An environmental organization filed a lawsuit against two Minnesota cities this week, alleging they failed to conduct sufficient environmental reviews for major development projects.
The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy lawsuit against Lakeville and North Mankato seeks to stop what it says are large data center projects in each city until further reviews are completed.
North Mankato and Lakeville officials have not labeled the projects as data centers, but the MCEA said it acquired emails sent to North Mankato employees announcing the city has a contract with data center developers, according to public records.
“Our goal as an organization is that we want to make sure environmental impacts are understood and studied, and that citizens get the chance to weigh in,” CEO of MCEA Kathryn Hoffman said. “A process like this where the documents really don’t describe what the project is at all … is not the way that our democracy or local participation should happen.”
In a statement to MPR News, a North Mankato spokesperson said:
“The City of North Mankato is aware of the recently filed lawsuit and is currently in the process of reviewing the allegations and relevant documentation in consultation with legal counsel. As this matter involves pending litigation, we will refrain from making additional comments at this time."
Lakeville City Administrator Justin Miller said:
“The City of Lakeville followed the standard process for conducting an Alternative Urban Areawide Review related to the Olam Holdings property and the City Council formally accepted the report on July 7, 2025.”
According to the lawsuit, AUARs involving a “large specific project” need to include a project description and study future environmental implications.
A mid-sized data center consumes around 300,000 gallons of water per day, but a larger center could use more.
Data centers also use high volumes of electricity. The MCEA said “if all the data centers currently proposed in the state are built, they would consume as much electricity as every home in Minnesota.”
“Do we need distribution lines, are we going to need to expand a gas plant … in order to service (the data center). We don’t really know that,” Hoffman said. “We have a goal of all carbon free energy in Minnesota by 2040 and increasing electricity demand without making sure we have the clean energy resources … puts those goals at risk.”
The MCEA proposes implementing Environmental Impact Statements. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EISs provide information “prepared by federal agencies” to the public. The MCEA said EISs are “more likely to be conducted by the state, rather than by a local government.”
Residents who live close to proposed data centers have also raised environmental concerns.
The Minnesota Star Tribune reported on July there are plans for 11 “huge” data centers, and that Amazon suspended a similar project earlier this year.
