A 500-mega-wattdata center in Sioux Falls has a path forward following city council approval to rezone the land. Now, 145.6 acres are designated for light industrial use. According to the city, light industrial allows for mini-warehousing, small manufacturing and other uses along those lines, so long as the majority of the activity is done inside the facility.
Despite approval, public opposition was evident during the multiple hours of public testimony.
This week’s Sioux Falls City Council meeting lasted six hours. It was driven by discussion over the Gemini Data Center proposed on a 160-acre parcel of land between Sioux Falls and Brandon. City Council approved annexation of the land in October.
At the meeting, many city residents voiced concerns during public testimony. That included concerns over energy…
“This one facility is projected to more than double our entire city’s energy consumption," one resident said.
Concerns over water…
“Water is even a bigger issue and something that we all need to live," said one resident. "The environmental and energy study’s institution states that a medium-sized data center uses around 110 million gallons daily to cool their computers…”
Concerns over electronic waste…
"I’ve never seen it addressed as what happens to all that. Some of it can have led and mercury in it, and I don’t know how they’re going to reprocess that," one resident said." Are they going to recycle it? What happens? Does it go in the environment? Is it going to be dumped in a landfill?”
And more. While the vote at stake was to rezone the agriculture land, many said it went “hand-in-hand” with building a data center. Many said that propels the damages AI is causing to the environment and job market.
Councilor Curt Soehl said he shares concerns, but that’s not what he’s tasked with.
“I’m old enough to have read the book by George Orwell 1984 before 1984, and big brother scares me too. AI scares me too. Huge. I’m not willing to give up my cell phone. And I noticed a lot of people that said AI was bad read their speech on their cellphone," Soehl said. "It’s here to stay. There’s nothing we can do. That’s not the subject tonight. The subject tonight is the zoning.”
Councilors stressed their support on the zoning, while hinting at potential changes to the preliminary subdivision plan to address constituent concerns. That included Councilor Rich Merkouris. He said he reached out city councilors from Des Moines and Columbus.
"It was helpful to hear from them. They all said they would focus on one thing: they said they would return and have continued conversation about electricity. Outside of that they said they have not received any complaints regarding noise pollution, light pollution, etc," Merkouris said. "They did encourage and gave me really good feedback on conversation we should have regarding electricity and things that are happening in their states."
The vote passed unanimously 7-0.
Following the vote, expletives and other criticisms were voiced at the City Council, causing a five-minute recess.
Throughout the meeting it was stressed that the data center is only allowed water from Sioux Falls for domestic use, not to cool its computers. Gemini Data Center SD, LLC has also said it plans to use a closed-loop cooling system, which is supposed to lower the water usage, though it hasn't 100% committed to that.
With the zoning, any data center is required to be at least 200 ft. away from the property line.
As for energy concerns, any rate increase is required to go through the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission to ensure rates can't go up for electricity that residential customers don't use. However, as The Dakota Scout reported in December, nothing in statute mandates that.
