Protesters again keep Hermantown council from Google data center vote: "Shut it down"

A Hermantown City Council meeting on a Google data center was canceled again Tuesday, a day after protesters kept the council from a vote that would clear the way for the project.

Officials said they did not want to disrupt early voting taking place at City Hall. Plans to reschedule the meeting have not been announced.

Protesters chanted "shut it down" at Monday night's meeting. Police declared an unlawful assembly and asked them to leave after two hours. The council did not vote.

Travis Drayna, a resident, said past meetings often saw votes go through with little apparent thought. It "felt good" for residents "to stand up and actually be heard," he said.

The Hermantown project is one of several large data center proposals drawing opposition across Minnesota. In April, WCCO reported that the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy had six pending lawsuits over data center projects from Pine Island to Hermantown, and that state lawmakers were weighing new guardrails. In February, WCCO reported that Farmington residents had sued to block a proposed data center there.