The project was set about a half-mile away from the home she’d lived in for the past 20 years. By the time she learned about the project, the base was already being built, affecting one of the few places she considered untouched.

Her grandchildren had visited and played along the river, often digging up buffalo skulls and frolicking along an expansive gravel bar at the river. She worried that the constant noise produced by the data center would change things.

“So, that’s gone,” Boehler said. “We’re going to be doing that with noise-canceling headphones now.”