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
Data centers in Silver Bow County, Montana
Silver Bow County has 2 data centers on the record: 1 proposed and 1 stalled or cancelled. No county rule about data centers is on the record for Silver Bow County itself; 1 body inside it has a scorecard row. The latest decision on the record: Montana Supreme Court vacated its injunction on a Butte Silver Bow data center ballot initiative (Butte-Silver Bow), September 24, 2026.
How to read this page. Every count comes from the records on this page and links to where it is counted. Nothing is published until a person reads its source, and a figure no source gives reads Not disclosed; nothing is estimated. A rating changes only when a person sets it.
The 2 data centers in Silver Bow County
Newest activity firstEach row is one site with its stage, its latest dated entry and what its sources disclose. A figure no source gives reads Not disclosed.
Butte-Silver Bow Data Center (ballot initiative)
Butte, Silver Bow County
Latest, reported September 24, 2026: The proposed ballot initiative would require citizen approval of data center development in Butte-Silver Bow County montanafreepress.org local outlet
- Land
- Not disclosed
- Power
- Not disclosed
- Water
- Not disclosed
- Tenant
- Not disclosed
Sabey Butte Data Center
Butte, Silver Bow County · Sabey
Latest, reported May 29, 2026: Sabey backs out of proposal to build data center in Butte, Montana datacenterdynamics.com trade press
- Land
- Not disclosed
- Power
- Not disclosed
- Water
- Not disclosed
- Tenant
- Not disclosed
Where
Drag with one finger to move the map, pinch to zoom. Tap a pin for the data center, a county for its rules
2 data centers in Silver Bow County: 1 proposed, 1 stalled or cancelled. A dashed edge means the exact site is not in the public record; every pin here marks a town or the county.
The cities in Silver Bow County on the record (2)
| City | Projects | Rules |
|---|---|---|
| Butte | 2 | 0 |
| Butte-Silver Bow | 0 | 1 |
What Silver Bow County has decided
1 body, 8 decisions on the recordWhat the county and the cities in it have done about data centers: each body on its own row with its rating, open, case by case, restrictive or closed, never good or bad, and every vote, ordinance, moratorium or agreement behind its toggle, newest first, with its source.
Reported: the source's date; the item names no day of its own.
- Butte-Silver Bowcity
Montana Supreme Court granted an injunction allowing a data center ballot initiative to appear on November ballots in Butte Silver Bow, reported September 23, 2026.
8 acts on this row
- litigation
Montana Supreme Court granted an injunction allowing a data center ballot initiative to appear on November ballots in Butte Silver Bow
- litigation
Montana Supreme Court ordered Butte Silver Bow to certify Local Initiative 00-02 for the November 3, 2026 ballot despite deadline dispute
Also reported by 1 source
- nbcmontana.com local outlet
- litigation
A Butte judge ruled against 406 People First in its lawsuit over a data center ballot initiative signature dispute.
- litigation
Judge Joseph ordered both sides to file briefings by 5 p.m. on Monday before making a final decision on whether equitable estoppel applies
- event
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
- litigation
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
- litigation
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
- referendum
Local Initiative 00-02 was proposed on April 29, 2026, requiring 3,652 valid signatures by August 14, 2026 to qualify for the ballot
- litigation
What happened
-
· Butte-Silver Bow
Litigation: Montana Supreme Court granted an injunction allowing a data center ballot initiative to appear on November ballots in Butte Silver Bow mtstandard.com local outlet
-
· Butte-Silver Bow
Litigation: Montana Supreme Court ordered Butte Silver Bow to certify Local Initiative 00-02 for the November 3, 2026 ballot despite deadline dispute fairfieldsuntimes.com local outlet
-
· Butte-Silver Bow
Litigation: A Butte judge ruled against 406 People First in its lawsuit over a data center ballot initiative signature dispute. facebook.com local outlet
-
· Butte-Silver Bow
Litigation: 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 local outlet
-
· Butte-Silver Bow
Scorecard event: 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 local outlet
-
· Butte-Silver Bow
Litigation: 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 local outlet
What was said
John Mayer, Cottonwood Environmental Law Center, representing initiative organizers, requested supplemental ballots be printed for all electors.
Evan Barrett of 406 People First stated the power of initiative is protected in Montana Constitution and deadline change impeded their rights
406 People First submitted 4,500+ petition signatures on July 31, 2026
Every Montana statement, by speaker
2 more statements on this page
Attorney John Meyer argued Montana Code 13-28-206 is unconstitutional because it does not facilitate the people's constitutional power of initiative
Disclosed figures
nothing disclosed by 2 records
Power, water, jobs and tax
| Figure | Disclosed total | Disclosed | Not disclosed | Basis | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power | Not disclosed | 0 | 2 | Not disclosed by any of the 2 records | |
| Water, stated per day | Not disclosed | 0 | 2 | Not disclosed by any of the 2 records | |
| Water, stated per year | Not disclosed | 0 | 2 | Not disclosed by any of the 2 records | |
| Permanent jobs | Not disclosed | 0 | 2 | Not disclosed by any of the 2 records | |
| Tax each year | Not disclosed | 0 | 2 | Not disclosed by any of the 2 records |
Summed only where a record disclosed the figure; a record with no figure adds nothing and is counted as not disclosed. Water is summed per day and per year separately, as the sources stated it, and never converted. A tax claim given as a range is summed at both ends.
By what the facilities are for
| Use | Records | Power | Water | Jobs | Tax each year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not disclosed | 2 | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | Not disclosed: power, water, jobs, tax each year |
A record that lists several uses counts once under each. Each cell is the sum over the records with that use, disclosed rows only.
What the facilities are for
No source on file states what any of the 2 tracked facilities in Silver Bow County are for.
How the facilities are cooled
No source on file states how any of the 2 tracked facilities in Silver Bow County are cooled.
Cite this page
Data Center Record, "Data centers in Silver Bow County, Montana", https://datacenterrecord.org/states/mt/silver-bow-county, updated September 24, 2026.
Cite this page
Data Center Record, "Data center records in Silver Bow County, Montana", https://datacenterrecord.org/states/mt/silver-bow-county. 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.
The rows here are part of the Montana export.
For researchers
- Place id
- us/mt/silver-bow-county
- Level
- county
- Census GEOID
- Not disclosed
- Rating value
- Not disclosed
- Scale word
- Not disclosed