Evan Barrett of 406 People First stated the power of initiative is protected in Montana Constitution and deadline change impeded their rights
Butte-Silver Bow Data Center (ballot initiative)
A citizen group in Butte Silver Bow is pursuing a ballot initiative on data centers and has appealed a local judge's ruling to the Montana Supreme Court. It is reported, as reported August 14, 2026.
How much power it needs, how much water it would use and who would use it have not been disclosed.
How to read this page. Every fact links to the source it rests on; a number in brackets is its place in the source list. A figure no source gives reads Not disclosed, and nothing is estimated. Where sources give different figures, each is shown with who gave it, and another source's figure never stands in for the record's own. Entries are added and never overwritten; corrections are listed under What happened.
What is known
Each figure as its source gave it. The number in brackets is its place in the source list.
- Land
- Not disclosed
- Power it would draw
- Not disclosed
- Water
- Not disclosed
- Who leads it
- Not disclosed
- Who would use it
- Not disclosed
- Jobs once it runs
- Not disclosed
- Tax each year
- Not disclosed
Every field, with who said it and when (Researcher view)
Impact figures
| Field | Value | Who says so | Source | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How much power it needs | Not disclosed | |||
| How much water it would use | Not disclosed | |||
| How loud it would be | Not disclosed | |||
| Jobs once it runs | Not disclosed | |||
| Tax it would pay each year | Not disclosed |
The record's fields
| Field | Value | Who says so | Source | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who is building it | Not disclosed | |||
| Who is constructing it | Not disclosed | |||
| How much land | Not disclosed | |||
| Where its power comes from | Not disclosed | |||
| Grid connection | Not disclosed | |||
| How it is cooled | Not disclosed |
The developer's figure is what the company said; what a permit allows is the ceiling a permit sets; measured means observed. Water is in gallons a day or a year, whichever the source stated; a tax claim given as a range shows both ends, each linked to the source that gave it.
Still not public, and where it would show up
The record adds each the day a source gives it. Why these documents.
- Water useA state water right filing or a water supply agreement.
- Who would use itA lease announcement or a tenant named in a filing.
- Power the campus would drawA utility or public service commission docket, an interconnection filing, or an air permit for an on site plant.
- Who is behind itA land record, a zoning application or a company's own announcement.
- Jobs and taxAn incentive agreement, a county's economic development filing or a fiscal note.
What was decided
Acts of Silver Bow County and Butte about data centers, on the record with their source. A rule about the area is not a decision about this record.
| Date | Who | Decision | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Butte-Silver Bow | The Supreme Court noted ballots had already been printed and mailed before issuing their injunction | nbcmontana.com | |
| Butte-Silver Bow | Montana Supreme Court vacated its injunction on a Butte Silver Bow data center ballot initiative | nbcmontana.com | |
| Butte-Silver Bow | The initiative would require two thirds approval from registered Butte Silver Bow voters before data centers can be built or expanded | mtstandard.com | |
| Butte-Silver Bow | Montana Supreme Court granted an injunction allowing a data center ballot initiative to appear on November ballots in Butte Silver Bow | mtstandard.com | |
| Butte-Silver Bow | The ballot initiative prohibits any construction or expansion of data centers within Butte Silver Bow city county without voter approval | dailymontanan.com | |
| Butte-Silver Bow | Local Initiative 00-02 would define data center and bar the city county from approving construction or expansion without a special election and support from two thirds of all registered voters | fairfieldsuntimes.com |
8 earlier decisions on the county's rows
| Date | Who | Decision | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Butte-Silver Bow | Montana Supreme Court ordered Butte Silver Bow to certify Local Initiative 00-02 for the November 3, 2026 ballot despite deadline dispute | fairfieldsuntimes.com | |
| Butte-Silver Bow | A Butte judge ruled against 406 People First in its lawsuit over a data center ballot initiative signature dispute. | facebook.com | |
| Butte-Silver Bow | Judge Joseph ordered both sides to file briefings by 5 p.m. on Monday before making a final decision on whether equitable estoppel applies | nbcmontana.com | |
| Butte-Silver Bow | The initiative would require approval from two thirds of registered voters for the building or expansion of data centers in Butte-Silver Bow | nbcmontana.com | |
| Butte-Silver Bow | Election Administrator Cindy Sherman initially gave residents a deadline of August 14 to collect signatures for the data center initiative, then changed it retroactively to July 13 | nbcmontana.com | |
| Butte-Silver Bow | District Court Judge Frank Joseph heard arguments on whether a ballot initiative to limit data center building on the November ballot in Butte-Silver Bow | nbcmontana.com | |
| Butte-Silver Bow | District Court Judge Frank Joseph issued a temporary restraining order on August 12, 2026, while matter wound through courts but on August 28 sided with Butte Silver Bow | dailymontanan.com | |
| Butte-Silver Bow | Local Initiative 00-02 was proposed on April 29, 2026, requiring 3,652 valid signatures by August 14, 2026 to qualify for the ballot | fairfieldsuntimes.com |
What happened
-
(source date; the content gives no date of its own)
The proposed ballot initiative would require citizen approval of data center development in Butte-Silver Bow County [5]
-
(source date; the content gives no date of its own)
County Clerk and Recorder Cynthia Sherman nullified petition citing Montana statute 13-28-206 requiring July 13 deadline, not August 14 as county initially stated [1]
-
· Status: rumored (source date; the content gives no date of its own)
Election administrator approved the petition on May 28 and notified proponents the gathering period would end at 5:00 p.m. on August 14, 2026 [2]
The full Butte-Silver Bow Data Center (ballot initiative) timeline, in order
4 corrections to this record
Every correction, with its reason
-
· the summary of a record items row
the record's rules: the sentence copied its source, was about its headline or carried a number the card's facts do not; written again from the card's facts, on the editor's word The old and new text.
