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Tag Archives: Data Centers

Not all data centers are equal. Not all potential locations are equal.

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The Reformer asks an intriguing question in a recent article: Big Tech wants to build a data center in your city. Is it worth it? The answer is potentially more intriguing for readers because is seems to depend on several factors, including where it is located. City, suburb, rural area? Are you retrofitting an older building or building new? What deals have been made?…

Community opposition to data centers is rising fast, but big computing facilities still have at least one influential fan.

“If I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state and I had a chance to get a big … AI plant or data center, I would absolutely want it because the jobs are enormous and the money paid, the taxes paid, are just enormous,” President Donald Trump told reporters last month.

He returned to the subject recently, in harsher form.

“The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor,” Trump said in a lengthy Truth Social post. “If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame.”

Recent public polling shows Trump’s stance on data centers is unpopular, even within his own party. A recent Economist/YouGov poll finds the general concept of data center construction underwater by more than 30 percentage points, and Americans opposed to data centers in their communities by a margin of more than 3 to 1.

Fifty-two percent of Republicans would say no to a new data center nearby, while just 28% would support one, the poll found. Respondents expressed particular concern about data centers’ impacts on electric bills and home values.

Those worries and others — about excessive water usage, air and noise pollution, strain on the power grid and secret deals between developers and local officials — are bubbling up across Minnesota as Meta brings the state’s first hyperscale data center online in Rosemount, and Google seeks permission to build two more near Rochester and Duluth. There’s unease about what happens inside these facilities, too.

The use several local examples, such as downtown Minneapolis…

Downtown Minneapolis has several smallish data centers in operation and at least one more under construction. A few dozen more dot the Twin Cities’ suburbs. Some of these have operated uneventfully for decades. But Minnesota does not yet have any computing clusters to rival Quincy’s or Loudoun County’s.

Rosemount…

Meta’s Rosemount facility will be the state’s first experience with the newer generation of industrial-scale facilities that has soured public opinion on data centers generally. Rosemount says Meta could pay the city up to $20 million in property taxes over 20 years and support 148 permanent jobs once operational, likely later this year or in early 2027. The city reported total revenues of $68.8 million in 2024.
The Dakota County assessor expects the project to have a total tax bill of $2.6 million in 2028, Rosemount community development director Adam Kienberger told the Reformer.

The article continues to compare and contrast the experience or potential in each area.

EVENT Sep 17: If a data center knocks: What should West Fargo do?

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Inforum reports…

A West Fargo nonprofit group will host a community discussion, “If a data center knocks: What should West Fargo do?” on Thursday, Sept. 17, as part of its Fire Hall Chat series.

Civic West is a nonprofit group created to share information and increase civic engagement among West Fargo residents.

At the September discussion, the organization hopes to give residents the chance to learn about data centers and provide their input to city officials before they make any decisions regarding data centers, according to a press release.

The discussion will begin at 7 p.m., and will take place at the West Fargo Fire Department headquarters, 1201 10th Ave. E. It is free and open to the public.

EVENT Sep 8: St. Cloud Planning Commission holds a public hearing on data centers

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KSNI reports…

The City of St. Cloud is trying to write its data center rules before anyone proposes building one.

The St. Cloud Planning Commission holds a public hearing Tuesday evening at 6:00 at city hall on draft amendments to the Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code that would, for the first time, define what a data center is in St. Cloud and specify where the largest ones could go.

The city itself is the applicant. In a September 1st memo, Community Development Director Matt Glaesman writes that the city’s current position leans on general industrial language and “a dated zoning definition with no specific site design standards.” Acting now, before a site-specific proposal lands, is “the best practice to establish appropriate standards based on community goals,” he writes.

The drafts split data centers into two categories. Enterprise or on-site facilities, the kind that have quietly operated inside businesses for years, are capped at 2,000 servers, 10,000 square feet and 50 megawatts of peak electrical use. Anything bigger is considered hyper-scale.

