Lawsuit filled challenging environmental review of Hermantown data center project
HERMANTOWN, Minn. — A lawsuit has been filed by two groups challenging the environmental review of the Hermantown data center project.
The lawsuit is being filed by the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy( MCEA) and Stop the Hermantown Data Center (SHDC).
The groups say that the environmental review lacked analysis and should have shed light on what was being proposed and how to mitigate the impacts, but they say the Hermantown study failed to even say this was a data center.
“We were shocked to learn of the ways the City of Hermantown has been keeping people in the dark on a proposal of this magnitude,” said Anna Estep, of the Stop the Hermantown Data Center. “People want to know, how can such an important decision be made without proper assessment and without involving the people it affects the most? We are doing everything we can to urge a real conversation.”
The City of Hemantown responded to the lawsuit in a statement to FOX21:
“The City has received the lawsuit and will conduct the appropriate review and due diligence, and follow the legal process.”
The data center proposal would be the city’s largest development in its history. While the name of the developer has not been released yet, it is a U.S.-headquartered Fortune 50 company.
In October, a petition was filed by at least 100 residents to the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board, and the data center permits were removed from the October 20th agenda until the city could answer the petition within 15 days.
The next time the data center’s permits could be up for discussion is at the next planning and zoning commission’s agenda on Nov. 18, which would officially begin the public process
This is the fifth lawsuit in the last two months in Minnesota, challenging environmental review studies of data center proposals.
SEE PREVIOUS: Hermantown Council Approves Rezone for Potential Data Center
SEE PREVIOUS: Data Center Debate: Hermantown’s Comm. Dir. Talks Public Process
