Pine Island Google data center construction halted by court

PINE ISLAND, Minn. (FOX 9) - The construction on a Google-backed data center on Pine Island has been temporarily halted by a Goodhue County judge. 

Pine Island data center construction halted

What we know:

According to a press release from the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA), the judge issued the order to stop construction on May 22, just weeks before it was slated to begin. 

The order was given to allow a lawsuit by MCEA to move forward. Their lawsuit claims that the environmental study of the Google-backed data center is "inadequate" and does not comply with Minnesota law. 

MCEA says the court determined that "MCEA had a likelihood of succeeding on its claims in the lawsuit." 

The court also denied the request of the City of Pine Island and developer Ryan Companies to rule that the environmental study complies with state law. 

The backstory:

MCEA filed the lawsuit in October 2025, and it argues that the environmental review didn't have specifics on the data center, only studies on a "technology center" and a "light industrial development." 

The city claimed they couldn't have a more detailed study because they had no "end-user" for the project. It was later revealed they did have an end-user, Google. 

READ MORE: Google building data center in Pine Island, Minnesota

What they're saying:

"This decision recognizes concerns raised by the residents of Pine Island about the environmental impacts of the massive data center that has been proposed for their community,"said MCEA staff attorney Abigail Hencheck. "If this proposed data center is built, it could require as much as 2,700 megawatts of electricity. For comparison, Minnesota’s biggest power plant–the one that serves the Twin Cities–has a capacity of 1,700 megawatts. As the court recognized, potential environmental effects of this magnitude need to be fully studied. And construction should not begin until that analysis is complete."