The town or Broadview, Montana is home to fewer than 150 people. It is also the site of a proposed 5,000 acre date center to serve AI, internet searches and streaming services. The data center’s impact on the environment has some in the state concerned. Photo by Chris Boyer.
Taking off from his home airport in Bozeman, Montana, LightHawk Northern Rockies Program Manager and Volunteer Pilot Chris Boyer pointed his plane east toward the small rural community of Broadview. With the stiff tailwind, the flight took just over an hour.
Chris was flying over Broadview to collect imagery of the location of a proposed 5,000-acre data center. LightHawk conservation partner Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC) was interested in the imagery for presentations and advocacy efforts around regulating resource-intensive data centers within the state.
Data centers are a crirical part of internet infrastructure, supporting services like video streaming, online searches and AI tools used bypeople around the globe. They’re also heavy users of both electricity and water. That’s why MEIC is concerned about ensuring regulations are in place to protect Montanta’s resources.
The white outline seen in this photo illustrates the size and location of the proposed data center. Compared with the town of Broadview (in the foreground), the aerial perspective shows just how massive the facility would be. Photo by Chris Boyer.
Date centers use massive amounts of electriciy. It Montana, much of the electricity is provided by coal-fired power plants, meaning a data center’s demand would increase the impact on climate change. Photo by Chris Boyer.
Chris noted that winds aloft that day were in the high 30s (mph) at his cruising altitude of 8,000 to 9,000 feet, which ensured a quick trip to Broadview. As he crossed over the Bangtail Mountains and into the northern part of the Paradise Valley. He described the turbulence as “all hell had broken loose and feeling like the wings are going to fall off.” He made it through safely, arriving over Broadview where he flewe a couple of circuits to determine the best options for photographing the area.
Because of the high winds that day, there was a lot of dust in the air, creating hazy conditions and making shots into the sun problematic. His circuits allowed him to take in views of the Bull Mountains to the north, the Crazy Mountains about 70 miles to the west and the Absarokas to the south.
Chris made a few passes at 2,500 feet AGL, capturing imagery of the property that is being considered for the data center along with the nearby community to provide perspective on the scale of the project. He then dropped down to around 1,000 feet to capture a few more shots of the community and nearby electrical substation.
The area noted with the white outline is shows the boundary lines of the property proposed as a location for a future data center. The property spans 5,000 acres and dwarfs the nearby town of Broadview, Montana. Photo by Chris Boyer.
Broadview is a rural community surrounded by large ranches – open spaces – with no significant surface water sources. Water for data center cooling would draw from the same aquifer that supplies the community’s wells. Photo by Chris Boyer.
Transmission lines from that substation run east toward the Colestrip coal-fired power plants, which provide a significant portion of Montana’s electricity supply. The proposed data center would draw at least some of its power from the existing grid, likely through this substation connected to the Colstrip plants.
After collecting a bevy of images, Chris pointed his Cessna back to the west toward Bozeman. The tailwinds from his trip to Broadview became a stiff headwind on the return trip, adding roughly a half hour to his flight.
Despite the turbulent ride, Chris said that he was glad to be back in the air after being grounded by Montana’s winter weather. He shared that he enjoys flying over eastern Montana for its subtle beauty, a contrast to the craggy, icy mountain terrain he calls home.
Chris has been flying with LightHawk for 20 years and joined the staff last year as Northern Rockies Program Manager, helping us rebuild LightHawk’s presence in the Northern Rocky Mountains. A professional aerial photographer and a highly-experienced pilot, Chris brings expertise and a strong commitment to conservation from the air. We’re fortunate to have him as part of the LightHawk team.
Photos by Chris Boyer