all have active data center discussions.
• In Yellowstone County, organizers led by Broadview resident Kassi Solberg are pursuing a voter-approval initiative aimed at the May 4, 2027 election; the county's validity lawsuit is pending.

The 2027 Legislature

• The session convenes in January 2027. Lawmakers have already filed data center bill draft requests, including "Generally revise laws relating to data centers" (Sen. Ellie Boldman, D-Missoula), "Prohibit data centers in areas that use tax increment financing" (Rep. Wylie Galt, R-Martinsdale), "Revise property taxation of data centers" and "Generally revise data center laws" (Rep. Dave Fern, D-Whitefish), and two "Generally revise data center laws" requests from Rep. Laura Smith, D-Helena. County staff count 17 drafts in total. You can track them at legmt.gov.
• Find your legislators through the Legislature's website and contact them before and during the session. Written testimony on specific bills can be submitted online once hearings are scheduled.
• Yellowstone County's Sept. 22 letter is a model for anyone asking lawmakers to clarify that the Right to Compute Act does not strip counties of ordinary zoning and permitting authority.

This article is not legal advice. The Right to Compute Act has not been tested in court, county interpretations differ, and the Legislature may change the law in 2027. Rules, deadlines, and meeting details also change. Check with your county commission, county attorney, or planning office for the most current information on data center regulation where you live.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a ban on data centers in Missoula County?

No. There is a one-year moratorium on new or expanded data centers in unincorporated Missoula County, adopted July 9, 2026 and expiring July 8, 2027. It can be extended once for up to one more year. County staff and county legal counsel say a permanent ban would likely violate the Right to Compute Act.

Does the moratorium apply inside the City of Missoula?

No. The interim zoning covers zoned and unzoned areas of the county outside city limits.

What is the Right to Compute Act?

Montana Senate Bill 212, signed April 16, 2025, which declares a fundamental right to own and use computational resources and requires any government restriction to be demonstrably necessary and narrowly tailored to a compelling government interest. It applies to state and local governments.

Can Missoula County still regulate data centers?

Yes. The Act lists abating common law nuisances from data center infrastructure as a compelling interest, and the county has general zoning authority for health, safety, and welfare. Staff recommend thorough zoning covering noise, backup generation, cooling and water, renewable energy, and setbacks. How far that can go is untested in court.

Does the Right to Compute Act or the moratorium affect my home AI setup?

The Act protects your right to own and use computing hardware and software for lawful purposes. The moratorium applies to data centers, defined as physical facilities housing large computer systems, not to personal or small business computing.

When can I comment?

Nov. 4, 2026 at 6 p.m. (Consolidated Land Use Board) and Nov. 12, 2026 at 2 p.m. (county commissioners), both at 200 W. Broadway in Missoula with Teams and phone options, or any time at missoulacountyvoice.com or datacenter@missoulacounty.us.

Will the Legislature change the law?

Unknown. Yellowstone County commissioners have asked for amendments, the bill's sponsor has said he supports additional data center regulation, and at least 17 data center bill drafts have been requested. The session begins in January 2027.

Sources

• Missoula County, All Community Council Town Hall, Oct. 28, 2026 (video)
• Missoula County Voice, Data Center Interim Zoning project page, draft study, and FAQ
• Missoula County, Public Invited to Presentation, Q&A Session on Data Center Draft Study
• Montana Code Annotated 2-10-204, Right to compute
• Montana Code Annotated 2-10-202, Legislative findings and intent
• Montana Free Press Capitol Tracker, SB 212 history and votes
• Montana Legislature, 2027 Session Bill Draft Requests
• Montana Free Press, How MT's Right to Compute Act stymies data center regulation, Sept. 21, 2026
• Montana Free Press, Yellowstone County commissioners ask Legislature to 'refine' data center law, Sept. 24, 2026
• Montana Free Press, Yellowstone County sues over initiative aimed at Quantica data center, Oct. 7, 2026
• Montana Free Press, Missoula County adopts temporary moratorium on data centers, July 9, 2026
• The Pulp, Missoula County's data center study is in. Now the hard part., Oct. 30, 2026
• Montana Public Radio, Missoula County releases draft study on data center impacts, Oct. 27, 2026
• KPAX, Missoula County presented its data center study, Oct. 28, 2026
• Lee Newspapers via Livingston Enterprise, How an under-the-radar bill could impact how Montana works with data centers, July 23, 2026