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County details changes in proposed Bonner Veil AI Center; cooling system, water and backup power flagged
Summary
Missoula County planning staff told the Bonner Mill Town Community Council that the latest data center application shifts cooling to adiabatic systems with an evaporative backup, proposes a 7-megawatt initial build (with infrastructure noted for up to 29 MW), and raised questions about water use, backup generation and required modeling ahead of any hearing.
Missoula County planning staff briefed the Bonner Mill Town Community Council on the latest application for the proposed Bonner Veil AI Center at the mill site, saying the submittal contains substantive technical revisions that need more detail before the county will set a hearing date.
Jenny Dixon, a county case planner, told the council the newest filing shifts the facility’s heat-rejection approach "from a mix of evaporative and adiabatic cooling towers to all adiabatic but with an evaporative backup," which alters routine water demand while leaving a higher-use backup option. Dixon said the county is asking for clearer information on fluids, discharge pathways and how often a backup evaporative tower would be used.
Faye Newman, the county’s climate action program manager, said the application the county is evaluating is for 7 megawatts of load but that the site contains infrastructure that could support up to 29 megawatts in the future. "Anything over 7 will have to come back for this process," Newman said, underlining that larger builds would trigger additional review.
Staff recited the applicant’s water estimates from the latest filing: adiabatic-driven routine use as low as about 5,000 gallons per year for a 7 MW operation, with an applicant-proposed permit cap and public meter condition at up to 1,000,000 gallons per year if the evaporative backup were needed. County representatives contrasted that with the mill site’s water-right figures discussed in public records (roughly 330,000,000 to 404,000,000 gallons per year) and said current non-data-center uses at the site were reported at about 2,000,000 gallons per year.
On backup power, staff said the application now contemplates either diesel or natural-gas standby generators if the primary supplier cannot provide power, and the county has asked for modeling of frequency and duration of backup generation and related air-quality/noise impacts. Dixon said the county has also asked for modeling of low-frequency noise and heat-rejection impacts because those issues have been raised repeatedly in public comments.
Staff did not set a hearing date. Dixon said the county will not schedule a hearing until it deems the application administratively complete; the earliest possible regular Land Use Board meeting that might hear a complete application would be August 5 if the application were filed and certified in time, though she declined to commit to that date. She advised the public that legal notices require at least 15 days and that the county aims to mail notices to properties within 500 feet at least 30 days before a hearing.
The county said it will publish the applicant submittal and staff letter after analysis so the public can review specific data and the county’s follow-up questions.
