During his online town hall last week, a caller asked Congressman Troy Downing his view on AI data centers, adding that they could drive up electricity costs and imperil the local environment due to water use.
“I can’t even imagine how many people around here would be devastated by discovering their favorite fishing hole or hunting grounds ruined by these facilities,” said Lorena from Billings. “A lot of these heartbreaking communities around these data centers are left holding the bag with undrinkable water, horrible pollution, noise.”
Rep. Downing, the Republican incumbent for the state’s eastern Congressional district, agreed that the issue raised concerns, but added that some things, like electricity, had been blown out of proportion. Because the U.S., and Montana in particular, lack the on-grid power to drive many gigawatts’ worth of data centers, he explained that tech firms have turned to other solutions.
