PSC can’t keep data center information secret, says group

A coalition of groups with concerns about data centers is challenging the Montana Public Service Commission’s decision to keep information about them under wraps at the request of NorthWestern Energy.

In a motion filed with the Public Service Commission this week, Earthjustice said NorthWestern hasn’t shown information in a series of letters qualifies as trade secrets, and keeping them hidden will hurt the public, especially those forced to buy electricity from the monopoly utility.

“Reflexively issuing a protective order based on unsubstantiated trade secret claims, as the Commission did here, creates barriers to participation, hides the costs of the deals with data centers, and allows decisions that will impact ratepayers to be made behind closed doors,” said the motion.

The motion argues the decision to “shield” the letters from public view is unlawful.

Earthjustice filed the motion on behalf of Butte Watchdogs for Social and Environmental Justice; Climate Smart Missoula; Helena Interfaith Climate Advocates; Honor the Earth; Montana Environmental Information Center; Montana Public Interest Research Group; and NW Energy Coalition.

In an email, PSC spokesperson Jamey Petersen said the Commission may issue protective orders when necessary to preserve trade secrets or other information that needs to be guarded under the law.

“The Commission is not in the business of ‘shielding’ any utility from scrutiny; our role is to apply Montana’s strong right‑to‑know provisions in Article II, Section 9 of the Montana Constitution alongside laws that protect genuinely confidential information, such as trade secrets, and we do so consistently regardless of which company is before us,” Petersen said in an email.

Proposed data centers are controversial in Montana.

NorthWestern Energy, data center developers and some business leaders argue they represent economic opportunity, such as more jobs and an expanded tax base.

But opponents argue they are going to mean increased rates for existing customers, who already are seeing rising utility costs, and bring detrimental impacts to water for many sectors of the state, including agriculture.

Data centers use a significant amount of water to remain cool.

NorthWestern Energy has been working with data center developers in Montana. It’s in conversation with at least 11 data center developers, including about projects in Montana.

In December 2025, the PSC issued a protective order allowing NorthWestern to keep the information in the letters out of public view, but the groups argue it did so without sufficient evidence and in violation of its own rules.

The documents at issue are NorthWestern’s letters of intent to three data center developers in Montana, Atlas Power Group, Sabey Data Center Properties, and Quantica Infrastructure; Atlas and Sabey have announced projects in Butte, and Quantica is working on one outside of Billings.

NorthWestern argued the information needed to be private because it has “independent economic value” and affects the utility’s “competitive advantage,” but the groups argue it didn’t explain itself.

“NorthWestern did not identify — in any manner — the information that it sought to shield from the public,” the motion said. “NorthWestern did not describe the contents of the Letters of Intent, nor provide any other explanation of the information that it was asking the Commission to determine qualified as trade secret.”

The motion also said NorthWestern promised to make a public filing concerning future service to data centers before the end of the year, which it didn’t do, and argued the letters should be kept secret because they’re part of “ongoing negotiations” and “not uniform.”

A spokesperson for NorthWestern Energy could not be reached Friday.

In August 2025, the PSC had planned to set a hearing on data centers, but Petersen said a date has not been set.

The Public Service Commission granted the protective order, but it didn’t describe the protected information, and it allowed the contents to remain secret because NorthWestern argued it wanted them secret, the groups said.

“The Commission concluded that the information in NorthWestern’s Letters of Intent was ‘secret’ because NorthWestern had protective measures in place to maintain secrecy and had not provided the Letters of Intent to any third parties,” the motion said.

On behalf of the PSC, however, Petersen said the Commission found NorthWestern met its burden to show that certain information “qualifies for trade secret protection, so that material must be handled confidentially while redacted versions and all other non‑confidential information remain available to the public.”

The letters NorthWestern filed are heavily redacted, but the motion said the redactions are not uniform, and some of the protected information hurts the public’s ability to advocate against rising costs for existing ratepayers.

The groups say the commission exceeded its legal authority in classifying the confidential information as a trade secret, and it “unconstitutionally shifted the initial burden of proof to the public to challenge a public utility’s claims of confidentiality.”

It said the standard the Public Service Commission adopted violates the Right to Know in the Montana Constitution, it’s contrary to the agency’s own regulations, and the Montana Supreme Court already rejected a similar approach in an earlier case.

The groups are asking the PSC to find NorthWestern has not met its burden to prove the information qualifies as a trade secret; determine the information should not be protected from public disclosure; and order NorthWestern to file unredacted copies of the letters.

Petersen said typically, affected parties such as NorthWestern are given a chance to respond before the Commission takes action on a motion.

“Because the motion is pending in an open docket, the Commission will not comment on its merits outside of the formal proceeding, consistent with its quasi‑judicial role,” Petersen said.