KSTP.com reports…

A lawsuit has paused a planned data center in Pine Island.

Construction was supposed to start this month on Project Skyway near Highway 52. Earlier this year, the Pine Island City Council approved a conditional use permit to develop at least 100 acres on nearly 500 acres of land.

“This is my home,” Janet Hanke said.

But Hanke said she has questions about the city’s future and about the proposed project in the city of about 4,000 people.

The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) sued Pine Island and the developer Ryan Companies. The nonprofit claims the city did not conduct an adequate environmental impact study before approval.

“That’s where the public can see how is this going to affect my resources, the water that I depend on, the air that I breathe, my quality of life,” Kathryn Hoffman said, CEO of The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. “The first concern is really about the secrecy.”

For now, MCEA is waiting for a court ruling. Until then, construction cannot start.