Hermantown Google data center campus
Also called: Project Loon, Hermantown Data Center
Google wants to build a data center campus of up to three large buildings on about 280 acres in Hermantown, west of Duluth. It would use air cooling and new wind and battery power from Minnesota Power. Many residents oppose it, and two lawsuits challenge the city's rezoning and environmental review.
Where things stand: City rezoned the land in October 2025 and approved a new environmental review (AUAR) on Oct. 5, 2026. The tax break and development deal are still not approved. Two lawsuits are pending.
🕒 Latest update (Oct 5, 2026): City Council voted unanimously to approve the final environmental review (AUAR).
What we know
- 📍 WhereAbout 280 acres near Midway Road and Morris Thomas Road, next to Minnesota Power's Arrowhead substation, in southwest Hermantown, Hermantown, St. Louis County
- 🏢 CompanyGoogle (site work by Mortenson Development)
- 🏛️ Owned byAlphabet
- 👤 Built forGoogle
- 🌳 Size280 acres
- 🔌 Where the power comes fromMinnesota Power will add 700 MW of new clean energy for the project: 300 MW of wind and 400 MW of batteries.
- 💧 Water50,000 gallons a day
- ❄️ CoolingAir cooling (Google says almost no water for cooling)
- 💵 Cost$2 billion
- 💸 Tax breaksCity has proposed giving back 85% of Google's property taxes (after the first $100,000 each year) for up to 28 years, capped at $80 million. Vote was tabled in May 2026.
- 🤐 Secret deal (NDA)Yes. Several city and county officials signed secret deals (NDAs) with the developer. Three of seven St. Louis County commissioners signed one.
❓ Still unanswered
Nobody has answered these in public yet. Can you help find out?
- Will the City Council approve the $80 million tax break and development deal, and when? 🙋 I'll find out
- How much electricity (megawatts) will the data center use? 🙋 I'll find out
- Is Minnesota Power's planned 67-mile power line from Grand Rapids to Hermantown needed for this data center? 🙋 I'll find out
- What did the secret deals (NDAs) signed by city and county officials cover? 🙋 I'll find out
- How many permanent jobs will the data center create? 🙋 I'll find out
What happened so far
- Jan 2025City signed a deal for Mortenson Development to pay $225,000 for the city's planning costs.
- Oct 2025City Council voted 4-0 to rezone the land for the project and adopted a first environmental review (AUAR).
- Nov 2025Developer pulled its permits from city agendas; plans were paused.
- March 3, 2026Google was announced as the company behind the project, with 700 MW of new wind and battery power from Minnesota Power.
- March 21, 2026City opened a 30-day comment period on a new environmental review plan (scoping), for about 278 acres.
- April 29, 2026Residents' group Stop the Hermantown Data Center sued the city in St. Louis County court over the rezoning and closed meetings.
- May 4, 2026City Council tabled the vote on an $80 million tax break and development deal with Google.
- June 12, 2026City opened a second comment period on the draft environmental review (AUAR) and mitigation plan.
- July 6, 2026City Council approved $200,000 more from Mortenson Development for planning costs.
- Aug 2026Google scaled back to three buildings (1.66 million sq ft, down from four buildings and 1.8 million sq ft).
- Oct 5, 2026City Council voted unanimously to approve the final environmental review (AUAR).
Local votes and rules
✅ Approved
Hermantown's council unanimously approved the final environmental review (AUAR) for the proposed Google data center. A $80 million tax break and a development deal still need votes.
🤝 Agreement with the company
Hermantown's council approved deals for Mortenson Development to pay $200,000 more for city planning costs, and for Minnesota Power to pay $20,000 for a review of a power line to the data center site.
⚖️ Court case
The residents' group Stop the Hermantown Data Center sued the city over the rezoning for Google's data center. It says the city spot-zoned the land and held three closed meetings that broke the open meeting law.
⚖️ Court case
The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and the group Stop the Hermantown Data Center sued over the city's environmental review. They want a fuller review and no permits until it is done. The case is on hold while the city redoes its review.
🗺️ Zoning change
Hermantown's council voted 4-0 to rezone more than 200 acres for a large data center, even though residents asked for a pause. The company behind it was later named as Google.
An aerial photo of the area.
Where this comes from
- Google behind proposed Hermantown data center · Northern News Now · March 3, 2026
- At packed Hermantown open house, Google tries to ease data center concerns · MPR News · June 25, 2026
- More details emerge as Google, Hermantown work out data center agreements · KAXE · May 20, 2026
- Citizens' group files lawsuit to block Google's proposed Hermantown data center · MPR News · April 29, 2026
- Opponents of data centers join with critics of power line proposal in northern Minnesota · MPR News · April 8, 2026
- Controversial AI data center proposal near Lake Superior's shore · North Shore Journal · Oct 29, 2025
- Hermantown City Council approves data center reimbursements · Northern News Now · July 7, 2026
- Public comments open on updated review of proposed Hermantown data center · KAXE · March 31, 2026
- Hermantown opens second public comment period for proposed Google data center · Northern News Now · June 12, 2026
- Data center developer pulls permits from Hermantown agendas · KAXE · Nov 17, 2025
- Google has scaled back its plans for a proposed data center in Hermantown (summary of Star Tribune) · Blandin on Broadband · Aug 21, 2026
- Hermantown council unanimously passes AUAR review for proposed data center · Northern News Now · Oct 6, 2026
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