The St. Cloud Planning Commission plans to make a recommendation…

The Planning Commission would forward a recommendation to the city council, which holds its own public hearing before either document can be amended. Because the city is the applicant, either body can postpone action to gather more information.

No major data center projects currently planned or proposed in Aitkin County

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The Aitkin Age reports…

No major data center projects are currently proposed or planned in Aitkin County, however, the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy said, “More than 20 large hyperscale and AI data centers have been proposed across Minnesota, with key projects located in Rosemount, Farmington and Pine Island. Tech companies are targeting Minnesota for its cool climate, available land and clean energy goals, though these projects face growing local pushback over massive water and power use.”

KSTP talks to MN Fairgoers about data centers

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KSTP TV reports…

A poll shows most Minnesotans oppose data centers as debate grows over new proposals across the state.

A 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS/SurveyUSA poll found 60% of Minnesotans are against data centers, while 27% are in favor and the rest are unsure.

State officials at the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) say there have been 12 proposed data centers in Minnesota this year, with more proposals expected next year.

To get Minnesotans’ perspective, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS took to the Minnesota State Fair to ask residents about their opinions regarding data centers.

Google’s proposal for data enter in Hermantown gets feedback from DNR and others (St Louis County)

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Minnesota Star Tribune reports….

Google’s controversial northeast Minnesota data center proposal has “gaps” and “deficiencies,” the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said of its final environmental review. But the agency stopped short of objecting to it.

In a late August letter to the city of Hermantown the state agency wrote that the second environmental review of the forested 234-acre site leaves several questions unanswered. But as the governmental unit in charge of the project, state law dictates the city has the legal authority to decide whether the review is adequate. Its City Council could vote on it this month.

The specifics from the DNR…

The DNR said the review inaccurately described it as an agency tasked with ensuring project compliance for ground and stormwater. It’s not and that expectation could “create a false public expectation about MNDNR oversight,” Kuskie wrote in her letter to the city.

Other DNR concerns include:

  • The project’s proximity to a Minnesota Power substation, where the utility is expanding, in part, for the data center. The effects of that should be studied, the agency said.
  • Inadequate baseline data for groundwater, which was gathered during a year of drought.
  • The project’s location near trout streams and on wetlands, and a need for more information on how they will be protected or have harm minimized.

Opinions from other organizations…

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, which does have authority over some parts of the project, said the plan needs to describe other potential sites that were explored. Echoing the DNR’s concerns about wetlands and native brook trout, the agency said Google needs to make a better case for the chosen site.

And…

The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, in a lengthy joint response with Cure, a Minnesota-based environmental consultant, said the review didn’t do enough.

Some small businesses cut ties with Duluth Chamber over Hermantown data center endorsement (St Louis County)

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Northern News Now reports...

Some businesses are pulling out of the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce, after the agency put its support behind the proposed Hermantown data center this week.

Now both Zenith Bookstore and Townline Farms & Stable have now severed ties with the Chamber. The departures are due to a move these local business owners call a devastating betrayal and misrepresentation of small businesses in the organization.

On Tuesday, The Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce formally announced their support of the proposed data center.

I wrote about the Chamber’s support a few days ago. The article details the specific reasons specific businesses left the Chamber and the reaction of the community.

MinnPost looks at local candidates’ views on data centers in light of Trump’s support for data centers

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MinnPost reports…

President Donald Trump’s derision of communities that oppose the construction of data centers as wanting to be “backwards and poor” has put some Minnesota Republicans in a tough spot.

Data centers have rapidly become one of the defining issues in this year’s midterm elections, with polls showing both Republican and Democratic voters rejecting these facilities that Trump maintains are job-producing boons.

A recent Economist/YouGov Poll found that more than half of those polled said data centers are “bad” while only 20% said they are a good thing. Democrats were particularly likely to view data center construction negatively with 61% saying it is bad for the country. Meanwhile, 39% of GOP respondents saw new data center construction as bad while 31% viewed it as good.

