by Ben Catton, Nick Fitzmaurice, and Shannon James

This may not be a legislative year, but development of certain legislative concepts for the 2027 session is already well underway. MEIC is keeping an eye on a number of interim legislative committees, as well as the Governor’s Energy Task Force, to shape the development of potential legislation as we count down to the 2027 Legislative Session.

These committees usually meet every couple of months and finish their work by early fall. MEIC will keep you informed on opportunities to comment on their legislative proposals later this summer.

Energy and Technology Interim Committee (ETIC)

So far, ETIC has been shaping up to be a relatively strong committee on a number of MEIC’s priority issues. The 2025 legislature prioritized transmission development, and ETIC is carrying this torch in the interim. While formal legislation is only beginning to materialize for increasing Montana’s transmission infrastructure, ETIC members have expressed support for various proposed transmission projects and have been eager to assist transmission development.

MEIC is also working with ETIC members as they consider potential legislation to set guardrails and expectations for responsible development of enhanced geothermal energy in Montana. This carbon-free technology continues making major strides, with one leading developer slated to bring 100 megawatts (MW) of enhanced geothermal electricity generation online in Utah this year and an additional 400 MW in 2028. Advancements in drilling technologies are allowing developers to drill deeper wells in order to access geothermal heat in virtually any geographic location, creating a major potential for this clean energy source to expand dramatically in the coming years as costs continue to decline (see article in December 2025 issue of Down to Earth). When done right, this energy can be carbon-free, can supply energy on-demand to complement low-cost wind and solar, requires no fuel, has a minimal land footprint, and puts oil and gas workers and infrastructure to work for the clean energy transition. As ETIC works to craft foundational legislation for future enhanced geothermal development in Montana, MEIC will advocate for reasonable guardrails that ensure responsible development of this promising clean energy resource.

Governor’s Energy Task Force

MEIC continues to monitor the Governor’s Energy Task Force, which lacks representation for residential and small business utility customers, environmental advocates, and clean energy developers, despite its extensive representation for data center developers and utilities. Like ETIC, the Task Force is prioritizing transmission with a dedicated subcommittee for energy markets and electric transmission, but the group’s helpful work for Montana ends there.

It is increasingly apparent that the Task Force is out of touch with the wants and needs of everyday Montanans, instead catering to data center developers and the utilities that want to build expensive gas and nuclear plants to power them. The other two subcommittees, Generation and Growing Demand, have operated solely as means to those ends. MEIC remains determined to ensure that ratepayers are not left footing the bills for unneeded, expensive, and polluting power plants and infrastructure that will deplete precious water resources, impair air quality, and contribute to climate change.

In fact, the Growing Demand subcommittee has largely focused on how “regulatory uncertainty” is a detriment for data center developers. The conversation leans strongly towards deregulation, the need for “speed to power,” and cutting corners for interconnection to the electric grid for data centers, despite the fact that renewable energy has been stymied by slow access to the grid for years.

The Generation Subcommittee has noted that current power supply is sufficient — absent a surge in data center demand. Because meeting that demand appears to be the task force’s top priority, members are now focused on removing regulatory and permitting barriers to expanding gas and nuclear generation. They have invited pro-nuclear developers to discuss nuclear feasibility in the state and advise on ways to streamline nuclear development.
Residential utility customers need regulatory certainty, too. Families and small businesses need certainty that they won’t be subsidizing electric bills for data centers. Existing Montanans shouldn’t continue to be an afterthought in these discussions. Instead, the Task Force should focus on how to protect Montana families who are already struggling to pay skyrocketing electricity bills, not on how to give a free pass to Big Tech and force Montanans to pick up the tab for their monstrous electricity needs.

The Task Force is hosting public open houses in Butte (Feb 25), Miles City (March 25), and Colstrip (April 15). Unfortunately, the open house in Butte proved to be more like a trade show for industry representatives, rather than an opportunity for conversations and feedback. There will be other times to provide comments to the Task Force about affordable energy solutions for Montana.

Water Policy Interim Committee (WPIC)

The potential impact of data centers on water supplies was raised at WPIC’s first meeting on July 30, 2025. Although she is not a member of the committee, Rep. Jane Gillette (R-Three Forks) attended and proposed that WPIC specifically study this issue. The idea received support from WPIC members as well as various public stakeholders and organizations.

On January 21, WPIC held a “panel” on water usage by data centers, but it only invited two data center executives to speak. This one-sided conversation allowed for rosy industry claims to go undisputed. For example, a TeraWulf executive stated that the company’s Big Horn Data Hub cryptomining operation “does not and will not pull water” from the Big Horn River or the municipal water supply. According to TeraWulf, the cryptomining operation uses 90 MW of electricity, which is about as much as the city of Bozeman. It is the sole customer of the Hardin coal-fired power plant. The coal plant uses about 1 million gallons of water per day from the Big Horn River, which is also a municipal water source for the town of Hardin. Although the cryptomining operation is air-cooled and does not use water for cooling, its operations are still dependent on the attached power plant which requires hundreds of millions of gallons of water a year, according to DEQ. Increasing the size of the data center, as the developer suggested, would inevitably increase water needs for the overall operation despite what the executive told WPIC.

The committee also heard how closed-loop cooling systems can dramatically reduce the amount of water data centers consume. Committee members from both sides of the aisle expressed interest in requiring data centers to invest in technologies that reduce water impacts. Unfortunately, transparency is in short supply around closed-loop systems, water evaporation, chemicals injected into the system, and wastewater. (see article on pg. 8).

WPIC was also tasked with HJ 44 (Rep. Zack Wirth, R-Wolf Creek), a study of the presence, prevalence, and potential harms of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in Montana. Unfortunately, the study was not allocated sufficient staff time and will likely be too cursory to provide sufficient information to craft a bill for the next legislative
session.