Mandan Data center pushback

[SupressYourself]

if thats all it is, please give me all your bitcoin!!!

Just because enough people have been fooled into believe it has "value" doesn't make him wrong.

 

[guywhofishes]

if thats all it is, please give me all your bitcoin!!!

thought about buying some many times… something keeps me spooked and creeped out by the whole concept

I’ll never get this event out of my mind when I think about crypto

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania

 

[eyexer]

The problem is nobody knows which ones are crypto, true data centers or a combination of them both. Both will be a huge burden to society. Why are they coming to states like ND? It’s not because of cheap reliable electric rates. It’s because our dumb ass elected officials are so gullible and on the take that it’s just too easy for them. They’re certainly not going to states where there’s friction

 

[guywhofishes]

They’re putting them in cold climates due to lower to zero cooling costs 3/4 of the year. Big $ savings.

 

[wslayer]

^^^^ Bingo ^^^^

 

[Jiffy]

Yep

 

[NodakBob]

My biggest concern with AI is how do you keep criminals from using it for nefarious purposes?

 

[Browneye]

My biggest fear is the govt using it to keep a boot on our neck. Neither outcome is great.

 

[Reprobait]

What these new large data centers are for is using AI to train AI. These AI agents are doing nefarious things on their own. Stuff that they were not supposed to do. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/24/openai-agent-hacked-australian-government-website-.html

This explains some of the recent incidents of AI going rogue:
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[Fly Carpin]

if thats all it is, please give me all your bitcoin!!!

 

[WormWiggler]

I was under the impression that bitcoin had a finite amount that would be reached at some point, was this just another misdirection? The appeal of currency that is not manipulated by a government is not lost on me, but manipulation for gain is a core human trait.

 

[eyexer]

They’re putting them in cold climates due to lower to zero cooling costs 3/4 of the year. Big $ savings.

That is certainly a factor.

 

[eyexer]

I was under the impression that bitcoin had a finite amount that would be reached at some point, was this just another misdirection? The appeal of currency that is not manipulated by a government is not lost on me, but manipulation for gain is a core human trait.

And tax free if I recall. Unless that’s changed some how

 

[Fly Carpin]

And tax free if I recall. Unless that’s changed some how

It's treated like property. No taxes for buying and holding. No taxes for moving between "wallets". Taxable for selling, trading from one currency to another, using for buying, and earning income.

Holy shit. How does no one see what a scam this is? The whole thing is a Ponzi long-con. Anything that requires someone dumber than you to buy this nonexistent thing at a higher price that is based on nothing is a scam. I hope you all make a ton of money and get out before it collapses.

 

[Downrigger]

Back to this data center - does this thing have any legs or is it dead for Mandan?

 

[eyexer]

I wish the legislature would have put a hold on these things to investigate them further. This is how dumb our politicians are. The city of Williston approved a facility in the city limits that is enormous in size. I have no doubt the biggest in the country. They’re just drunk on the tax money. The biggest concern is sound issues. So they’ve gotten wise and have claimed they won’t be loud for to going to a liquid immersion for the computers. Well they can only obtain that one of two ways that I know of. Circulating the water through massive coolers using massive fans. Which’s equals loud. The other is to use a continuous flow of fresh water. Which will have to come from city water/rural water or an industrial well tapping the fox hills reserve. Both of these options are very bad news.

 

[Jiffy]

All I will say gents is fight, fight, fight!! Don’t let them in your community!! You will be sorry

 

[eyexer]

Aside from taxes paid, can anybody come up with a benefit to North Dakotans

 

[Lycanthrope]

Aside from taxes paid, can anybody come up with a benefit to North Dakotans

Yes. There are several documented, non-tax benefits that show up in North Dakota’s actual projects—especially around Ellendale, Harwood, Jamestown, and the Williston area. They are real but uneven: construction-phase effects are large and temporary, operational effects are smaller and longer-lasting, and some communities capture more of them than others.

Jobs and local spending. Large campuses generate thousands of construction jobs at peak (roughly 1,800–2,000 workers at Applied Digital’s Ellendale and Harwood sites) plus hundreds of permanent operations, security, and maintenance roles once running. Applied Digital has projected 300–400 full-time positions at the Ellendale campus alone and hundreds more across its other ND sites; statewide figures cited by the tax commissioner have been in the low hundreds of permanent jobs created or retained so far. Those roles pay above typical rural wages (one company figure is an average around $64,000) and create multiplier spending at local contractors, trucking, hotels, restaurants, and suppliers. Housing has been a visible side effect: the company participated in a program that produced 20 new homes in Ellendale.

Lower or more stable electric bills for existing customers. Because data centers are large, 24/7 loads, they can spread the fixed costs of the grid and use power that would otherwise be curtailed (especially wind). Montana-Dakota Utilities customers received millions in transmission-rider and purchased-power credits after the Ellendale load came online; average household savings were reported around $70 in one recent year, with projections of roughly $250 annually at full build-out. Cooperative officials have said the same dynamic can reduce upward pressure on rates for the rest of the membership when the data center pays for its own substations and lines.

Grid and infrastructure upgrades that others also use. New substations, transmission lines, and fiber often get built or reinforced to serve the campus; co-ops note that those upgrades can improve reliability for everyone on the system. Small towns have used the extra local activity to fund streets, a senior center, public-safety facilities, trails, and an opera-house renovation. Some projects have been annexed into city limits specifically so the community captures more of the activity.

Support for North Dakota’s existing energy industries. The state already produces more electricity than it consumes and has growing associated natural gas from the Bakken plus lignite plants that need baseload customers. A large, predictable load can keep a coal plant or mine running, use gas that might otherwise be flared, and absorb “stranded” wind that transmission cannot always move. Energy-industry groups treat this as a way to protect existing jobs and tax base in coal and oil country rather than starting from zero.

Modest population and amenity effects in very small towns. Ellendale (roughly 1,100 people) expected several hundred new residents over a few years. That is not a boom on the scale of an oil play, but it is enough to keep schools, businesses, and services from shrinking further. Officials also point to downstream uses of the compute itself—precision agriculture, rural healthcare, and weather modeling—though those are statewide or national rather than town-specific.

The usual caveats apply. Permanent job counts are low relative to the capital spent and the power consumed; construction housing and traffic pressure is real while the crews are on site; water and rate-impact risks exist if projects are poorly sited or if utilities do not isolate the large-load costs. Several ND communities and lawmakers have therefore pushed for community-benefit agreements and stricter vetting so the non-tax upsides actually land locally rather than remaining talking points. In short, the benefits exist and have already shown up in specific places; they are just narrower than the tax-base argument that usually dominates the conversation.

 

[Jiffy]

AI generated….