The backlash can be easily understood. Data centers consume enormous amounts of electricity and water and economists have determined that their job creation is largely limited to short-term construction jobs, which has won the support of trade unions.

Still, Trump touted them as the “Golden Goose” in a post on Truth Social this week, seemingly because he said they are the cornerstone of the strategic AI arms race the United States has with China.

From Minnesota (quoted but abridged – check out MinnPost for complete quotes)…

  • Rep. Tom Emmer, R-6th District, immediately embraced the president’s message of support for the construction of data centers.
  • Rep. Brad Finstad, R-1st District, said “the discussion around AI technology is one our country needs to have.”
    “Data centers, like those proposed in southern Minnesota, can play an important role in our economic future and national security, but the decision about whether a data center is right for a particular community should be made by the people and local leaders who know their communities best, not handed down by Washington through a blanket, one-size-fits-all approach that treats every community the same,” he said in an emailed statement.
  • State Sen. Eric Pratt, a Republican who is running for retiring Rep. Angie Craig’s seat, also pushed back against Trump’s remarks about communities that don’t want to host data centers.
    He called for a “a balanced approach to data center development that puts local communities at the center of the conversation while recognizing the growing importance of domestic technology infrastructure.”
  • Pratt’s Democratic rival, former Lakeville Mayor Matt Little, has pledged to fight for moratoriums and bans on nondisclosure agreements. Some local officials in Minnesota have signed NDAs at the behest of developers, shielding details about data centers from public scrutiny.
  • And Finstad’s Democratic challenger, Jake Johnson, joined a protest against a Pine Island data center in August. …
    Johnson also released a plan for stopping data center exploitation in Minnesota.
  • Meanwhile, Trina Swanson, a Democrat running against Stauber on the Iron Range, lives close to a proposed data center in Hermantown. She condemned the NDAs signed by Hermantown officials, lack of regulations  on data center developments and heavy water use and increased energy costs.
  • Stauber’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did the office of Rep. Michele Fischbach, R-7th District.
  • The subject of the first televised campaign ad run by Grant Hauschild, a DFL state senator representing Hermantown, focused on data centers and touted the regulations on the facilities considered by the state Legislature.

Minneapolis City Council member details rules surrounding council votes related to data centers: What is the difference between legislative authority and quasi-judicial authority?

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This article got to be much longer than originally planned. It starts with a letter to the editor from an elected official that raised questions for me on specific rules for city councils and whether each city council was beholden to the same rules. The librarian in me just had to share what I learned and the resources I used – starting with the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library.

A letter to the editor from a City Council member

The Minneapolis Times published a letter from Minneapolis City Council member, on his prescribed role dealing with a recently proposed data center. I didn’t know the rules for various votes. His need to speak up, also tells a story about the passion constituents are feeling about data centers…

My office has received a lot of correspondence pertaining to the proposed data center on the Star Tribune site and the community has repeatedly asked (and in some cases demanded) me to come out against this project. I want to take a moment to explain the difference between the city council’s votes on legislative policy versus a land use item such as the Star Tribune data center application which is considered a quasi-judicial vote.

A proposed policy item, like the proposed citywide data center ordinance, is legislative in nature and I am free to express my policy views, however, pending land use applications are like a court proceeding and are classified as quasi-judicial. Our City Attorney reminds us that in quasi-judicial matters we must avoid any prejudgment and if we express our position prior to the council voting on the item, we will be disqualified from voting on it and will be forced to recuse ourselves from that vote.

What is the difference between legislative authority and quasi-judicial authority?

I read this and I realized, I don’t know enough about the different kinds of votes. The League of Minnesota Cities Planning and Zoning 101 was a good refresher (or primer). Here’s specifically what it says about legislative authority and quasi-judicial authority…

Legislative authority

When creating, adopting, and amending land use plans and zoning ordinances, a city is making law by exercising so-called “legislative” authority. The council sits as a body of elected representatives to make plans and laws (ordinances) for the entire community to advance health, safety, and welfare.

