Judge halts construction of Pine Island’s hyperscale data center
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A Minnesota judge has ordered developers of a hyperscale data center near Rochester to temporarily halt construction until a lawsuit over the project’s environmental review can be heard.
The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy filed the lawsuit and asked the court for the temporary restraining order to prevent construction from beginning. The nonprofit sued developer Ryan Cos. and the city of Pine Island, arguing that the environmental review of the data center known as “Project Skyway” was inadequate.
Goodhue County District Court Judge Patrick Biren’s order, issued late Friday, granted a temporary restraining order preventing Ryan Cos. from beginning or continuing any construction or pre-construction activity on the project. Construction had been scheduled to begin in July.
"There's so many people in Pine Island who are so concerned about what this is going to do there to their community,” said Joy Anderson, a supervising attorney with MCEA. “We're really pleased that the court recognized that this should be slowed down and fully examined."
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Elizabeth Howard, Pine Island city administrator, said in an email that the city will be reviewing the decision with its legal counsel and evaluating its next steps. An email sent to an attorney for Ryan Cos. was not immediately returned.
Controversial project
The Pine Island project is one of more than a dozen hyperscale data centers proposed to be built in Minnesota, and it is one of the largest. Earlier this year, city officials announced that tech giant Google would be the project's tenant.
Pine Island city leaders say the project would be a boon for the community, creating hundreds of jobs and generating millions in property tax revenue.
But opponents worry that the data center could create potential noise and light pollution, as well as other health issues for the community. They’ve also voiced concerns about the amount of energy and water the facility could use, although Google is proposing to use advanced air-cooling technology rather than water.
Opponents of data centers asked state lawmakers to pass additional regulations on the projects during this spring’s legislative session. One bill included a ban on local government officials signing non-disclosure agreements with developers, as city officials in Pine Island had. Those measures failed to pass.
Aubree Derksen, a Pine Island resident who opposes the data center, said she’s “incredibly relieved” about the judge’s order.
“This means I can finally breathe for at least a little bit,” she said.
Seeking a pause
The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy argued that if construction began on schedule in July, the data center could be built without the chance for the court to decide whether the environmental review was adequate.
MCEA has filed five lawsuits over hyperscale data center proposals in Minnesota. In the other cases, the developers agreed not to move forward until the case was resolved, Anderson said.
But in Pine Island, Ryan Cos. was planning to start construction as early as July. Anderson said it’s “not helpful” to do an environmental review after construction has already begun.
“So we needed to go to the court and say, ‘Put a pause on this please, hold everything in place so that the court can fully examine this environmental review and determine whether it complied with Minnesota law,’” Anderson said. “And we think that the court will find that it did not.”
MCEA also says it has not received all of the public documents it requested from the city of Pine Island related to the project.
Anderson said the restraining order could be in place for months. A hearing on the overall lawsuit has not yet been set.
In a separate lawsuit filed by MCEA, a Dakota County judge ruled Tuesday in favor of the city of Lakeville over its approval of an environmental review of property owned by Olam Holdings. The review didn’t name the project, but MCEA speculated it was a data center.
In a news release, the city said “no specific end user or project has been identified” for the property.
