DULUTH, Minn. — On Tuesday, March 3, news broke that Google is pushing for a large-scale data center in Hermantown, just outside of Duluth city limits. Senator Jen McEwen (DFL-Duluth) releases the following statement:
“I am deeply concerned about the way this hyperscale data center proposal has developed. The public has a right to meaningful input about massive developments with environmental and economic costs proposed in their communities. That has yet to happen in Hermantown. In fact, we know more about the proposed project from Google’s press release than we do from any environmental review process. I’m concerned that the company’s promise of clean energy use may be an attempt to gloss over what has so far been a very poor public process. And there is nothing binding about what Google is promising now, either. They could go back on these promises, they could change them — they are, at base, still in control. The announcement coming out today reinforces for me the problems that remain: the lack of transparency we have in hyperscale data center development proposals, the weakness of our processes to hold these tech corporations accountable, and the lack of power behind our environmental oversight processes.
Corporations aren’t slowing down in their rush to build hyperscale data centers — they’re speeding up, and they’re dodging public accountability every chance they get. The Legislature must act. It’s time to pass a pause and moratorium on building hyperscale data centers until Minnesota develops a comprehensive regulatory framework.”
Senator McEwen is chief author of legislation to regulate corporations’ ability to circumvent public accountability when constructing large-scale data centers, protect communities’ water from pollutions, and ensure that corporations pay their share of the energy they use.
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