Data Colonialism

Native Communities Fight AI Data Centers on Indigenous Land

"The artificial intelligence industry’s data center boom is the latest chapter in a long history of environmental racism and resource exploitation in vulnerable Native communities, says Oglala Lakota and Northern Cheyenne activist Krystal Two Bulls, the executive director of Honor the Earth, an Indigenous-led environmental justice organization that is tracking over 100 proposed data center projects on tribal and rural lands."

Data Center Information Webinars

from CURE MN

Learn more about Data Centers & how they impact our communities.

Data Centers Could Emit More Greenhouse Gases Than Entire Nations

from Wired Magazine

"A WIRED review of permits for data center projects using natural gas and linked to OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, and xAI shows they could emit more than 129 million tons of greenhouse gases per year.

"As tech companies race to secure massive power deals to build out hundreds of data centers across the country, these projects represent just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential climate cost of the AI boom."

The People Say No: Resisting Data Centers

Slides & Presentation Notes

"This toolkit is aimed at helping communities cut through the propaganda, disinformation, and secrecy that are powering rapid data center development. Whether your community is currently battling a data center project – or looking to create protective measures for your land, energy, and water – we hope this toolkit can help strengthen your fight and move us towards a world where people aren’t being poisoned in the name of innovation, where communities aren’t competing with corporations for water, and where Big Tech doesn’t get to take over democratic processes aimed at protecting people and the environment we live in. Tech companies would like us to believe that data centers are inevitable. But we know, when we fight, we win! In the past two years, at least 142 activist groups across 24 states have organized to stall or stop data center projects throughout the U.S. MediaJustice is ready to fight and be in solidarity with local communities fighting Big Tech extraction."

Resisting the Data Center Boom

Small towns are taking on Big Tech—and some are winning

"A pattern is unfolding across the United States. Proposals for hyperscale data centers paid for by massive technology companies to support artificial intelligence (AI) are coming across the desks of local governments. These proposals are usually shrouded in secrecy, with local officials often sign nondisclosure agreements to keep the exact plans under wraps and obscured from residents. By the time the full details of the plans are made public, it’s sometimes too late for the people impacted by the data centers to weigh in.

"But residents are organizing in growing numbers to oppose the construction of these centers in their communities—and some of them are winning."

When the Decision Is Too Big for the City

What Hermantown’s data center deal reveals about the limits of local control

"There are some decisions a city can make and recover from. A bad zoning call, a misjudged project, even a poorly timed investment. These things can all be corrected over time. They may be painful, but they are not fatal.

"And then there are decisions that, if they go wrong, will blow up a city’s budget. Will ruin it for generations. Will make it a ward of the state.

"Those are the decisions we should be most careful about. Those are the decisions where we should be asking not just what should be done, but who should be allowed to decide."

Everybody Hates Data Centers

Anarchists, union activists, Indigenous organizers, and disgruntled Trumpists find themselves side by side in the fight

"Between 4,000 and 5,000 data centers are actively humming in the U.S. right now, draining energy and, in the case of some of the hyperscale ones, consuming as much as 5 million gallons of water per day. Even this does not satisfy the demand cultivated by the tech industry, however: At least 3,000 more data centers are under construction or planned, prompting a diverse grassroots mobilization against their construction.

"Indigenous people are resisting continued attempts to exploit their land, air, and water. Rural white folks, some of whom voted for Donald Trump, are now going door to door, outraged about rising electricity costs and water shortages.

"Opposition to data centers has put labor unions in motion, with the Graduate Employees’ Organization at the University of Michigan using the slogan “AI is not inevitable,” seeing artificial intelligence as a dystopian force made possible through data centers. These efforts represent the front line in the struggle against attempts by high-tech billionaires to create a dismal world in which they hold all the power and the rest of us serve their interests."

The Hum

Series about Data Center Resistance

"The Hum is a podcast hosted by Saul Levin about who controls the future, featuring interviews with people fighting the march of AI and data centers into every aspect of our lives."

Legislation

from Rise & Repair

Support: A Hyper-scale Data Center Moratorium & Regulatory Framework: Implement a moratorium on the construction of new hyper-scale data centers until a regulatory framework is established to protect our communities.

• [ SF 4298 | HF 4888 ] Implement a Two-Year Moratorium on Data Center Construction Until a Regulatory Framework can be Established.
• Require an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
• [ SF 4296 | HF 4512 ] Require Public Disclosure of Hyperscale Data Center Development Projects
• [ SF 4379 | HF 4077 ] Prohibit municipalities from entering into nondisclosure agreements
• Siting, Setbacks from Residential Neighborhoods, Noise Pollution

• [ SF 3852 | HF 3793 ] Protect Water — Close the “Municipal Water Supply” Loophole, Require Separate Permit for Water Usage>

• [ SF 4203 | HF 4173 ] Repeal Tax Exemptions for New Hyperscale Data Centers
• Require Free, Prior & Informed Consent from Tribal Governments

What to do about the data center attack on Minnesota?

Whatever you were thinking, it is much worse. Here are a few resources that came up during our forum

Earth Day Rally Reiterates Need for Data Center Moratorium

MN Women's Press

"Across all testimony, a consistent theme emerged: Minnesota is moving faster than its policies can manage. Speakers did not uniformly oppose data centers outright, but insisted that without a pause, the state risks long-term environmental, social, and economic harm. The call was clear: slow down, study the impacts, and ensure communities — not just corporations — shape the future."

Stop the Hermantown Data Center

Take Action

"We are a nonpartisan, collaborative group uniting residents from Hermantown, Solway, and Midway townships as well as the surrounding communities. We are gathering together to stop further progress of the proposed Hermantown Data Center until transparent information is provided regarding energy and water consumption, environmental impacts and effects on residents and the larger community. We insist that a transparent and robust environmental review be completed."

MCEA

Data Center Lawsuits

"MCEA has filed lawsuits against four Minnesota cities advancing large data center proposals without adequately studying the potential impacts the facilities could have on Minnesota’s water and energy resources."

Minnesota residents opposed to data centers look to legislators for moratoriums and transparency

A coalition mostly from Greater Minnesota is lobbying state lawmakers to curb data center developments after feeling stonewalled by local officials

"What the group wants above all, though, is a moratorium on proposed projects in Hermantown, Pine Island, Monticello, Farmington, North Mankato and other cities."

Minnesota’s long-predicted data center boom is on shaky ground

from the Minnesota Reformer 2026-04-27

"The Nobles County Board rejected a zoning change this month sought by a Bloomington-based developer hoping to build a big computing facility near Worthington in southwest Minnesota. It’s the latest sign that communities’ increasingly vocal opposition to data centers — in big cities and small towns — is more than just noise."

Stop the Pine Island Data Center

This is a group for those concerned about building a data center in Pine Island, Minnesota.

Stop the Monticello Data Center

Facebook group

Southwest Minnesota board says no to proposed $4 billion data center complex

from Star Tribune 2026-04-21

"WORTHINGTON, Minn. – The fate of a proposed $4 billion data center complex is in question after the Nobles County Board voted narrowly Tuesday, April 21, against changing zoning to allow its construction.

"A packed room of residents — including many farmers pulled away from spring planting — burst into applause after the board voted 3-2 to prevent data centers in agricultural preservation districts."

City of Monticello sets stage for allowing data centers, with restrictions

from MPR 2026-04-28

The Monticello City Council voted 4-1 Monday night to adopt an ordinance that could open the door to developers building massive data centers in the community 40 miles northwest of Minneapolis.