BILLINGS — Yellowstone Valley Voices is pushing forward with an amended initiative after a court defeat last month, now seeking both a public vote on data centers and an independent expert review of their potential impacts.
The grassroots organization's original effort to collect signatures in Yellowstone County was struck down in court last month. The group says it has not given up and is expanding its initiative to include a push for a third-party expert to objectively examine the water, environmental, and social concerns of bringing data centers into the state.
Brian Miller, an attorney representing Yellowstone Valley Voices, said the group wants independent experts with no ties to the data center industry to lead the review.
"First step, go and do a study of the problem. And the people that do that study, they have to have no connection to the data center industry. And we want them to have appropriate credentials in hydrology. And, you know, I mean, like for instance, Quantico's talked about establishing a man camp. We need to look at the adverse social impacts. Is that going to bring drugs? How's law enforcement? We need to look at all of these factors before we ever think about this. And so we want people, experts, to look at all of those factors before we ever think about this," Miller said.
Miller is also a candidate for the Eastern Congressional District seat, running against current U.S. Rep. Troy Downing. In the coming weeks, MTN will be speaking with Downing and sharing his thoughts on data centers.
