DULUTH – A local opposition group and an environmental nonprofit have sued the city of Hermantown and a potential developer of a large data center.
The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA), together with a new nonprofit group called Stop the Hermantown Data Center, are seeking to make Hermantown redo its environmental review of the proposed project.
The complaint, which also names Harmony Group LLC, accuses the city of hiding key information from its residents by failing to identify the project as a data center in its extensive environmental review, called an Alternative Urban Areawide Review. It also says Hermantown conducted a “deficient” review that didn’t analyze “critical environmental impacts that arise from data centers.”
Hermantown city spokesman Joe Wicklund said the city is reviewing the lawsuit and will follow the legal process.
Public records show the city has known since September 2024 that a data center was proposed, but the city wouldn’t say what it was until it was revealed recently in city emails requested by the Minnesota Star Tribune in May.
In a news release, MCEA head Kathryn Hoffman said Hermantown’s efforts to keep the data center a secret “are some of the most extreme examples we’ve found of keeping the public in the dark.”
The lawsuit is one of several filed in Minnesota in recent months that challenge environmental studies of proposed data centers. The MCEA has also filed suits against North Mankato and Lakeville.
The Hermantown lawsuit says the project’s power and water usage estimates are based on “light industrial development” rather than a large data center, and that the review refers to “conceptual development” rather than anticipated, violating the state’s environmental policy act.
