The City of Hermantown may have given the green light to build a Google data center, but that’s not stopping another lawsuit from being filed.
The groups behind the lawsuit are the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) and the Stop The Hermantown Data Center (SHDC). The groups claim the city’s environmental review process violated the Minnesota Environmental Policy Act because they say the process was done before enough was known about the project and its impacts.
The groups filed an appeal over the type of environmental review used for this project. It’s called an “alternative urban area-wide review” (AUAR), and the city adopted it in October 2026.