Charlie Berens joins Duluth forum on Hermantown data center concerns
Charlie Berens opened a DECC hearing as Hermantown residents pressed for answers on Google’s proposed data center, a project now tangled in lawsuits, tax talks and environmental review.
The fight over Hermantown’s proposed Google data center moved into Duluth on Tuesday night, where Charlie Berens opened a community hearing at the DECC focused on transparency, accountability and local protections. The event was held at the Harbor Side Convention Center inside the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center, with doors opening at 5:30 p.m. and the public hearing and discussion running from 6 to 8 p.m. at 350 Harbor Dr.
Stop the Hermantown Data Center hosted the gathering, and the DECC listing identified Berens, a Wisconsin-based comedian, as the kickoff speaker and facilitator for community discussion. Panelists from Minnesota and Wisconsin used the forum to walk through how a data center of this scale could affect Hermantown and the surrounding area, while Berens said people want information and transparency and that companies building data centers should be held accountable while communities are protected.
An earlier forum on July 9 drew a packed room and brought together specialists to answer questions that residents said had not been fully addressed in earlier public presentations. Speakers at that meeting focused on energy demand, environmental impacts, school funding claims and the long-term economic benefits being promised around the project.
Project materials put the campus at about 1.8 million square feet across roughly 278 acres, with four 300,000-square-foot server buildings plus offices, warehouse space, utility pads and parking. Buildout could stretch over eight to 10 years.
The city of Hermantown now has a public project page with a potential Google data center under evaluation, and the page will be updated as the process continues. That process has already moved into court. Stop the Hermantown Data Center filed suit in St. Louis County District Court in April, alleging the city improperly changed its 2045 comprehensive plan, rezoned the site and violated Minnesota open meeting law. The Minnesota Environmental Quality Board had previously determined the project needed further review, and the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and Stop the Hermantown Data Center appealed the city’s environmental study.
Hermantown City Council tabled a vote in May on key tax and development agreements tied to the project.
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