Hermantown delays permits for controversial data center

The small northeastern Minnesota city of Hermantown has delayed consideration of two permits for a controversial proposed data center after a group opposed to the project filed a request for additional environmental review of the proposal.

The move came less than 24 hours after the Hermantown City Council unanimously approved a rezoning of more than 200 acres for the project about eight miles west of Duluth, despite vocal opposition from dozens of community members at the packed meeting that extended more than five hours.

Members of the grassroots group “Stop the Hermantown Data Center” have submitted a petition to the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) requesting that an Environmental Assessment Worksheet, or EAW, be conducted for the proposed data center, in addition to the Urban Area-wide Alternative Review, or AUAR, that has already been prepared.

The group said in its petition that the African Union had not specifically reviewed the possibility of building a data center at the site. Instead, the review referred to the proposal as including “telecommunications service facility equipment.”

The petitioners say the city withheld the true nature of the project from the public, and thus argue the AU is “null and void.”

In response, the city of Hermantown put forward consideration of both a special use permit and a commercial industrial development permit for the data center project, which were on the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission’s agenda on Oct. 21.

State environmental review rules do not allow state agencies to make final decisions on a project until the petition is denied or the EAW is completed if requested.

“Our approach was the request is valid. Let’s take a pause,” explained Hermantown Assistant City Manager Joe Wicklund.

“We will now take the next legal steps to see if the work done in preparation for the AU meeting actually achieved the goal,” Wiklund said. “Everything is on pause while we take a deep look at the next environmental step.”

Proposal for a huge building "The hyperscale data center, which will include up to four 50-foot-tall, 300,000-square-foot buildings in the southwest corner of Hermantown, has drawn the ire of rural area residents.

City officials have been in discussions about the data center for more than a year, but residents only began to learn details of the proposal in the past few weeks, documents show.

The city did not reveal who was behind the project, saying only that it was “a Fortune 50 company based in the United States.” The $650 million project will be built over eight to ten years. Supporters say it would create hundreds of construction jobs and at least 40 permanent jobs, while generating up to $1 million annually in business tax revenue. According to the city.

At a packed and contentious City Council meeting Monday night, residents raised concerns about water and energy use, noise pollution, loss of rural character and lack of transparency as the anonymous developer pitched the data center project to city officials.

City officials have defended the process, saying it is standard and fair practice to give the project anonymity while the developer negotiates the details.

In its petition to the Minnesota EQB, the group also raised concerns about the project’s location in a wetland area, surrounded by homes, some of which are located within 350 feet of the proposed data center.

“The regional community is concerned about the location of the project because it does not meet data center industry specifications,” the group said in a statement. “Rural residents are also concerned about noise, light, air and water, which are not adequately addressed.”

The city will make the decision on whether or not an EAW is needed. Environmental review is not an approval process. It is intended to provide information to support permitting and other decisions for development projects.

If the city decides an additional environmental study is not required, the Planning and Zoning Commission could take up the permits at its next meeting on Nov. 18, Hermantown’s Wiklund said.