Casselton-area residents question data center location on prime farmland

CASSELTON, N.D. — Caryn Weber said she is not against data centers, but questions the location of a proposed site in rural Cass County. 

“It’s disturbing to see prime farmland covered up with concrete,” Weber said Thursday inside Bondegard Cafe in downtown Casselton. 

Representatives of Geronimo Power, the company behind a proposed data center east of Casselton and north of Mapleton, answered questions about the Harmony Energy Park project at the cafe. 

2nd Fargo-area data center would use double the power of Harwood site

Data centers have become a main topic of discussion in North Dakota with more events on deck in Cass County. 

Tuesday, the Legislature’s Artificial Intelligence and Data Center Committee meets at 9 a.m. at Grand Farm, near Casselton. The agenda includes water use by data centers, data center impact on local government and testimony from utility officials.

The following week, on Oct. 14, North Dakota State University is hosting a data center discussion in Fargo. “Powering the AI Economy: Data Centers and North Dakota’s Future” will be hosted by NDSU’s Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth. The event is in the NDSU Memorial Union starting at 5:30 p.m.

Panelists include North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring and Paul Matthys, president and CEO of Cass County Electric Cooperative.

Goehring, a Republican, is being challenged by Democrat Vern Thompson, who has made data centers a top issue in the ag commissioner race. 

North Dakota residents have expressed concerns about noise, water use, utility rates and the loss of farmland.

In Casselton on Thursday, Geronimo representatives handed out information to address those questions and why the company wants to put a data center in Harmony Township.

The company cites the area as being at a crossroads of electric and gas infrastructure. The data center would need as much as 540 megawatts of power at peak demand.

That infrastructure would include the Bison Substation, a solar farm Geronimo is building next to the substation, a planned battery storage site to go with the solar farm and a natural gas pipeline coming from western North Dakota. MDU Resources announced last week that it would go ahead with the Bakken East Pipeline, though an exact route has not been finalized. 

Samantha Burchill, an NDSU student whose parents live near the proposed data center site, said she is not opposed to data centers, but said the rural countryside doesn’t make sense. 

She said she recently toured the Applied Digital data center under construction near Harwood north of Fargo and found it “very depressing.” 

Burchill’s father, Dustin Burchill, became chair of the Harmony Township Board of Supervisors in September, as details about the data center plan emerged. Her mother, Sarah Burchill, spoke out at a community meeting in Casselton, advocating for “family farms before data farms.”   

Samantha Burchill was at the cafe with Marjie Broden, who farms land in Harmony Township near the proposed site, though she lives in a neighboring township.

Broden said she wished she had known about plans for the project much earlier. 

“We need a lot more time to decide something like this,” she said. 

Geronimo filed its application for a conditional use permit in Harmony Township on Sept. 15. 

Broden said she is in support of a temporary moratorium on data centers that was discussed by the Harmony Township Board of Supervisors on Sept. 22.

“There is a place for data centers, but it sure as heck is not in the heart of the Red River Valley, some of the nicest cropland in the United States,” she said.

The township board will meet next on Oct. 20.

The North Dakota Public Service Commission has no authority over data center siting, but it will need to approve the battery storage site. It is holding a public hearing in Casselton on Oct. 23.

A Geronimo representative said more than 200 people came to the cafe Thursday. 

“Our vision is to develop this project thoughtfully, addressing local priorities while creating lasting benefits including new jobs, expanded tax revenue and growth for local businesses,” the company said in a statement. 

Reach North Dakota Monitor deputy editor Jeff Beach at [email protected]