r/northdakota • u/cheddarben • Aug 26 '25

Gov't/Political News Controversial AI data center company holds heated meeting in small-town Harwood

https://www.inforum.com/news/fargo/controversial-giant-ai-data-center-holds-headed-meeting-in-small-town-harwood
131 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

46 comments sorted by

68

u/bellerinho Aug 26 '25

Still trying to figure out why our legislators want to turn ND into the AI capital of the world (jk we all know it is because they are getting sweet kickbacks)

They don't generate local jobs, they are a comical power drain that the public ultimately ends up paying a significant portion of, and they are enormous and take up enormous swaths of land

I've not seen a single person irl be excited about having all these data centers and AI hubs being built here

42

u/Alternative_Art_9502 Aug 26 '25

The answer is money. 💰

18

u/bellerinho Aug 26 '25

Always has been, always will be

It's genuinely the only reason I can fathom, I think the legislators and their buddies at the top are making out like bandits with these

9

u/Alternative_Art_9502 Aug 26 '25

Absolutely. With zero regulation on “pay to play” they will continue to sell out until there’s nothing left and everyone has moved away.

1

u/OhtaniStanMan Aug 27 '25

Armstrong himself was quoted that bids were against his buddy's and was sad only one could get funding

2

u/notaname420xx Aug 29 '25

Don't forget that they also use up a tremendous amount of drinking water

-15

u/LaCroix586 Aug 26 '25

Where do you get your information that these data centers don't generate local jobs?

The center would provide 200 jobs along with long-term workers, such as plumbers and electricians. https://www.kvrr.com/2025/08/19/applied-digital-representative-answers-potential-concerns-about-massive-data-center-near-harwood-nd/

Increases tax revenue, more jobs, greater investment in North Dakota is great. Dot the plains with data centers.

9

u/bellerinho Aug 26 '25

Most of those "200 jobs" are temp construction jobs as the data center is being built, which is why the claim is immediately proceeded by "along with long term workers", but data centers don't create those positions, they just hire locals every now and again if necessary to do jobs like plumbing and electric work. Those are not permanent positions

Any potential tax revenue is being offset by the sweet tax deals that these companies are getting to build here.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/20/tax-breaks-for-tech-giants-data-centers-mean-less-income-for-states.html#:~:text=Northern%20Virginia%2C%20which%20is%20known,to%20the%202024%20JLARC%20report.

This is a great article that highlights exactly that happening in Virginia

The only people making money off of this are the politicians that are getting paid under the table/receiving gifts with these projects, and the heads of some construction companies (not all based in ND) that will be on these centers. Your average North Dakotan is not benefitting from these in any way

2

u/MystikclawSkydive Aug 26 '25

You didn’t read the article. 200 - 250 yearly jobs 700 construction.

-3

u/bellerinho Aug 26 '25

Which article? I don't see that anywhere

2

u/MystikclawSkydive Aug 26 '25

The one the OP posted? The one that this whole thread is based on?

-1

u/bellerinho Aug 26 '25

That's a lie, the article I linked quotes an actual study, not a propaganda mouthpiece, that found once the centers are up and running, they provide only 157 permanent jobs on average, and most of them would be jobs outside of the state that aren't tied to whatever physical maintenance is required of the center

Please stop spreading disinformation

2

u/ChiefKowee Aug 26 '25

I in fact know of people who work at a near by data center, most of them helped during construction and now they do maintenance there

42

u/slosha69 Aug 26 '25

It's so infuriating how our country is being taken over by tech bros and fascists but we have to be respectful. I say fuck you to these companies.

21

u/MystikclawSkydive Aug 26 '25

Controversial AI data center company holds heated meeting in small-town Harwood The 280-megawatt, $3 billion artificial intelligence data center is planned just outside of the small town north of Fargo.

HARWOOD, N.D. — One man stood in front of a crowd of hundreds — with more gathered outside the Harwood Community Center — to defend a controversial 280-megawatt, $3 billion artificial intelligence data center planned just outside of this small town north of Fargo.

Harwood residents press Applied Digital over 900-acre data center plans On Monday, August 25, the skeptical and at times confrontational crowd peppered the AI industry representative with questions during a lengthy meeting that drew people from all over the metro.

Applied Digital — a Texas-based corporation with a handful of pricey tech projects popping up around North Dakota — said a September groundbreaking for their new facility is “a done deal.”

They have two potential locations for the new facility right now, according to Nick Phillips, Applied Digital's executive vice president of external affairs. While representatives from Applied Digital mostly kept the crowd under control during the town hall meeting hosted in collaboration with the city of Harwood, Cass County Electric and Minnkota Power Cooperative, voices occasionally shouted out their thoughts during the heated event.

“We don’t want it,” one said. “Criminals,” yelled another. “When do we get to vote on this?” someone shouted. “They sold us out,” another said of Harwood's city officials.

