You chose to ignore the actual point I was making that close ouskirts of major cities are still uninhabited and there is no need to go to 'rural montana'.

Any large construction needs to go an approval process, the article talks about the same thing. This article is about a giant project, the point isn't about any single place that would be more or less resistant. It is about the fact that large amounts of unused land with close proximity to major cities is common.