-
· the kind of source of a history entry
The source was labeled with the Google News search that found it; it now carries its outlet's tier (the record's rules of 2026-09-23). The link did not change. The day's label corrections.
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· the kind of source of a history entry
The source was labeled with the Google News search that found it; it now carries its outlet's tier (the record's rules of 2026-09-23). The link did not change. The day's label corrections.
-
· the kind of source of a history entry
Tier after resolution (2026-09-21). The source on file is kbzk.com, the publisher's own page. The item reached the record through Google News: "data center" Montana, which the record carries at tier 1, and the approve copied the feed's tier onto this row. The tier now comes from the outlet, which the record already carries at tier 4 on 1 row of sources. DECISIONS section 7. The speaker, the claim, the date and the url are unchanged. The day's label corrections.
Every correction on the record is on the corrections page.
What was said
John Mayer, Cottonwood Environmental Law Center, representing initiative organizers, requested supplemental ballots be printed for all electors.
406 People First submitted 4,500+ petition signatures on July 31, 2026
Every statement about data centers in Montana, by speaker
3 more statements on this page
District Court Judge
Judge Joseph appears to side with county, ruling equitable estoppel does not apply to legal deadline matters, citing precedent from Yellowstone County case
Attorney John Meyer argued Montana Code 13-28-206 is unconstitutional because it does not facilitate the people's constitutional power of initiative
The site
Where in Silver Bow County is not in the public record. The pin marks the county seat, not a building, and the outline is the county.
Tap a pin for the data center, the parcel for its record
- This record: Proposed, ringed
- data center
- Dashed edge: the exact site is not in the public record
- Smaller pins: 4 other published records in Montana
Details
- this record's location, ringed
- parcel outline, from the county parcel record
- city limits, U.S. Census Bureau, on a town level record
- county boundary
The other pins are the published projects in the same state, each in its stage color. The imagery beneath is the USGS national orthoimagery, public domain, shown so the land around the site can be read.
- Where
- Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana
- How exactly it is located
- County level, the county seat
- The parcel
- No parcel outline in the public record
- Nearest homes
- Not computed for a record placed at a place center
- Nearest records
- Nearest records are not computed for a record placed at a county seat.
Questions about this project
4 questions answered from the record
Who is building Butte-Silver Bow Data Center (ballot initiative)?
-
Not disclosed. No source on file names the developer. The sources read for this record are listed under Sources.
How much power and water does Butte-Silver Bow Data Center (ballot initiative) say it needs?
-
Power: not disclosed by any source on file. Water: not disclosed by any source on file.
Where does Butte-Silver Bow Data Center (ballot initiative) stand today?
-
It is reported, as reported August 14, 2026. The newest entry, reported September 24, 2026: The proposed ballot initiative would require citizen approval of data center development in Butte-Silver Bow County [5].
What has Butte or Silver Bow County decided about it?
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Butte-Silver Bow: The Supreme Court noted ballots had already been printed and mailed before issuing their injunction (reported September 24, 2026, source); and Butte-Silver Bow: Montana Supreme Court vacated its injunction on a Butte Silver Bow data center ballot initiative (reported September 24, 2026, source). 14 events are on the county's rows; a rule about the area is not a decision about this record.
Sources
Reporting
- Butte district court judge to make ruling on data center initiative lawsuit - montanarightnow.com, montanarightnow.com, August 21, 2026, local outlet
- Butte activist group sues county, seeks right to vote on proposed data centers - KBZK News, KBZK News, August 14, 2026, local outlet
- Butte group behind data center initiative to appeal to Montana Supreme Court - Fairfield Sun Times, Fairfield Sun Times, September 4, 2026, local outlet
- Data center ballot question proponents appeal Butte judge's ruling to the MT Supreme Court - Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Bozeman Daily Chronicle, September 3, 2026, local outlet
- Supreme Court: Butte Silver Bow data center initiative will miss November ballot - Montana Free Press, Montana Free Press, September 24, 2026, local outlet
- Butte-Silver Bow County commission votes to pursue temporary moratorium on data centers - KBZK News, KBZK News, September 4, 2026, local outlet
6 sources on file.
Cite this record
Data Center Record, "Butte-Silver Bow Data Center (ballot initiative)", https://datacenterrecord.org/projects/butte-silver-bow-data-center-ballot-initiative-mt, last verified September 24, 2026.
Cite this page
Data Center Record, "Butte-Silver Bow Data Center (ballot initiative)", https://datacenterrecord.org/projects/butte-silver-bow-data-center-ballot-initiative-mt. Data: Data Center Record, datacenterrecord.org, CC BY 4.0.
The structured rows are CC BY 4.0. Link to this page; that is what turns a reuse into a citation. Prose stays under copyright.
For researchers
- Slug
- butte-silver-bow-data-center-ballot-initiative-mt
- Status value
- rumored
- Stage
- Proposed
- Tier
- skeleton
- Tags
- skeleton
- Place id
- us/mt/silver-bow-county/butte
- Coordinates
- 46.00639, -112.52972
- Location precision
- county
- Location source
- County seat (Butte), Wikidata, placed at county level
- Coordinate source
- wikidata county seat
- Location source number
- Not disclosed
- Location last verified
- September 16, 2026
- EPA registry id
- Not disclosed
- Use type values
- not_disclosed
- Tenancy value
- not_disclosed
- Cooling type value
- not_disclosed
- Capacity basis
- not_disclosed
- Water basis
- not_disclosed, gallons_per_day
- Acreage basis
- Not disclosed
- Interconnection value
- not_disclosed
- Capacity, if disclosed
- Not disclosed
- Rating of the county's rows
- Not disclosed
- Published
- 2026-09-05
- Last verified
- 2026-09-24