Google launches a charm offensive in 2 Minnesota towns as data center opposition grows
Google's proposed data centers in Hermantown, Pine Island face sustained opposition
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Staffers with tech giant Google turned on the charm and put in some face time in Minnesota this week, as the company tried to smooth over some ruffled feathers and win over naysayers in two small towns where it hopes to build massive data centers.
Wednesday evening Google hosted what it called a community celebration in Pine Island, about 20 minutes northwest of Rochester, with free food, live music and family activities.
Meanwhile, 200 miles to the north in Hermantown, just outside Duluth, Google hosted an open house to answer questions from area residents about the hyperscale data center it wants to build there.
The event in Pine Island was pretty laid back as people gobbled up the free food and kids jumped in bouncy houses, a sharp contrast to the Hermantown meeting, where data center opponents disrupted Google’s presentation and several of them were escorted out by police.
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The meetings come as Google faces some uncertainty with both projects. In Hermantown, where the project still needs city council approval, the proposal is facing intensified opposition after recordings were leaked of senior Hermantown officials mocking data center opponents.
The Pine Island data center project is also now on hold, even though city officials have signed off on it while a judge considers the merits of a lawsuit seeking a more thorough environmental review.
A celebration in Pine Island
The event was meant to celebrate the local school district, which Google has promised to make an investment in as part of their overall data center deal here.
“We are here to celebrate the Panthers, celebrate this community, celebrate the schools,” said Google representative Halston Sleets on stage at the event, as she announced Google would be giving out free computers to 5th and 9th grade students and pay for a new HVAC system in the middle school, in addition to the $24 million they’ve already promised over 20 years.
Google and the Pine Island data center’s developer Ryan Companies co-hosted the event and the reactions of those who attended were mixed. Some people seemed resigned to the fact that data centers will be built somewhere, so why not in Pine Island, where it would create new construction jobs and pay for infrastructure upgrades.
“It's going to bring investments into our community, and there hasn't been [investments] for a very long time,” said Pine Island resident Heather Gunderson, 38. “I'm also younger, so AI and everything – it's in our everyday living. I don't see anything wrong with it.”
But the pushback in town has been fierce, and several attendees came to the celebration dressed in anti-data center t-shirts, sharing concerns about the environmental implications of the proposed project and fears that Google won’t keep its investment promises over the next two to three decades.
“I think it's a bribe, honestly,” said Pine Island resident Megan Post, 22, who wore a homemade anti-data center t-shirt. “This just seems like something out of a dystopian film. You know, a giant mega conglomeration holding a festival. It's just weird. It doesn't sit well with me, and that's why I came out here.”
Heated in Hermantown
In Hermantown, Google officials hosted their second open house of the summer to answer questions about the proposed data center.
Officials outlined some changes to the contentious project that has roiled Hermantown ever since it was made public about a year ago. The company has scaled down the size of its proposal slightly, and is now planning three giant buildings to hold all the computing equipment rather than four.
Officials also laid out how they plan to address several of the concerns of community residents, including noise, impacts on a nearby trout stream, and stormwater runoff.
Tyler Huebner, Google’s manager of energy market development for the central U.S., asked the crowd for respect.
“I know it’s a heated situation for some of us,” Huebner said. “I’m a human. All the experts that we have are humans. I'm a dad with two kids. Today is actually my anniversary, and I'm here trying to convey information to you all.”
But it didn’t take long for people to start interrupting the presentation. Many objected to how Google planned to take questions from the audience. “We don’t trust what you’ve done,” shouted one attendee. Others yelled “Go away, Google!” Several people were escorted out by police.
The backlash against the proposal has intensified in the past couple weeks, after the Duluth Monitor published leaked recordings of meetings of top Hermantown city staff members discussing the data center and disparaging opponents.
MPR News has independently verified the authenticity of the recordings.
In one, Hermantown Police Chief Jim Crace calls a Duluth resident who regularly speaks out against the proposed data center an expletive and an “idiot.”
In a second recording, Hermantown City Attorney Gunnar Johnson suggests that city staff script questions for city council members at an upcoming meeting, saying that could quiet criticism that the council doesn’t appear engaged.
At a city council meeting Monday, the first since the recordings were released, residents sounded off on Hermantown officials.
“The idea that our elected officials would be handed a script developed by city staff and Google affiliate Mortenson as some type of orchestrated play to deceive the public is unbelievable and unethical,” said Hermantown resident Sarah Lofald.
“If I were to disparage one of my clients, I have no doubt that I would be fired immediately from my position,” said Amelia Cohoes, also of Hermantown.
Hermantown’s Police Chief, Mayor and City Administrator all apologized for the recordings. Mayor Wayne Boucher said the city plans to ask for an outside investigation.
“This is not an acceptable way to do the people's business. It's not respectable and respectful. I believe that correcting this can become an opportunity to do better, and I commit to attempting to do that,” Boucher said.
Google’s Huebner also told the council the company was in the process of terminating the non-disclosure agreements that the company signed with several city and county staffers when the project was first under development and kept out of the public eye, when it was referred to as “Project Loon.”
But several residents said that offer was too little, too late, as the project is now public anyway.
A mutually beneficial relationship?
Both data center projects are deeply controversial, yet city officials are backing them with the promise that Google will be making significant investments in their communities.
Google has offered money to the school districts in both Pine Island and Hermantown, in the form of property taxes and direct payments. Pine Island is expecting $24 million over the course of 20 years, while Hermantown schools would receive around $70 million over 28 years.
“With the financial situations at the state of Minnesota and [at] the federal [level], they keep reducing our federal dollars and state dollars, and so we always have to go back out to the public to ask for money,” said Pine Island Superintendent Barry Schmidt.
“And this is an avenue where we don't have to go out to the public,” Schmidt added.
Google is also pledging to pay for infrastructure upgrades and to make direct payments to the cities, in addition to paying property taxes.
In exchange, Google is making off pretty well itself. Pine Island and Hermantown are dangling tax abatements worth more than $100 million combined to lure Google, a company that is valued at more than $4 trillion.
