Opponents of data centers join with critics of power line proposal in northern Minnesota

Electricity transmission lines have long been the focus of local grassroots opposition–typically from landowners concerned about impacts on the environment, their health or property values.

In fact, late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone helped organize Minnesota farmers against a power line back in the 1970s, long before he entered politics.

Now there's a new group that's joining the fray against proposed power lines across Minnesota — people who have mobilized around the state to fight proposed large-scale, power-hungry data centers.

Residents are pushing back against a massive proposed transmission line in southeastern Minnesota near where Google is planning a data center in the small city of Pine Island.

And at a public meeting in Hermantown this week hosted by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, local residents lined up to voice concerns over a Minnesota Power proposal to build a 67-mile long power transmission line, from near Grand Rapids to Hermantown, outside Duluth.

The power line would end at a substation where Google is also planning an enormous data center in Hermantown.

The transmission lines have been in the works for years, even before tech companies started aggressively targeting Minnesota and other Midwest states to build huge data centers needed for cloud storage and to run AI. But opponents argue the transmission infrastructure is what makes the data center developments possible.

“I recognize that that's not what we're here tonight to discuss,” said Rebecca Gilbertson at the meeting in Hermantown, where she lives a half-mile from the proposed data center. “However, citizens like myself think that this project cannot be separated from that.”

Gilbertson is a member of the community group that formed in opposition to the data center, which is planned for a rural corner of Hermantown about eight miles from Duluth.

Others talked about the deep public mistrust surrounding the data center, and now are equally troubled by the proposed transmission line. The data center was shrouded in secrecy for over a year. Google wasn’t revealed to be the tech giant behind it until last month, as several city and county officials signed controversial non-disclosure agreements which prohibited them from discussing it.

“It's very difficult to have faith in what's being presented to me and my neighbors and our community, because it doesn't feel like it's in the interest of the small folk,” said Emma Richtman. “It feels like it's in the interest to serve higher tech and corporate greed.”

Others echoed that feeling of powerlessness. Hermantown resident Megan Helling believes the community wouldn't sign off on new electric infrastructure and a data center if they were presented all at once.

“And I just feel like, as a resident, we're just in the way,” said Helling.

Reliability and renewables

The proposed power line is one of 24 big transmission projects utilities are planning across nine states in the Midwest, including Minnesota, at a total cost of nearly $22 billion dollars. They're designed to improve the reliability and the efficiency of the entire region's electricity grid.

The Midwest Independent System Operator, or MISO, which manages the region’s electric grid, approved the plan in late 2024. But the planning started as far back as 2020, said Christian Winter, manager of regional transmission planning for Minnesota Power, well before hyper-scale data centers were proposed in the state.

“It was proposed for grid reliability independently of the needs of any individual customer,” Winter said. “To just put a really clear point on it, if there was no proposed data center in Hermantown, we would still be here tonight,” proposing the project.

The way electricity travels across the grid is undergoing a massive shift, Winter explained. There used to be a handful of large coal and nuclear plants that distributed electricity to cities and large industrial users.

Now, those coal plants are closing as part of Minnesota’s shift to a carbon-free electric system. They’re being replaced largely by wind and solar farms and batteries scattered around the region. Green energy advocates and utilities argue the transmission grid needs to be upgraded to move that electricity from where it’s produced to where it’s needed.

Projects like the proposed northern Minnesota line “will actually enable more wind development, a cleaner grid and ultimately less expensive energy,” said Mike Scholwalter, director of transmission policy with the clean energy advocacy group Fresh Energy.

“So transmission is really one of the key things to enable the renewable energy transition that we're on right now."

That transition capacity is also a key driver influencing where data centers seek to locate.

"There's no coincidence that data centers are being proposed where these transmission lines are ending,” said Gabe Chan, a professor at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

Data centers require enormous amounts of electricity– as much as entire cities. So they need it delivered over high capacity transmission lines that can deliver a lot of power, Chan said.

“There's definitely a chicken and egg dynamic here,” he added. “The transmission is being planned based on where they think the load is coming, and the load is coming based on where the transmission is available.”

The $400 million cost of the new power line is being spread among power consumers across the region. Minnesota lawmakers also passed a law last year requiring data centers to cover the cost of their electric service.

“They're required to pay for all of their impacts,” said Dan Gunderson, Vice President of Transition Planning and Operations for Minnesota Power. “That’s a really important thing.”

But many local residents at the meeting in Hermantown remained skeptical.

“This is one piece of a very big puzzle,” Jackie Dolentz said of the power line proposal. “And if the hyper scale data center does go in, they’re going to benefit from this, and we are paying for it.”

Chan said it’s extremely difficult to figure out a data center’s true cost of using the transmission system. He said one big concern is that data centers could soak up a lot of the grid capacity that’s going to be needed in the future to support the growing need for electricity to charge cars and heat homes.

The Public Utilities Commission is expected to decide on the power line proposal toward the end of the year. It’s accepting public comments through April 23.

Commissioner Hwikwon Ham said those comments matter.

“Because people living here know better than anyone else in the Twin Cities,” Ham said. “So we really pay attention to what people say about where this line should be located.”

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