হারম্যানটাউন বিতর্কিত ডেটা সেন্টারের অনুমতি বিলম্ব করে
A small northeastern Minnesota town, Hermantown, has delayed considering two permits for a controversial proposed data center after a group opposing the project filed a request for additional environmental review of the proposal. The move came less than 24 hours after the Hermantown City Council approved rezoning over 200 acres of land for the project, about eight miles west of Duluth, despite vocal opposition from dozens of community members at an extended packed meeting that lasted over five hours. Members of the grassroots group “Stop the Hermantown Data Center” submitted a petition to the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) requesting that an Environmental Assessment Worksheet, or EAW, be conducted for the proposed data center, in addition to the Urban Area-Wide Alternative Review, or AUAR, already prepared. The group argues in its petition that the AUAR did not specifically review the possibility of a data center being built on the site. Instead, the review referenced the proposal as involving “telecommunication service facility equipment.” The petitioners say the city withheld the true nature of the project from the public and thus argues that the AUAR is “null and void.” In response, the City of Hermantown is holding off on considering both a special use permit and a commercial industrial development permit for the data center project, which were on the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission agenda for October 21st. State environmental review rules do not allow state agencies to make final decisions on a project until the petition is rejected or the EAW is complete if requested. “Our approach was the request is valid. Let’s take a pause,” Hermantown Assistant City Manager Joe Wicklund explained. “We’re now going to take the next legal steps to see if the work that was done in preparation for the AUAR meetings really met the mark,” Wicklund said. “Everything is kind of on hold while we take a deeper look into the next environmental steps.” The proposal to build a massive data center, encompassing four 50-foot-high buildings and 300,000 square feet of space on the southwest corner of Hermantown, has angered residents in the rural area. City officials have been in discussions about the data center for over a year, but residents have only begun learning details about the proposal in the last few weeks, documents show. The city has not disclosed who is behind the project, saying only that it is a “Fortune 50 company located in the United States.” The $650 million project would be built over eight to ten years. Supporters say it would create hundreds of construction jobs and at least 40 permanent jobs, while generating up to $1 million annually in business tax revenue, according to the city. At a packed and contentious City Council meeting Monday night, residents raised concerns about water and energy use, noise pollution, loss of rural character, and a lack of transparency as the anonymous developer pitched the data center project to city officials. City officials have defended the process, saying it is standard and fair practice not to disclose the developer’s name while details are being discussed. In its application to the Minnesota EQB, the group raised concerns about the project’s location in a wetland area surrounded by homes, some of which are located within 350 feet of the proposed data center. “The regional community is concerned about the project location because it does not meet the characteristics of the data center industry,” the group said in a statement. “Rural residents are also concerned with noise, light, air, and water, which are not adequately addressed.” The City will decide whether an EAW is needed. Environmental review is not an approval process. It is intended to provide information to support permitting and other decisions for development projects. If the City decides an additional environmental study is not needed, the Planning and Zoning Commission could take up the permits at its next meeting on November 18, Hermantown’s Wicklund said.
প্রকাশিত: 2025-10-23 04:46:00
উৎস: www.mprnews.org
