HERMANTOWN — Google is promising to limit noise, mitigate damage to trout streams and wetlands, and even donate $2.5 million to local nonprofits as the technology company tries to quell concerns about its proposed data center.
On Monday, Liz Schwab, who works in market development at Google, presented a list of community and environmental promises
after the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources shared environmental concerns
earlier this month.
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In a letter to Hermantown Community Development Director Eric Johnson, DNR Ecological and Water Resources Division Director Melissa Kuskie outlined concerns about the potential impacts of the 1.66 million-square-foot data center on wetlands and cold-water trout streams.
Schwab said Google has revised its site plan to reduce wetland impacts by 37% compared with the originally proposed plan. Additionally, she said that Google will collect data on surface and groundwater in order to institute possible protections to trout streams.
“Depending on what that data looks like, it could help to further inform both the final site design, but as well as sort of compliance and monitoring programs that we put in place to protect the trout...