Data center critics take Minnesota city to court
HERMANTOWN Minn A new obstacle confronting feasible plans to bring a evidence center to the rural southwest corner of this society emerged in the form of a lawsuit Wednesday Nov Opponents challenge whether the sprawling proposed material center which could reach million square feet in size when fully developed has undergone adequate environmental review The affair was brought by two plaintiffs the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy MCEA and a group of concerned citizens who united to form a nonprofit called Stop the Hermantown Statistics Center or SHDC for short The suit against Hermantown is the fifth scenario involving content centers proposed across the state that MCEA has now joined The reason we have multiple lawsuits on this is because of this troubling trend of secrecy we re seeing across the state and not just in Minnesota but nationally as well in the way that statistics center proposals are brought forward stated MCEA CEO Kathryn Hoffman The complaint alleges that Hermantown has known since at least September that the site s would-be developer hoped to construct a content center facility Yet the type of operation proposed for the property was not publicly disclosed and established until October Likewise the suit contends that the Alternative Urban Areawide Review AUAR conducted to identify anticipated environmental impacts was inadequate because it avoids studying known and anticipated environmental impacts of a large details center For instance Hoffman questioned whether water consumption estimates for the proposed growth could be trusted The AUAR predicts the fully developed statistics center site would use no more than gallons of water per day which Hermantown authorities say is roughly comparable to the daily water consumption of homes She also noted the lack of specific information regarding the power that will be required to operate the material center the impact it will have on carbon emissions and whether the additional load could drive strength rates higher for area residents Joe Wicklund Hermantown s assistant city administrator and communications director declined to comment on the merits of the suit except to acknowledge the city had received the complaint and was reviewing it at present He stressed that Hermantown functionaries will follow the legal process whatever shape that may take The suit brought Wednesday is separate and distinct from another effort to slow the issuance of permits for the project Concerned citizens in recent months also brought forward a petition to the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board prompting Hermantown to put plans for the evidence center on hold until it could determine whether additional environmental review beyond what was conducted under the initial AUAR should be required If so an environmental assessment worksheet or an even more rigorous environmental impact investigation could be mandated before permits could be issued Jonathan Thornton a member of SHDC who lives about miles from the site of the proposed input center revealed the lawsuit was not a knee-jerk reaction He stated it was a bit of a last resort when other efforts to persuade the city to slow down the project failed Among other things Thornton questions a change to Hermantown s comprehensive land use plan that led to a quiet rezoning of the Adolph area for future advance uses such as a input center Characterizing the questionable procedure used to bring the project forward Thornton reported They re building this project on a foundation that s fundamentally flawed Hoffman acknowledged that the developers of statistics centers have been prone to operate in secret out of their concern of putting clients at a competitive disadvantage compared with rival companies Just who stands to benefit from the proposed new Hermantown facility has yet to be disclosed But big players in this arena include Google Meta Microsoft and Amazon She commented the privacy desires of the developer must be balanced against the community s right to know what is being proposed for the site as well as how it may impact the area From our perspective our environmental review laws mandate transparency And that s a value that s reflected in our Minnesota law that outweighs that interest in secrecy Hoffman explained Related Articles Slain Minnesota missionary s wife convicted in African court Live balloting results Minnesota and St Paul-area races Walz BCA local leaders break ground on new Mankato crime lab St Paul-based home strength care company to close laying off employees Bill would allow roads vehicles in Boundary Waters for confines enforcement
