06-29-22 issue

Page 1

$1.25

your homegrown newspaper

Vol. 18, No. 41

June 29, 2022

Polson data center still in preliminary discussion By Kristi Niemeyer for the Valley Journal

Roe v. Wade pg.6

Rodeo pg. 12

Picnic pg. 14

POLSON — Despite numerous press reports announcing future plans to build a 50-megawatt data center in Polson, it’s clear that the project is in very preliminary stages. The announcement came June 3 during the Montana “On The Rise” Economic Summit, cohosted by Sen. Steve Daines and the Montana Chamber Foundation. A press release from Gov. Greg Gianforte’s office touted an investment to build the center in concert with Canadian entrepreneur and investor Kevin O’Leary (of “Shark Tank” fame), Bitzero CEO Akbar Shamji, and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, represented at the conference by Tribal Secretary Martin Charlo. If built, the center could provide the computing muscle required by bitcoin miners, who use supercomputers to solve complex equations, as well as other web-based businesses. The announcement and subsequent press coverage have raised ample speculation about the center, which would reportedly utilize renewable power generated by Séliš Ksanka QÍispé Dam, managed by the tribal for-profit business, Energy Keepers, on

KRISTI NIEMEYER PHOTO

The tribally owned Séliš Ksanka QÍispé Dam, completed in 1939, remains an important source of renewable energy locally and around the Northwest.

behalf of CSKT. However, it’s not a done deal, cautions Energy Keepers CEO Brian Lipscomb. “We have no agreement to sell these guys – or any other bitcoin miner – electricity,” he said in an interview last week. “We have conversations with bitcoin mining w w w.va l le yj our na l.net

entities pretty regularly – always inquiring whether we have the electricity or if there’s an opportunity to buy electricity from us.” “We’re in the wholesale electricity business, so we visit with them about potential deals,” he added. “But none of them has resulted in agreements for quite

some time.” Energy Keepers did sell electricity to Hyperblock, a bitcoin operation located in a warehouse in Bonner that went out of business in 2020. Lipscomb noted that when Hyperblock filed for bankruptcy “they quit paying

see page 2


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
06-29-22 issue by Valley Journal - Issuu