As talks for data centers continue to expand across Minnesota, communities in the southeast corner of the state are grappling with how to balance technological growth with local oversight.
On Thursday, DFL state lawmakers Sen. Liz Boldon and Rep. Tina Liebling hosted a virtual town hall to hear directly from Rochester-area constituents regarding potential policies and regulations surrounding large-scale data center facilities.
During the forum, residents raised concerns over data privacy, long-term environmental impacts, and skepticism regarding promised local economic benefits. Similar pushback has already placed a planned data center development in Pine Island on hold amid an ongoing lawsuit.
Lawmakers noted that the public’s unease is part of a broader national trend. A recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that more than half of Americans believe data centers are mostly bad for the environment, while 6 in 10 respondents said they would not feel comfortable having a data center built in their own community.
They spoke about data center in past legislative sessions…
Over the past few legislative sessions, Minnesota lawmakers have taken steps to rein in industry incentives and impose stricter environmental guardrails. Recent legislation eliminated a $140 million state sales tax exemption on electricity for data centers and instituted requirements that facilities using more than 100 million gallons of water coordinate directly with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
They spoke about sticky issues…
Another major policy point under discussion is the prohibition of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in municipal negotiations with developers. Local governments are already moving in that direction; the city of Harmony included an NDA ban in the latest draft of its data center ordinance, which is currently before its planning and zoning committee.