Just 1 Montanan

Reporting for Duty

We're going to burst your bubble ★ Montana is #3 in the nation for billionaire AI data centers ★ Our water. Our land. Our grid. ★ We're going to burst your bubble ★ Montana is #3 in the nation for billionaire AI data centers ★ Our water. Our land. Our grid. ★ We're going to burst your bubble ★ Montana is #3 in the nation for billionaire AI data centers ★ Our water. Our land. Our grid. ★
Plain & Simple · Montana

We're going
to pop the billionaire data center bubble.

Out-of-state billionaires want to carve up our aquifers, burden NWE ratepayers with $30 million in debt, and build facilities next to our homes and farms — quietly, so they don’t alarm the community. Montana, we can’t afford this.

10Mgal/day

Water consumed by a single data center

1,000MW

Power draw — enough for 600,000 homes

<20

Permanent jobs created locally

Sign the Petition: A 4-Year Moratorium on New AI Data Centers in Montana

To: The Montana Legislature & Governor's Office

I am a Montanan. I stand with Just 1 Montanan in calling for a 4-year moratorium on permitting and construction of new billionaire-backed AI data centers — so our communities can study impacts on water, grid costs, noise, health, and property values before any more damage is done.

§ 01 · What's at Stake

Not just a field of solar panels.

Billionaire AI data centers are industrial facilities on a scale Montana has never absorbed. Here’s what one 500–1,000 MW site does to a community.

10Mgal/day

Water

  • Constant loss through evaporation and wastewater discharge
  • "Closed-loop" claims remain unverified in practice
  • Long-term strain on local water and sewer systems
  • Neighbors report they can no longer drink their well water

500-1000MW

Electricity

  • Enough power for up to 600,000 Montana homes
  • Major grid and substation upgrades — paid by ratepayers
  • 21-mile transmission line: up to $30M on NWE customers
  • Diesel turbines and unbuilt small nuclear as backup

24/7gal/day

Land & Health

  • Industrial noise and light pollution around the clock
  • Electromagnetic emissions near homes and schools
  • "Forever chemicals" in cooling and waste streams
  • Reported rare cancers, miscarriages, falling property values

#3

Montana's rank nationally for new billionaire AI data centers

$30M

Transmission cost shifted to NWE ratepayers — already

499mi

Distance to the nearest existing large AI data center

4,165

Data centers already running in the U.S. — we don't need more here

§ 02 · In Their Own Words

They said the quiet part out loud.

"We acquired that land, you know, last year. Very quietly. Because we didn't want to alarm the community."
John Chesser
Quantica CEO · Voices of MT podcast, Sept 2025
"321 wells, and that's 20 miles from you. If you won't stand your ground on the moratorium, what will you stand for?"
Just 1 Montanan
Message to Montana legislators
§ 03 · The Ask

A four-year pause.
That's all we're asking for.

Long enough to study real impacts. Short enough that no legitimate business is harmed. The billionaires can wait — our aquifers cannot.

01

Pause new permits & construction

No new siting, permitting, or construction of data centers over 100 MW in Montana until 2029.

02

Independent impact studies

Commission third-party reviews on water draw, ratepayer burden, property values, and health near existing and proposed sites.

03

Protect ratepayers

Guarantee that transmission, substation, and backup generation costs are borne by the developer — not by NWE customers.

04

Transparency mandate

Require public disclosure of land acquisitions, water contracts, and tax abatements before a shovel hits the ground.

4

Year Moratorium

Time to measure what these facilities actually do to a state. Time to build the guardrails Montanans deserve. Time to decide — together — what we want our home to become.

Plain & Simple · Montana
Who We Are

Reporting for duty.

Just 1 Montanan is a grassroots movement of neighbors, ranchers, parents, ratepayers, and small business owners who are tired of watching our state get listed, leveraged, and left with the bill.

It takes just one Montanan — and then another, and another — to stand up, speak up, and make the people who work for us remember who they work for.

We are nonpartisan on this fight. Republicans, Democrats, and independents all drink the same water.

— The Just 1 Montanan, Billings, MT

Montana, we can't afford this.

Add your name. Forward this page to five neighbors.
Show up when it matters. That’s how we pop this bubble.

Sign the Petition