Northwest North Dakota commission directs co-op to cut power to crypto data center
Jun. 21—WILLISTON, N.D. — The Williams County Commission on Tuesday, June 20, voted unanimously to direct the Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative to shut off power to what is known as Phase II of the
Atlas Power crypto mining data center near Williston
.
On Wednesday afternoon, June 21, Commission Chairman Cory Hanson said the co-op had not yet cut the power and instead filed a petition for declaratory judgment in district court, a move Hanson said appeared to be the co-op's way of asking a judge whether it had the authority to cut power to the data center.
Hanson said the commission voted to cut power to the data center because it had not satisfied a list of requirements the commission set in order for the center to receive a certificate of occupancy.
According to Hanson, those requirements included things like completion of final inspections and working with neighbors on a solution to sound issues created by the site, which Hanson said has been operating for some time.
Although Atlas Power had not met all of the requirements set by the county, he said, it had satisfied some, including establishing around-the-clock security at the data center.
The county commission set June 16 as the deadline for Atlas Power to meet certain stipulations.
Hanson said Wednesday county officials still had not received an explanation for why some requirements were not met.
When the $1.9-billion Atlas Power
data center project was announced in January of 2022
, North
Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum was among those marking its debut
.
Attempts to reach Kevin Washington, founder of Atlas Power, for comment were not successful.
Rick Tabish, president of Montana-based FX Solutions, which is partnered with Atlas Power on the project as the general contractor, said Wednesday that shutting off power to the data center would have "extraordinary" financial implications for both the project and the co-op. He said it appears the co-op wants to be clear on what it and the county commission have authority to do.
Tabish said Atlas Power is committed to finding a solution to noise issues, and it has secured the services of a noise-mitigation consultant to design a wall that will suppress sounds created by the data center.
The consultant is very close to providing that design, he said, adding, "I know that everybody is working really hard to meet in the middle, including the residents. Everybody is trying to be rational, and it should resolve itself soon."
