A legal effort to stop the construction of a new “data center” near the base of the Bridger Mountains came to a quiet, administrative halt this Tuesday. A local resident had been gathering signatures to place a measure on the ballot that would have effectively banned the existence of the “cloud” within county lines, citing concerns that invisible internet storage was taking up too much of our visual horizon.

The judge ruled that the signature collection deadline had passed during the second week of our unseasonably warm November. Consequently, the proposal to keep our local internet analog has been removed from consideration.

“I just don’t see why we need to host the internet here when we barely have enough space for the new pickleball courts,” said Barnaby Fiddle, a local resident who moved to the valley from Silicon Valley in 2019 to escape the influence of high-tech infrastructure. “If we allow the cloud to live in the Bridgers, next thing you know, we’ll have satellites trying to find parking spots on Main Street.”

The developer behind the project maintains that the facility is necessary to process the high volume of automated photos being uploaded from the M Trail. They argue that without local servers, the sheer weight of geotagged selfies might cause the regional cellular network to drift toward Livingston.

Opponents of the data center had argued that the servers generate a hum that disturbs the local elk population’s sleep patterns. Proponents countered that the servers actually provide a warm, reliable microclimate for hibernating insects, which are essential to the valley’s overall artisanal honey production.

The city commission has remained largely silent on the matter, noting that they are currently focused on a separate study regarding whether or not the internet itself is considered a historical structure under existing zoning laws. Meanwhile, the vacant lot designated for the data center continues to hold the same high-density weeds it has hosted since the late nineties.

The internet will continue to occupy the space regardless of the zoning status.