Welcome to Friends of 2 Rivers Bonner Milltown Montana

Friends of Two Rivers - Bonner, Milltown, Montana

Community Q&A on Proposed Bonner Mill Small Data Center

Data center March 20 2026 postcard front single Missoula events

The public is invited to attend an open Question and Answer session about the proposed small data center at the Bonner Mill on Friday, March 20, from 3–5 p.m. at St. Ann Catholic Church, 9015 MT-200, Bonner.

During the session, the Bonner Mill manager Mike Heisey and the data center CEO will present an overview of the proposal and respond to questions from attendees. Light refreshments will be served.

The event will also be live-streamed on the Friends of Two Rivers Facebook page and recorded for later viewing on YouTube.

This gathering is intended as an informational meeting. Audience members are welcome to ask questions about the proposal; however, the format will not include time for attendees to offer public comments or personal statements.

Community members interested in providing public comment are encouraged to attend the Bonner Milltown Community Council meeting on April 13 at 7 p.m., held in the Bonner School Cafeteria or via Zoom, where the council provides time for public input.

The Q&A session is hosted by Friends of Two Rivers.

For more information contact Mike Heisey, (406) 552-8422

MEIC and NPRC protect our natural resource heritage

big blue marble profile crop Engage with our two statewide organizations of Montanans actively working to protect our natural environment. The Montana Environmental Information Center and the Northern Plains Resource Council have staff and volunteers that are up to date on all the critical environmental issues facing Montanans. They provide notice of opportunities for citizen input in governmental decision-making, and guidelines for participation. They provide key resources for citizen involvement during legislative sessions. MEIC https://meic.org/; NPRC https://northernplains.org/

NorthWestern Energy fails to respond to the climate crisis

Colstrip 4(updated 22 Nov 2025) Outgoing NorthWestern CEO Bob Rowe gave farewell comments in his December 28, 2022, Missoulian opinion column. Rowe lauded the company’s success in building a company culture focused on providing safe and reliable service. We couldn’t agree more. NorthWestern’s people deliver high quality services. Rowe also points out that the utility’s generation resources have been 60% carbon free. This is understood to be due largely to its hydropower resources and has been better than the national average for utilities of 40% carbon free, as stated by Rowe. That’s all good. Unfortunately, growth of the utility’s generation resources will be increasingly carbon intensive. It recently completed construction of its gas-fired, 175 MW Yellowstone Generating Station at Laurel, Montana. As noted by the Montana Environmental Information center, the Laurel plant will emit about 25 million tons of climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions during its lifetime. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality turned its back on our Montana Constitution and our right to a clean and healthful environment. It completely failed to address the climate impact of greenhouse gas emissions when it released its environmental assessment of the Laurel plant. NorthWestern Energy’s climate impact will continue to increase even more. Effective Jan. 1, 2026, NorthWestern will acquire, at no cost, Puget Sound Energy’s 370-megawatt share and Avista's 222-megawatt share of the Colstrip Plant. Colstrip emits about 11 million tons of CO2 annually, making it one of the largest CO2 polluters in the U.S.

The Fifth National Climate Assessment

climate change withered earth (updated 22 Nov 2025)

National climate assessments have been authored by the scientists of 15 federal agencies including Commerce, Defense, Agriculture, NOAA, NASA, DHS, NSF, and 8 others.

From the Union of Concerned Scientists:
Authors for Forthcoming Sixth National Climate Assessment Disbanded by Trump Administration
Statement by Dr. Rachel Cleetus, NCA6 Report Author and a UCS Expert, April 28, 2025
WASHINGTON—Authors of the Sixth National Climate Assessment (NCA6)—a quadrennial report mandated by Congress since 1990—were disbanded today by the Trump administration with a notice that the assessment is being “reevaluated.” This follows the mass firing of staff at the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) earlier this month. Such a move at this point in the process of drafting a compressive scientific report, often exceeding 1,000 pages and developed by 13 federal agencies and hundreds of external scientists and experts, puts the report in jeopardy. It indicates the threat of a compromised scientific process and could even place the report at risk of being illegally cancelled altogether.
The Fifth National Climate Assessment Report, issued in November, 2023 incudes this warning:

Future climate change impacts depend on choices made today

The more the planet warms, the greater the impacts. Without rapid and deep reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, the risks of accelerating sea level rise, intensifying extreme weather, and other harmful climate impacts will continue to grow. Each additional increment of warming is expected to lead to more damage and greater economic losses compared to previous increments of warming, while the risk of catastrophic or unforeseen consequences also increases.