Press Release: Court Rules Environmental Review in Faribault, Minn. Data Center Case Failed to Comply with the Law
Court Rules Environmental Review in Faribault, Minn. Data Center Case Failed to Comply with the Law
DATE: 06/08/2026 CONTACT: Sarah Horner, MCEA, shorner@mncenter.org, 612-868-3024
St. Paul, Minnesota – Today, the Minnesota Court of Appeals determined that the environmental review of a proposed hyperscale data center in Faribault did not comply with the law.
The decision means the City must revise the environmental study to include a more complete and transparent analysis of the proposed data center’s potentially significant impacts on nearby natural resources and residents.
“This is a win for Faribault and all Minnesotans concerned about the impacts of hyper-scale developments in our state. It affirms that people have a right to know what is being proposed in their community and how it may impact their natural resources and way of life before their elected officials approve it,” said Kathryn Hoffman, Executive Director of the Minnesota Center of Environmental Advocacy (MCEA). “We hope it sends a message to others that the industry playbook of rushing massive data center proposals forward without disclosing their environmental impacts doesn’t work in Minnesota. It’s not consistent with our democratic values, and it violates our laws.”
Faribault resident Susan Erickson said the ruling brought relief to her and her neighbors.
“This is a win for the environment, our community, and all future generations who deserve to live on a healthy planet,” Erickson said.
MCEA appealed the City’s environmental review– called an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) – last October after finding major omissions that failed to adequately analyze the proposed data center’s potentially significant environmental impacts. For example, the EAW reported 98% lower greenhouse gas emissions from electricity use than MCEA expected for a facility of its size. During litigation, the City admitted that this lowball estimate had assumed the data center project would use no more electricity than a typical warehouse. In practice, data centers consume far more electricity than warehouses, and the Faribault data center project could require as much energy daily as the entire city of St. Cloud. The City omitted this key information from its EAW.
In addition, the EAW included very little information on noise and noise mitigation, air pollution from on-site power generators, or the Faribault project’s contribution to broader environmental concerns associated with the wave of data center development proposals in Minnesota, such as impacts to Minnesota climate targets and water resources.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) raised similar concerns about the environmental analysis, noting in a public comment that the study’s analysis of air quality was “deficient” because it failed to offer “any substantive information on the project or its emissions with respect to air quality.” The agency also critiqued the EAW’s noise pollution assessment, writing it: “does not provide enough detail regarding current and anticipated sound levels in the project area to determine whether an immediate violation of the state noise standards would occur if the project were approved.”
The Court ultimately agreed with each of MCEA’s main arguments, ruling that the City violated state law by failing to adequately study the project’s air pollution, its noise pollution, its greenhouse gas emissions, or its contribution to cumulative environmental impacts.
The Faribault case is one of several lawsuits that MCEA filed to challenge the inadequate and often overly vague environmental review of hyper-scale data centers proposed across Minnesota. Active cases remain ongoing in Hermantown, Pine Island and Monticello. Monday’s decision follows a key legal win in MCEA’s Pine Island case, which recently ordered project proposers to pause construction of the 250,000 to 300,000 square foot data center facility it hopes to build in the small southeastern Minnesota town until MCEA’s case can be heard.
Hyperscale data centers, which dwarf traditional data centers in scope and scale, have never operated in Minnesota before and pose unique and significant potential environmental impacts. The AI-driven facilities can require millions of gallons of water annually for cooling and vast amounts of energy to power their high-tech operations. They also carry implications for sulfide mining, given the metals involved, and can generate significant noise and light pollution for nearby community members.
If constructed, the Faribault project would convert nearly 85 acres of agricultural land and undeveloped woodland into a hyperscale data center campus comprising six buildings housing servers and equipment that power artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and other data management services.
Beyond impacts on individual communities, the wave of nearly 20 potential hyperscale data centers in Minnesota collectively poses risks to the state’s already strained groundwater supply and clean energy goals. For example, if just ten data centers under consideration are built, they would consume as much electricity as all 2.3 million of the state’s households combined.
Many proposals have been marked by secretive processes, relying on non-disclosure agreements and intentionally vague environmental reviews that leave residents without basic information about what is being proposed or how it might affect their communities.
In addition to challenging inadequate environmental review, MCEA and a coalition of other community groups and environmental organizations have called for greater transparency in the hyper-scale data center development process by banning the use of non-disclosure agreements. They are also seeking statewide regulations to help ensure communities’ and the state’s water and energy resources are adequately protected.
Questions and/or interview requests regarding today’s decision can be sent to Sarah Horner at the contact information provided at the top of this release.
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