Butte-Silver Bow County, Montana, Sabey provide more details about proposed data center in Butte

among other things, they said:

• The center would use a hybrid cooling system that “dramatically reduces water use compared to traditional evaporative systems.” When asked for specifics, they said the center would at most use 10 million to 15 million gallons of water a year. Butte-Silver Bow can supply up to 7 million gallons of water each day from Silver Lake to every industrial user in the business park, officials said recently, but it wasn’t clear Friday whether Silver Lake water would suffice for Sabey.

• Exterior lighting would be shielded and controlled with sensors and “we will coordinate with nearby users, including the drive-in (theater) during detailed design, so lighting plans meet or exceed code and Dark Sky practices.”
• On potential noise pollution, Sabey said, “There’s not very much noise that comes out of these facilities. I can tell you that, you know, the railroad track that is nearby is going to be a hell of a lot more noisy than our building.”
• Job numbers will depend on how many companies and other vendors utilize the data center but they will likely range from dozens to hundreds. A data center campus in Quincy, Washington has about 250 full-time employees.
• Wages for operations jobs would start at $25 to $30, the company said, while senior engineer positions would pay around $100,000.
• It said electricity service would be provided by NorthWestern Energy under filed tariffs or a Public Service Commission-approved contact and Sabey would pay all applicable charges and riders.

MIKE SMITH [email protected]

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