“Government should not engage in preemptive regulation based on hypothetical or speculative harms. A moratorium on data centers and other heavy-handed proposals restricting entire categories of technology are simply incompatible with a free society.”
Data centers are the newest populist punching bag. People can score big clicks and views on their social media posts staking out the most hard-line opposition possible to the several massive data centers proposed in Montana. One legislator is even calling for a 4 year state-wide moratorium on data centers. A popular idea, I’m sure, but severely misguided.
Data centers have the potential to unlock huge economic opportunities for Montana, but they aren’t all sunshine and rainbows. Nothing really is. There is a reasonable skepticism to be had. I for one categorically oppose any special government handouts, favors, or tax breaks for data centers. Government should not be putting its thumb on the scale for any company or industry. Data centers must pay their fair share. No free rides.
But too many people in this emotionally charged debate are far too eager to invoke the heavy hand of government to simply crush what they don’t like. Have advocates for data center moratoriums really thought through the implications of giving the government the power to preemptively ban an entire category of technology, essentially computers doing complex math?
Here’s the thing: we already have the tools we need to address harms arising from data centers, tools rooted in the American legal/ethical tradition.
If noise is the problem, then pass a local noise nuisance ordinance setting a maximum decibel limit near residential areas to protect neighbors.
If water consumption is the problem, then enforce Montana’s “first in time, first in right” water permitting doctrine to ensure senior water rights are protected and require metering.
If energy use is the problem, enforce laws that protect ratepayers from socializing costs and ensure data centers pay their own way. State law already requires new large load 5MW+ customers to demonstrate no adverse impact to existing ratepayers to receive power. Tariff and bring-your-own-power requirements ensure data centers pay for system upgrades or expansion.
If pollution is the problem, then enforce the standards and remedies already on the books for any actual emissions, wastewater, runoff that may occur. Enforcement of existing effluent limitations, discharge permits etc. make sense here. Let liability also discipline polluting behavior.
The list goes on. These are readily available policy approaches to remedy any real harms arising from data centers.
Importantly, these approaches are far more consistent with the classic harm principle in the American tradition, the principle that people should be free to do as they wish as long as they do not harm others. The proper role of government in this framework is to balance rights and remedy harms. That means government regulations should only narrowly address real, objective, predictable harms that are hard to remedy after the fact. And no, subjective aesthetic preferences for “community character” do not count. Government should not engage in preemptive regulation based on hypothetical or speculative harms.
A moratorium on data centers and other heavy-handed proposals restricting entire categories of technology are simply incompatible with a free society. When politicians attempt to draw the line between what constitutes a “data center” and what constitutes small-scale compute, normal people’s livelihoods will be caught in the wake. Exactly how many computers doing math may I own before my personal server cluster becomes illegal? And is it worth it to quash the real economic opportunities data centers could bring to Montana and America?
There’s room for reasonable skepticism in the data center debate. We can and should utilize existing policy approaches to remedy any real harms arising from data centers. Fears, emotions, and hyperbole about data centers are no justification for expanded top-down economic control.
This column originally appeared in Lee Newspapers
