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Hermantown council approves contract to update AUAR for proposed Google data center amid heavy public pushback
Summary
After hours of public comment, Hermantown’s council approved a $23,000 contract amendment for third‑party review of an updated AUAR for a proposed hyperscale data‑center campus. Residents urged a full EIS and greater transparency; staff said AUAR statutory rules require comparable analysis and an enforceable mitigation plan.
Hermantown’s City Council on March 16 approved an amendment to a third‑party contract to review an updated Alternative Urban Area‑Wide Review (AUAR) tied to a proposed hyperscale data center campus, a move that follows months of contentious public testimony and repeated calls for a full environmental impact statement (EIS).
Director Johnson and city staff told the council the update will produce a large‑scale scoping document, then a draft AUAR and a final AUAR with an enforceable mitigation plan. Johnson gave an approximate seven‑month schedule for the scoping and AUAR steps and said the updated AUAR would supersede the prior AUAR; staff said the AUAR is required by statute to analyze the same issues normally covered in an EIS and must be updated every five years.
Why it matters: residents and environmental advocates argued the AUAR process is…
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