When acting legislatively, a city council can engage in far-ranging policy discussion, and sort through competing views about what plans and laws would be in the best interest of the city. Although not everyone may be on board with the outcome, the more public participation in the law-making stage, the better the understanding among the public of why the city has a particular plan or law in place.

The council has broad discretion when acting legislatively, and any reviewing court will give the city considerable deference.

Pyramid of discretion

Quasi-judicial authority

In contrast, when applying existing plans and laws, a city council exercises so-called “quasi-judicial” authority. The limited task is to determine the facts associated with a particular request, and then apply those facts to the relevant law. A city council has less discretion when acting quasi-judicially, and a reviewing court will examine whether the city council applied rules already in place to the facts before it.

It can be helpful to visualize this as a “pyramid of discretion,” showing cities have greater discretion when making land use decisions at the base of the triangle, and less as decision-making moves up the pyramid. Discretion is greatest when officials are creating local laws and the least when officials are administering those laws.

Land use disputes arise most often when a city is applying laws, rather than when making law. But a city usually has less ability to address the root of the dispute when applying the law, than it would when making the law in the first instance.

Must all city council abide by the same rules?

Once again, the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) has helpful information in the Handbook for Minnesota Cities: Chapter 13: Comprehensive Planning, Land Use and City-Owned Land. The quick answer is that it’s different outside the seven-county metro area…

Cities are granted the authority to regulate land use by the Municipal Planning Act. Cities outside the seven-county metro area are not required to regulate land use. For those cities engaged in land use regulation, the Municipal Planning Act provides the framework that all cities must follow. Cities regulate land use through three basic tools:
• The comprehensive plan.
• The zoning ordinance.
• The subdivision ordinance.

I won’t dive into the nitty gritty, but I will say LMC recommends having the comprehensive plan to guide decisions. They outline best practices for the creation and process. And then they do the same for zoning and subdivision ordinances. The detail they provide makes is difficult to summarize but would also make it helpful to apply to a situation on the frontlines.

EPA proposal could make it harder for the public to learn about and comment on proposed AI data centers 

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The St Paul Pioneer Press reports...

A plan by the Environmental Protection Agency could make it harder for the public to learn about and comment on proposed AI data centers that have sparked backlash in communities across the United States and transformed the midterm election landscape.

The EPA proposal would eliminate a federal requirement that states notify the public and seek comment before issuing air pollution permits for data centers and other industrial facilities. States could still offer opportunities for public comment, but the EPA would no longer mandate them as a condition for states to grant permits.

Critics say the move could thwart local residents from learning about proposed data centers or making their voices heard before projects are approved and construction begins. The move comes during a widespread backlash as tech giants build hundreds of massive server warehouses to fuel artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

Faribault is working to have data center standards finalized by November 20226 (Rice County)

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The Faribault Daily News reports...

About two months after the Faribault City Council extended Archer’s timeline to complete an updated environmental assessment worksheet to March 2027, the planning commission is now planning to bring its plan to the council by November.

“This helps put together things in a timely manner,” City Planning Manager Harry Davis said. “We’re not just sitting here spinning our wheels thinking what to do next.”

The meeting focused on laying out the different standards with one question hanging over the commissioners’ heads: How can the city avoid a lawsuit?

“The city attorney will be asking if this is something we can regulate. If he says no, that’s not likely going to be a staff recommendation,” Davis said. “We’re generally trying to make sure the city doesn’t get sued.”

The environmental commission is meeting in September…

The environmental commission will have a meeting on Sept. 28 to approve its contributions to send to the planning commission. During the meeting, Davis told the commissioners there may be some regulations the environmental commission puts forward that will not be legally viable to incorporate.

The working document’s purpose statement reads the commissioners are not there to discuss whether they agree or disagree with data centers nor if a project should be approved.

