Google representatives shared updates on its proposed data center in Hermantown Monday night including changes after the public raised environmental concerns.
A company spokesperson said they’ve acted on the public’s main concerns, hoping to reduce the impact on well water, trout streams, and wetlands.
“I want to again thank the public for their continued comments at past council meetings, at past open houses, at neighbor meetings, etc,” said Google Representative Liz Schwab. “It has certainly helped us to shape and improve the project.
Google says those actions include monitoring wells and reducing the impacts to wetlands by 37 percent.
The company is also creating a decommissioning agreement if the site becomes obsolete in the future.
As a part of their philanthropy efforts, Google will also be donating $2.5 million to local grants and nonprofits.
Some residents at the meeting say they shouldn’t have had to beg for Google to take action.
It sounds as if things have been getting heated in Hermantown. The meeting included a reminder of public decorum at meetings as well as mention of a preliminary report of its internal investigation, which was initiated after disparaging remarks of data center opponents were leaked and posted by the Duluth Monitor.
Fox21 reports…
The Duluth News Tribune and WDIO also covered the story.