The Data Center invasion has arrived in a nearby smaller good-ole-boy club city of Hermantown.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/03/03/google-behind-controversial-data-center-proposal-in-hermantownIf you read past the MPR knee jerk hippy complaints about culture and wetlands there are some big red flags.
- Local government signed NDA in conflict of interest with their constituents, in short basic ethics 101 violation.
- Project mis-represented as light industrial when it's a commercial data center so much of the review and study is insufficient in regards to wetlands impact. More importantly, the shared watershed feeding thousands of wells.
- No public information on if project is bonded. No mention of environmental or decommission bond.
Hearsay is this yields 40-80 long term jobs once complete after... 10 years which it will likely be outdated at launch.
If you read deeper
Blackrock acquired Minnesota Power in recent time. They have a mission to pursue datacenter investments. So Hermantown locals are up against Google and a bought out public energy utility. And their local representation also in the pocket per NDAs. Same with local trades getting a hard on for boon and bust 10 year project.