Opinion | Data center proposals are moving faster than policy in Minnesota

Star Tribune opinion editor’s note: This article was submitted by Kathryn Hoffman, CEO of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, on behalf of several Minnesota organizations and groups. A full list can be found at the end of this article.

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The news about massive investments in artificial intelligence is unavoidable. Daily we hear about new investments by huge corporations in the billions of dollars. Much of this money is going into physical infrastructure — the huge warehouse-like structures housing computing equipment known as hyperscale data centers.

Yet even as companies rush toward AI investments and try to build data centers as quickly as possible, communities are grappling with the potential implications. With data centers known for their considerable use of electricity, water and metals, as well as being noisy and brightly lit at all hours, cities and states are rightly concerned about the potential impact on natural resources and the community.

Put simply, data center proposals are moving faster than policy in Minnesota. The speed of AI investments in data centers is outstripping the ability of the state and communities to protect themselves from their rapacious demands. We need a pause. We are calling on the Legislature to pass a two-year moratorium on data centers so that policymakers can catch up with this fast-moving industry. In those two years, the state should develop recommendations on policies to protect our natural resources and communities. They should look at the potential cumulative impacts of multiple proposed data centers, and they should develop a statewide strategy on where and how we will allow this industry to develop in our state.

Without ensuring that data centers are powered from new renewable energy sources, the energy demand will increase emissions when we must be lowering them, and might drive up our electricity bills in the process. The water demand of data centers could deplete groundwater resources, affecting private and municipal wells and even lakes and rivers, as groundwater and surface water are often interconnected in the land of 10,000 lakes. And, perhaps most significantly, the cumulative impacts of 10 or more data centers, let alone 21, could make these impacts far worse.

Moreover, our current regulatory approach to data centers is patchwork at best and sorely lacking. There is no government agency that decides whether to approve a data center, nor does any agency have the job of imposing guardrails on that facility’s water use, energy use, or other aspects of its operation. Nor does any agency consider the cumulative effects that a host of these facilities would have on our resources. There is no permit for a simple reason: This is new, and Minnesota has never had hyperscale data centers before.

Undoubtedly, the data center developers and the large technology companies that seek these investments will protest that they cannot afford a pause, and that Minnesota might miss out on a technology boom. The reality is that most of these data centers are being built as part of a drive for generative AI. If, in fact, AI is a fundamental shift in our economy, and not just a bubble, the demand will still be there in two years, and for many years to come. Moreover, the U.S. already has 10 times as many data centers as any other nation in the world; it is not as if we are falling behind.

Data center proposals are facing pushback from local communities across the country, for the same reasons that Minnesotans are concerned. By insisting that we move quickly, without adequate regulation, data center proposers are trying to pit states against one another in a race to the bottom. Don’t be fooled. Minnesota can be a model for other states in creating a framework for rational development that respects our natural resources, but only if we take the time to do it right.