A rendering of a proposed data center project in Deuel County, South Dakota. The project is proposed by Applied Digital and would be near the small town of Toronto. (Photo courtesy of Applied Digital)
BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) – More than 70 members of the public filled every seat and stood shoulder to shoulder on the side of the room Wednesday as a new North Dakota legislative committee held its first meeting focused on artificial intelligence and data centers.
Linda Hagen Mathern, a Bismarck citizen concerned about data centers, told lawmakers there were many more people who peeked into the room or left after a few minutes because there wasn’t enough space.
“When there’s something very upsetting to the people, there’s never enough room, and I don’t understand,” she said. “You’re elected by us, and yet when we want to share our thoughts, there’s never enough room.”
Rep. Jonathan Warrey, R-Casselton, chair of the committee, was aware of the interest and announced that written testimony will be accepted. That typically is not the case for interim committees. The written submissions will be linked in the meeting minutes.
The lion’s share of the public comment provided over the course of 50 minutes focused on concerns with data centers being constructed in North Dakota. Multiple speakers told the committee they do not feel their voices are being heard when a data center is developed in their area.
Holly Burch of Mandan is a member of a planning and zoning subcommittee looking at data center regulations in Morton County. She said she’s concerned about the rapid pace of development and the growing electric demand of the facilities in North Dakota.
“I think that we just need to slow down on this a little bit,” Burch said.
Rep. Bill Tveit, R-Hazen, said local jurisdictions should consider a nine-month moratorium until the full Legislature can meet and make any necessary changes to state law.
“That way the entire state, the entire committee, the entire Legislature can interact on the concerns that are out there,” said Tveit, who is not on the committee. “This should have been done two years ago, but we didn’t know the impact that was coming upon us.”
Earlier this week, New York implemented a statewide moratorium on the development of data centers requiring 50 megawatts or more of electricity.
Local communities in North Dakota have access to a model ordinance, developed by a coalition of organizations including the League of Cities, Association of Counties and business groups, to use when considering regulations of data centers.
“I’m not saying that this is the be-all end-all and that they can’t change it or make things more stringent, less stringent,” said Stephanie Dassinger Engebretson, deputy director of the League of Cities. “But this provides them a tool so that they have something in writing to work with.”
Dassinger Engebretson said the ordinance should be used as a baseline but needs to be customized for each community. The public was not invited to participate in the drafting process because it was assumed their input would be incorporated in each community’s process, she said.
That didn’t sit well with everyone in the audience. Lucas Wald of Edgeley said there is “a complete disconnect” between residents’ opinions and what they hear from people in government and business.
“Local people should be writing these ordinances,” Wald said. “You’ve got these people writing up these ordinances to give to us that don’t align with anything we want.”
Andrea Pfennig, vice president of government affairs for the Greater North Dakota Chamber of Commerce, touted the economic benefits of data centers. She said data centers paid more than $700 billion in taxes between 2017 and 2023 in the United States, and employed 600,000 people in 2023.
“We think that this is a really good opportunity for communities across our state,” Pfennig said.
Some speakers said they were concerned that artificial intelligence would cause economic harm by eliminating jobs in the economy. But Hagen Mathern said she has concerns about threats data centers may pose to the health of local children, wildlife and crops.
“There’s more involved than just economics,” she said.
The committee will hold additional meetings between now and the end of October. It has been tasked with studying the economic, state and local interests in the siting of data centers, as well as the broader development of data centers. It has also been directed to study artificial intelligence.
“I know that’s a red hot topic across North Dakota and other jurisdictions,” said Sen. David Hogue, chair of Legislative Management who issued the directive creating the committee. “That’s a small part of your portfolio, but it’s something we have to look at.”
Warrey said Wednesday’s meeting was the start of that process. The next meeting is Aug. 13. The location has not been set. Written testimony can be submitted to edohm@ndlegis.gov. If the testimony is received more than a week after a committee meeting, it will be included in the minutes of the next meeting instead.
Warrey said he expects the committee to meet five times in total, three times in Bismarck and two field trips to other communities.
“This is just the beginning,” Warrey said.
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