“The city can’t cross their arms and say, ‘no, thank you. We don’t want one,’” Commissioner Chuck Ackman said. “I think it’s incumbent on us that we do our job and have reasonable development standards in place in case they need to go down that path.”

Local Harmony residents want the City to slow data center regulation decisions (Fillmore County)

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KTTC reports…

Although no official project has been confirmed, the city of Harmony is drafting local regulations to prepare for any potential data center development. However, many residents in this close-knit Highway 52 community are raising concerns about the speed at which elected leaders are moving.

With a population of just over 1,000 people, residents want to ensure that any changes to the city code reflect the needs of the community first and foremost.

“If we have an ordinance, we have to honor the rules,” said Harmony resident Michael Himlie. “I’m not sure it reads that way in the current draft.”

Under the proposed ordinance, developers would be blocked from future expansions of any data center site without explicit city approval. To address potential noise issues, the city is considering requirements for sound barriers and berms next to residential areas.

While some residents say they appreciate the discussion of safety and quality-of-life safeguards, they want city officials to slow down the review process.

Full details on upcoming study on data centers in Carlton County

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I wrote about the moratorium on data centers in Carlton County last week when it happened. This week, the Moose Lake Star Gazette has published all of the details on the moratorium and planned study. I won’t share them all; you can find them in full in the original article…

Below is Interim Ordinance #42 – Carlton County Data Center Interim Use Study adopted by the Carlton County Board of Commissioners 

August 24, 2026.

Article I. General Provisions and Definitions

Section 1.1 Purpose

This Ordinance places a one-year pause on the creation or expansion of data centers in Carlton County, pursuant to Minnesota Statutes § 394.34. The purpose of this pause is to protect the planning process as the County studies data centers and their impacts and its official controls and the need for possible amendments to its official controls to protect the health, safety, and general welfare of citizens.  Additionally, this ordinance will allow time for the completion of the County’s Comprehensive Land Use Planning process that began in 2025. 

 

Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce announces support for the proposed Google data center in Hermantown ( St. Louis County)

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FOX21 Duluth reports…

The Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce has announced its support for the proposed Google data center in Hermantown.

In a press release Wednesday, the Chamber says they have formally adopted a resolution supporting the proposed Google Data Center Project in Hermantown.

They cite the project’s potential to strengthen the region’s economic base, advance technology infrastructure, and support future growth as reasons for the support.

“We believe the proposed Hermantown Data Center represents a significant investment not only in technology and economic development, but in the infrastructure and community assets that will support future growth. As a regional business organization, we have a responsibility to advocate for opportunities that strengthen our economy and create the conditions for businesses and communities to thrive,” said Pat deGrood, chair of the Board of Directors at the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce and vice president of commercial services, The Jamar Company.

Monticello Tech set to pay city costs for data center review (Wright County)

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Monticello Times reports…

As Monticello Tech’s proposed data center moves into detailed city review, the developer — not city taxpayers — will pick up the tab for outside costs associated with evaluating the project.

The City Council on Aug. 24 approved an escrow agreement with Monticello Tech for review of its proposed 550-acre technology campus south of 85th Street NE and east of Highway 25.

The agreement establishes a developer-funded account the city can draw from as its planners, engineers, environmental consultants and attorneys dig into the proposal. City policy requires such agreements for commercial and industrial land use applications involving more than 51 acres.

Monticello Tech must initially deposit $10,000 into the account.

If the balance drops below $5,000, the developer must replenish it as directed by the city — or the city can halt its review until more money is deposited.

More info...

City staff initially determined the developer’s July 6 land use applications were incomplete. Monticello Tech submitted a substantially revised package Aug. 3 and supplemental materials Aug. 11, and the city has since determined it has enough information to begin evaluating the proposal itself.

Monticello Tech is seeking three approvals during the current phase: rezoning for a Data Center Planned Unit Development, a conditional use permit and a preliminary plat.

The developer is proposing an approximately 3 million-square-foot technology campus that could ultimately include as many as eight data center buildings constructed in phases over several years.