Briefing 10/24/2025
Weekly updates on the political risks American data center projects
This week’s round-up: In Minnesota, Hermantown’s City Council voted to rezone more than two hundred acres for “Project Loon,” amid opposition. But less than twenty-four hours later, the city paused a special use permit. In Michigan, Saline Township reached a court-approved consent judgment with Related Digital that allows a data center project to proceed under conditions, including the allocation of multi-million-dollar community funds. In Georgia, developers withdrew a proposal to rezone more than 600 acres in Jones County for the Crooked Creek Technology Park following organized neighborhood opposition.
Hermantown’s City Council in Minnesota advances data center proposal despite opposition
Hermantown’s City Council voted 4–0 to rezone more than 200 acres west of Duluth for a proposed multi-building data center, known as “Project Loon.” That allows the project to proceed to permitting despite local opposition packing the hearing and raising concerns about transparency. The city is working with the developer Mortenson, but local sources say a U.S.-based Fortune 50 company is pursuing the project. A full buildout is estimated at more than $650M over 8–10 years.
Less than 24 hours after the rezoning vote, the city delayed consideration of a special use permit and a commercial/industrial development permit after residents filed a petition with the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board requesting an Environmental Assessment Worksheet. City staff said permits are paused while the environmental question is reviewed. Further hearings and potential litigation or delay risk before shovels hit the ground should be expected.
Why it matters:
Upper Midwest trend: Minnesota is seeing a wave of hyperscaler proposals, but new 2025 state rules on water disclosure, energy cost protections, and other requirements mean closer oversight and potential added costs and timeline disruptions.
Post-vote risks: Less than 24 hours after rezoning, Hermantown delayed two key permits amid continued pushback, illustrating how approvals can be reversed or slowed post-vote.
Saline Township in Michigan settles with Related Digital for approval of data center rezoning.
After the township board voted four to one on September 10 to deny rezoning for a data center, Saline Township and Related Digital reached a court-approved consent judgment on October 15 that allows the project to proceed on farmland north of Michigan Avenue.
The settlement dedicates four million dollars to a farmland preservation trust, two million dollars to a community investment fund, eight million dollars to area fire services, adds protections for local water resources, requires a decommissioning fund, preserves roughly two hundred acres of open space and wetlands with a conservation easement on forty-seven and one-half acres, sets a fifty-five decibel noise limit, and commits the facility to avoid evaporative cooling by using an on-site well and an on-site wastewater system.
The settlement clears a legal obstacle for the project while binding it to stricter community protections and operating constraints. Other Michigan and Upper Midwest localities are likely to reference this agreement in future negotiations or in defense of their zoning decisions.
Why it matters:
Litigation as a siting lever: The developer sued two days after the denial, arguing “exclusionary zoning,” and the case culminated in a negotiated consent judgment. This shows how legal pressure can convert a local denial into an approval with conditions.
Community-benefit baseline: The package of funds, operating limits, and land preservation may become a template for greenfield sites in rural townships facing similar concerns about water, energy, and land use.
A $7 billion data center project was withdrawn in Jones County, Georgia, after local opposition
EagleRock Partners and Thomas and Hutton Engineering withdrew their request to rezone more than six hundred acres for the Crooked Creek Technology Park ahead of a scheduled hearing, following organized neighborhood opposition under the banner “No Data Centers in Jones County.” The developer previously indicated an investment estimate of between $5B and $7B.
EagleRock secured rezoning for its Pine Ridge Technology Park in Twiggs County despite opposition and is now facing legal challenges there, suggesting continued litigation and policy risk across the region. The project could be resubmitted, and county officials have since taken steps toward temporary restrictions on new data center applications.
Why it matters:
Quick reaction: The withdrawal shows how quickly mobilizing local groups can derail large greenfield proposals, while county officials’ move toward a 90-day moratorium to draft siting rules signals tighter ordinances after initial pushback, increasing the timeline and permitting risk.
Georgia context: The Jones County pullback is part of a wider Middle Georgia pattern in which one county advances a project while a neighboring county pauses or retreats.
Mentions in the Press
“A Growing Nimby Movement Could Upend the Data Center Boom”
https://www.barrons.com/articles/data-center-nimby-protest-ai-4d828158
“Data Center Developer Takes a Small Michigan Farming Community to Court” https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26102025/related-digital-michigan-data-center-settlement/
“How data centers could raise all Missourians’ electric bills” https://www.stlpr.org/health-science-environment/2025-10-20/data-centers-ameren-missouri-28m-electric-bills-rise
Links
“What to watch in DOE’s new data center, AI move” https://www.axios.com/2025/10/27/doe-ai-data-centers-trump
“Data centers turn to commercial aircraft jet engines bolted onto trailers as AI power crunch bites — cast-off turbines generate up to 48 MW of electricity apiece” https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/data-centers-turn-to-ex-airliner-engines-as-ai-power-crunch-bites
“Google backs US gas power plant with carbon capture for Midwest data centers” https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/google-backs-us-gas-power-plant-with-carbon-capture-midwest-data-centers-2025-10-23/
“$13 billion data center, largest in Florida, planned on Treasure Coast” https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/local/st-lucie-county/2025/10/23/13-billion-data-center-largest-in-florida-planned-on-treasure-coast/86770609007/