Data Centers: Pros and Cons

Wheeler Center

Oct. 27, 2026

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Anne Hedges

Montana Environmental Information Center

BILL GATES

The transition to AI comes with three big risks.

• “Many jobs will disappear forever.”
• “AI will empower people (and perhaps AIs) to do more harm.”
• “Even criminals with very limited skills will be able to target victims at every scale.”
• “AI models could begin to act against our interests and we could lose control.”
• “AI could stunt our kids’ development and replace human relationships.”

GatesNotes, August 26, 2026

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JASON COXON, Anthropic Whistleblower

• "The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade."
• “This is not a marketing stunt. If anything, many executives and senior researchers will couch their phrasing in the press to sound sensible — but I hear the same people express fear privately.”

The Risk of AI

Now Anthropic

The Claude chatbot developer reported $16.3bn (£12.2bn) of revenue in the first half of the year, with losses of more than $80.7bn

It said advanced AI systems "could, if not developed, deployed, and operated with appropriate safeguards, oversight, and security measures, pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity, particularly if such systems were misused, replicated, weaponised, or allowed to operate with a high degree of autonomy".

“A small group of companies are buying and selling large amounts of a hot product to one another, inflating demand for the product and obscuring the risks of the system in a web of complexity.”

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“A Wall Street Journal analysis in August concluded that the nine largest tech firms, Nvidia and Meta included, have managed to accrue $3 trillion of debt, or roughly 10 percent of the entire U.S. economy, off their balance sheets.”

New York Times, 10/25/26

Three Primary Risks Posed by

Data Centers in Montana

Energy

Water

Community Impacts

Electricity Prices Are Already Rising

Adding 10,000+MW to a 760 aMW system

Energy Impacts

• Grid Reliability
• Cost Subsidies & Escalation

Data center demand spike could drive 79% ERCOT price hike in 2027: EIA (March 16, 2026)

In the summer of 2025, PJM’s market watchdog calculated that 70% - or $9.3 billion- of increased electricity costs over the past year was caused by data center demand.

Data Centers, Gas Plants & Air Pollution

Data Center Power Sources

Engines

Single Cycle

Combined Cycle Turbines

Water Demand increases as you go down the chart.

Air Pollution decreases as you go down the chart.

NWE’s 175 MW Laurel Gas Plant Air Pollution

x10

Water Issues Require Transparency

In 2025, Google reported using 41.2 billion liters of water - a 34% increase from 2024.

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Wastewater: What’s in it? Where does it go? Who pays?

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No Testing Mandates:

Neither the U.S. EPA nor most state agencies (including Montana DEQ) explicitly mandate routine testing for likely contaminants such as PFAS in data center wastewater discharge.

Communities:

92% of Montanans Want More Regulation

Without zoning, there is nothing.

Impacts:

• Noise/continuous/tonal/low-frequency
• Lighting
• Traffic
• Housing
• Water quantity
• Waste and waste water disposal
• Air pollution
• Waste Heat
• Wildlife & Habitat Impacts

Workers

175,796 U.S. job cuts have been directly attributed to AI since tracking began in 2023.

U.S. workers aged 22–25 in high-AI-exposure jobs saw employment fall 13% between 2022 and 2025.

21% of female workers hold high-AI-exposure jobs vs. 17% of male workers

The acceleration here is the real story. In the first seven months of 2025, AI was cited in roughly 10,375 U.S. layoffs. By year-end, that figure hit 54,836. That’s a roughly 5× jump within a single year.

FMC Group

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Solutions Are Available

Congressional Reps - Tackle AI!!!

Governor -

• Agencies should protect climate, air quality & water resources.
• Sign protective bills

Public Service Commission - Protect existing utility customers

Legislature - Adopt laws that protect Montanans and natural resources

Local Gov’t - Protect Communities!!!!

Technology Developers - Be Transparent, decrease cost-shifts, share benefits