Overview
- The Minneapolis City Council voted to impose a six-month moratorium on new data centers on Thursday, June 25, with an exception for downtown projects under 350,000 square feet and the ordinance now under review by Mayor Jacob Frey.
- Inver Grove Heights approved a one-year pause on Friday, June 26, and postponed consideration of a proposed 54,000-square-foot QLevr site plan while the city studies potential impacts.
- Cleveland’s city council utilities committee advanced a three-month moratorium on standalone data-center permitting and sent the measure to the full council for final consideration.
- Residents and some elected officials cited concerns about heavy water use, high electricity demand, noise, land-use changes, and disproportionate effects on communities of color, while developers and business groups warned the pauses could deter investment and slow downtown redevelopment.
- The local freezes build on earlier state-level actions and are triggering formal studies, zoning reviews, developer legal threats, and discussions of policy tools such as mandatory reporting of energy and water use, special utility rate classes, community benefit agreements, and developer-funded grid upgrades.