Efforts to weigh in on a massive data center planned for north of Billings erupted into cheers and boos at a Yellowstone County Commission meeting this week, where residents fruitlessly tried a new legal avenue to push their concerns.  No action was taken Tuesday on the newest effort to regulat e the nearly 8-square-mile campus proposed for Broadview, which has been the subject of months of legal wrangling. Still, residents and media packed the room and listened as dozens of county residents pleaded with the commissioners to give them a say.  “[…] I would like my children and my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren to have the privilege I have had of living in a democracy where people are involved in their government and have a voice,” Billings resident Janice Ricci Roberts told the commissioners.  Roberts and others were asking the commissioners to place a countywide moratorium on data centers on the November ballot, using a section of state law that gives local governing bodies that power. Organizers had already tried and failed to get the measure on the ballot using the citizen initiative process. Those efforts were shut down by a change in deadline, owing to a new state law that flew under the radar of county officials.  Several people in the audience Tuesday wore black T-shirts that read, “We the people are fed up!” Speakers were often interrupted by applause, with many promising to vote against re-electing the three commissioners.  Broadview resident Kassi Solberg brought a kids’ wagon full of clipboards to remind the commissioners about the broad support that the ballot initiative had received. Solberg, who is leading efforts to block the data center, said volunteers collected 14,980 signatures before a judge ruled that the deadline had passed. Commenters said they worried about the potential environmental impacts of the proposed data center, the amount of water it would require and how much it would increase electricity costs for local ratepayers.  Other complaints focused on the challenges residents have faced in trying to assert some control over the project — in particular, a mistake by county officials that caused petitioners to miss the deadline for their ballot initiative.  In June, the county elections department gave organizers until Aug. 12 to submit the 16,560 signatures required for review. But in late July, a representative from data center developer Quantica Infrastructure notified the county that a law passed in the 2025 Legislature changed the process, so that organizers had only until July 13 to gather signatures.  “Industry knew the law better than the government administering it, and citizens bore the consequence,” said Tana Lee, a local real estate agent, in comments to the commissioners.  Hans Abbey, who is running as an independent candidate trying to unseat Yellowstone County Commissioner Chris White this November, joked that the commission’s actions on the proposed data center have helped him politically.  “I want to thank you guys. You have made my campaign a lot easier,” Abbey said, to laughter from the crowd. “I don’t think I could have gotten as far as I did without you. Keep doing what you’re doing.”  Kassi Solberg stands at the podium Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, to address the Board of Yellowstone County Commissioners at their regular meeting. Credit: Phoebe Tollefson / MTFP Also in attendance were Alani Bankhead, the Democratic candidate for Montana’s open U.S. Senate seat; Brian Miller, the Democratic candidate challenging Republican Rep. Troy Downing in the Eastern Montana House district; and several legislative candidates.  The commission meeting soon devolved into angry exchanges between members of the public and Mark Morse, chairman of the board of county commissioners.  One commenter, Sonia Davis, admonished him for being terse with other commenters, saying people were “taking time out of their day” to share concerns with the elected officials.  Morse then told Davis, “It’s your clock you’re running out,” referring to her allotted three minutes to speak. Davis then referred to the exchange as “your little temper tantrum.”  “Respect goes both ways,” Morse countered.  Another commenter, Valerie McMurtry, said: “Mr. Morse, there’s no excuse for rudeness.”  “Well, you people are rude to us!” Morse said.  Morse frequently tried to cut off commenters after their allotted three minutes ended, and he had to raise his voice to be heard over boos from the audience.  Solberg said she wanted commissioners to take action Tuesday on her proposal for them to simply use their own authority to put the measure on the ballot. But she said she was denied a spot on the agenda.  After the meeting, Morse said that in order for Solberg’s proposal to receive a spot on the regular Tuesday business agenda — and thus, an up-or-down vote by the commissioners — it would first need to be vetted at one of the board’s Thursday discussion meetings. No votes are taken at those Thursday discussions, but commissioners do plan to consider interim zoning at this week’s meeting.  Miller, the congressional candidate and a lawyer, is representing Solberg in her efforts to challenge the data center. He said the next steps would likely include pursuing a special election next spring, which would require more signatures than the initiative process Solberg tried this summer.  Miller said he wished the commissioners had agreed to put the measure on the ballot, citing the broad support already found by organizers.  “So it’s like, why would you just needlessly make people go through the exercise again when they already showed you that they have the political will to get it done?” Miller said.  Another route forward for data center skeptics is emergency interim zoning, which pauses development for one year. Several commenters pushed for this method Tuesday.  Missoula County used emergency interim zoning in July to stop data center development.  In-depth, independent reporting on the stories impacting your community from reporters who know your town. The post Frustrated, rowdy data center opponents make more noise in Yellowstone County appeared first on Montana Free Press. ...read more read less