Yellowstone County Data Center Ballot Initiative Will Not Be on November Ballot
Backers say they gathered enough signatures, but county officials said a new state law moved the deadline and kept the measure off the ballot.
- On Tuesday, Yellowstone County officials announced the deadline for gathering signatures for a proposed data center ballot initiative passed on July 13, contradicting the previously communicated August 12 date.
- County Attorney Scott Twito attributed the shift to information from data center developer Quantica Infrastructure, which alerted his office to Montana Code Annotated § 13-28-206 on July 30.
- Yellowstone County Voices organizer Kassi Solberg alleges the commission is attempting to block the initiative to favor the developer, as her group continues collecting signatures to require voter approval for data centers.
- Attorney and U.S. House candidate Brian Miller stated Tuesday he plans to challenge the county's decision in court, arguing the earlier deadline infringes citizens' right to petition.
- Similar regulatory debates are occurring in Missoula and Cascade counties, where residents are weighing infrastructure demands and environmental impacts of large-scale data facilities across Montana.
12 Articles
12 Articles
Yellowstone County judge asked to pause petition deadline fight
Billings, Mont. — A court fight over a proposed Yellowstone County ballot measure tied to data centers took another step as supporters asked a judge for an emergency order to keep petition signatures moving forward.
Yellowstone Co. data center petition sidelined by new past-tense deadline.
A petition to require data center developments in Yellowstone County to receive voter approval needed to deliver the requisite number of signatures three weeks ago, according to a new memo from the Yellowstone County Attorney’s Office. Signature gatherers had been operating under a deadline of Aug. 12, a date provided by the Yellowstone County Election Department in June. Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito told Montana Free Press that the d…
Montana group urges Cascade County to pause data centers over water, power, and land fears
Residents in Cascade County, Montana, say large data center projects are moving faster than the policies meant to govern them. They argue that questions about water use, electrical demand, and the loss of undeveloped land should be resolved before more construction is considered, as the Montana Free Press reported. What happened? Roughly 250 people signed a petition presented at a July 28 commission meeting, where members of the Golden Triangle…
Montana Standard
The Billings GazetteProponents behind Butte-Silver Bow data center initiative submit signatures
406 People First said had submitted enough signatures required for a proposed data center initiative to be placed on November’s ballot, but officials still need to validate the signatures.
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