Montana has joined a federal program aimed at speeding up permitting for qualifying projects, raising questions about whether it could fast-forward the proposed Broadview data center.
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Gov. Greg Gianforte announced Wednesday that Montana has entered into an agreement with the federal government, known as Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41), which he says would streamline infrastructure projects.
The governor says Montana and the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council will work to make projects happen more quickly.
Montana is the 11th state to agree to FAST-41, a process that identifies priority projects.
Gianforte says it will make the process more transparent to prevent unnecessarily long review times for infrastructure like pipelines and transmission lines.
"And unfortunately today, given that all of these steps in permitting happen one after another, it can take over 10 years to get a permit and a lot of money," Gianforte said.
The governor says that with less time in the process, government agencies will still have oversight.
"We're not removing any requirements," Gianforte said. "But it allows them to pursue their permit steps in parallel instead of in sequence that's going to speed it up, reduce the cost, and guarantee transparency and public input."
However, some have raised concerns with the process and say it may mean Quantica's Big Sky Digital campus for a data center near Broadview could move forward faster.
"I'm concerned that they are going to try to get the feds involved in our business to try to make this data center go," Brian Miller said.
Miller is the attorney for Yellowstone County Voices, a group that has opposed the proposed data center.
"The states have sovereignty over issues like what kind of developments that we're going to see in our state, how is our water going to be used, how is our land going to be used," Miller said. "Those have always been for the states to decide those questions and the federal government right now."
Miller is also running for a seat in the House against Congressman Troy Downing, who says FAST-41 does not give Washington new authority over states.
Downing said in a written statement:
“I support cutting unnecessary red tape and making it easier to build critical infrastructure in Montana. FAST-41 will help projects move forward more quickly, but it does not give Washington new authority to override state laws or local permitting requirements. Decisions affecting Montana communities should remain with Montanans. That includes the proposed Broadview data center, where local concerns must be heard and all applicable permitting requirements must be met.”
The governor says FAST-41 removes roadblocks for projects, but some say it puts up more barriers for public participation.
"It's meant to be the red tape, the red tape after red tape, you know, and it's supposed to get us to go away. I'm not going away," Cari Olson said.
Olson has been one of the citizens opposed to the development of the data center in Broadview.
MTN asked the governor if that Broadview proposal could be part of FAST-41, and he pointed to federal projects.
"Primarily it's federal infrastructure projects. Public electric transmission lines, pipelines, roads and bridges, that sort of stuff," Gianforte said.
Quantica has stated it will need more than 1,700 megawatts of power to run its data center.
"Fast-41 primarily improves collaboration through coordinating federal and state processes to increase efficiencies between agencies whenever possible," Madison McGeffers, DEQ public information officer said in a written statement. "While coordinating with federal partners, DEQ follows existing processes and timelines set by state laws. The largest impact to DEQ will be additional transparency through the project review process."
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