Yale Climate Connections

Secretive Data Center Agreements 👀

Montana’s largest utility, Northwestern Energy, is negotiating letters of intent (LOIs) with three prospective data centers, documents that outline electricity volume, pricing and service timelines but remain hidden from the public. The video highlights how these secret agreements bypass typical transparency requirements for regulated monopolies, with the state’s Public Service Commission explicitly permitting the nondisclosure. The proposed facilities would draw more power than all Montana households combined, sourced primarily from a coal‑fired plant that ranks among the nation’s most polluting. Such demand would dramatically increase the state’s carbon emissions and strain its grid, while the financial terms stay concealed from ratepayers. The narrator describes the LOIs as “utter blackness,” underscoring the opacity of the process. Yale Climate Connections’ reporting is cited, noting that regulators granted Northwestern Energy permission to keep the contracts secret, prompting community activists to demand open access to the agreements. If unchecked, these undisclosed deals could set a precedent for other utilities to hide large‑scale energy contracts, limiting public oversight and hindering climate mitigation efforts. Greater transparency would enable stakeholders to assess environmental impacts, negotiate fair rates, and ensure that data center growth aligns with state energy policies.