If the Epstein file debacle has taught us anything, it’s that when information the public has a right to see is heavily redacted, trust erodes fast.
Here in Montana, we have a similar situation. Our largest utility company, Northwestern Energy, is engaging with several companies seeking to build massive data centers within our borders. Of course, there are significant and legitimate questions regarding this.
Instead of working to resolve some of these concerns, Northwestern Energy, its potential corporate data center partners and Montana’s Public Service Commission (PSC) have opted to severely redact documents that should be made public for all of us to read and evaluate. Clearly, they do not understand Montana’s Constitution, which, among other guarantees, affords Montana citizens the right to know what our state and local governments are doing. This right ensures transparency across state and local government, unless a significant individual privacy demand outweighs the public’s interest in disclosure. In this case, our right to know how our water, our lands, our air and our wallets will be impacted by currently secret negotiations supersedes any requested privacy of corporations seeking to protect their profits.
When I discuss the data center issue with my constituents and friends, most of us know very little about these massive projects. Imagine an eight-square-mile facility operating 24-7 in support of corporations deploying artificial intelligence technology. These massive facilities require massive amounts of power and water that will be consumed and potentially contaminated by chemical coolants, and massive amounts of land beyond the footprint of the facilities themselves. Just how massive? We do not know because the companies, Northwestern Energy and the PSC are redacting even the most basic information.
We Montanans are reasonable people and understand that natural resource development and technological advancement can and should take place, even in this beautiful wonderland we call the Big Sky State. We recognize these projects could bring jobs and tax revenue, but only if they are developed in the open, under the law and without shifting massive costs onto our electric bills. Yet, it must take place according to the law and our Montana State Constitution. When corporate interests start engaging in closed-door negotiations and attempting to use their money, influence and access to undermine the rights of Montanans, it is time for us to act.
First, the redacted information in the documents that Northwestern Energy, the PSC and the corporations with whom they are collaborating must be entirely disclosed. If there are trade secrets or some intellectual property concerns, our district judges and the Montana Supreme Court are more than qualified to adjudicate such matters.
Second, the Montana State Legislature must pass and the Governor of Montana must sign into law, a four-year moratorium on any data center projects within our borders. This moratorium will take away the concern of many that backroom deals done in secrecy will undermine the rights of Montanans to scrutinize the way our government is regulating these proposed new corporate neighbors and their gigantic data centers.
Third, because up to 14 proposed data centers are being developed in Montana, we must organize more than 30 public hearings throughout Montana – not just in Helena – over the next 12-18 months. The corporate sponsors of these data center projects, representatives of Northwestern Energy and the PSC Commissioner must all participate, along with legislators, local elected officials and members of the public. They should address concerns honestly in open, public forums.
Leave the redacting of information that should be public to the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. In Montana, we are better than that and insist on following our laws designed to protect us, the people of Montana.
Scott Rosenzweig is a Democratic state representative from Bozeman.