County weighs need for data center policy

Counties and cities across Minnesota are assessing their need for policies, ordinances, or moratoriums to address how they should handle permit applications for constructing data centers.
Their construction and operation have drawn strong reactions across the nation, with many communities holding contentious public meetings at permit hearings and citizens protesting them. 
“Everybody knows that it is a matter of time before we get an application,” Swift County Environmental Services Director Scott Collins told the county board of commissioners at their Oct. 6 meeting. 
“Maybe we never will,” he then added, “but some counties are starting to get really serious about it.” Big Stone County has already put a moratorium on data centers, he said.
Collins’ office would be the first to see a request for a permit to construct a data center. So far,  no permit applications have come to the county yet, he added.
Data centers come in many sizes and serve different purposes. However, the ones that are getting attention today are classified as hyperscale data centers. They can range in size from 10,000 to 1 million square feet (23 acres.)
These data centers are the ones driving today’s investment boom and building spree across the nation.  They handle the constantly growing demand for data processing around the world. They handle the streaming shows people watch, YouTube and TikTok...

To read more, subscribe to the Swift County Monitor News.