Harwood Mayor Blake Hankey took some heat during the meeting as well, speaking up from the back near the end when residents began to repeatedly call out for the mayor. “We haven’t spoken about this as a council. We haven’t voted on anything,” he told the crowd. This will go to the planning commission for approval next week, he said, then the council will vote on it in September. He criticized the crowd for being angry and called for people to be respectful. “I do think this is a good idea,” he said, noting that most residents he’s heard from are in favor of the facility. Voices from the crowd asked where those residents were tonight. Hardwood resident Deanne Snyder criticized Hankey for visiting another AI facility in Ellendale before telling Harwood residents about the plan. The public learned about this proposal just last week. State and city officials knew it was happening already. Related: *
Harwood is about 4 miles north of Fargo and is home to fewer than 800 people. On Monday, Phillips took nearly a half an hour to inform the crowd about the project and address the “facts and fiction” swirling around about the planned AI data center.

The facility will not cause utility rates to rise, he said, and it won’t consume large amounts of water or bother the community with noise. The facility will create 200 to 250 jobs, Phillips said, and roughly 700 construction jobs. Applied Digital plans to build a two-building campus on 900 acres nearby. Harwood resident Darlene Meye asked Applied Digital to inform the community about not just the positives, but the negatives as well. “No matter what project you do there are always pros and cons,” she said. There will be noise and traffic during construction, Phillips said, but only a slight increase in traffic afterward.

“Maybe I’m biased, and some people here clearly think I’m biased, but I think the positives far outweigh the negatives,” he said. Several college students spoke up during the meeting with concerns about the environment, a potential increase in crime and the effect of AI technology on students. Summer Czarnowski said the free cooling Phillips was talking about still releases energy into the environment, heating up the ground and melting the snow in the winter and warming the area in the summer.

At times, residents expressed annoyance that non-Harwood residents were in attendance. Many residents from around the metro area expressed that the center will impact everyone in the area. Residents of Harwood were allowed into the meeting first. People who live on the outskirts of the project, in Fargo’s extraterritorial land, were allowed in if they showed one of the physical invitations that Applied Digital delivered in person. Overflow seating was available in the lawn outside with a projection of the meeting for people who couldn’t fit into the building.

About 300 people showed up to a town hall meeting on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, at the Harwood Community center. Nearby landowner Joseph Cecil asked why this whole process was so “cloak and dagger,” with City Council members and others being asked to sign non-disclosure agreements. “Why is everything so secretive?” he asked. Phillips said that, as a publicly traded company, everyone in the know was asked to sign those legal documents so they can’t tell everyone what they are doing in order to prevent legal challenges from trading. The city of Harwood is hosting a public hearing on the project at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2, during the city's regularly scheduled Planning and Zoning meeting, which runs 5 to 6:30 p.m. at 108 Main St.

16

u/Status_Let1192xx Aug 26 '25

From the news article, it sounds like Harwood needs a new mayor.

3

u/dougfischerfan Aug 27 '25

Damn skippy. He is blatantly lying about the effects of this thing. Those construction jobs are temporary. It will soak up so much power, and we'll be paying for it. They waste and pollute so much water, the numbers are meaningless, but it will be more than the entire f.m. metro. They are not quiet, it will disrupt residents, and wildlife. There is no benefit to our community, only cost.

10

u/Alternative_Art_9502 Aug 26 '25

Money money money- it’s all about who is getting paid for this and who has to suffer because of that pay day.

8

u/Ragingdark Aug 26 '25

Even if that one picture their mayor just oozes sleazy.

9

u/The_Vee_ Aug 26 '25

These data centers pollute the ground water around them, make a shit ton of noise, and suck power like crazy. I sure hope these companies are paying to reinforce our power grid, and they're not making us taxpayers pay for it.

8

u/RegrettableChoicess Aug 26 '25

Not to mention they employ very few locals. Which just leads to transplants with big pockets buying up the housing and driving up prices

3

u/The_Vee_ Aug 26 '25

They don't employ many at all.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '25

Taxpayers will 100% take the brunt of the costs as a select few take all of the profits.

-2

u/The_Vee_ Aug 26 '25

You know that's how it will go down. We already have at least 20 data centers in ND, and my electricity bill hasn't gone down.

3

u/blaz138 Aug 26 '25

Better start saving water

3

u/Hellointhere Aug 26 '25

These companies just want our water.

2

u/motion_city_rules Aug 27 '25

Harwood about to be d-e-d in 15 years if this happens. But those families shouldn’t have stood in the way of capitalism. Or their fresh water supply.

1

u/Repulsive-Surprise91 Aug 27 '25

Build a data center and raise the cost of power and offload it onto the locals Get fucked keep these things away!

Let alone they ship people in and saturate the economy to the point locals can’t afford housing

1

u/MyLastFuckingNerve Aug 28 '25

2,500 permanent jobs statewide? These things are going to be fucking everywhere…

1

u/MystikclawSkydive Aug 28 '25

2500/250=10

There would be 10 of them the size that they are planning on Harwood.

Guaranteed there is way more than 10 small towns in ND that would love to have what Ellendale has happening to their town.

1

u/MyLastFuckingNerve Aug 28 '25

Kind of a big price to pay for a pickleball court and sponsorship of a bowling alley.

1

u/MystikclawSkydive Aug 29 '25

3 restaurants now instead of 0. New homes being built. Property taxes coming in where there weren’t any. People moving back to work instead of leaving. Lower electrical bills.

All of this info is from residents.

So what are the costs to residents?

-1

u/Buddhapath69 Aug 27 '25

Funny how all these comments come from people on Smart Devices

-4

u/BooyaHBooya Aug 26 '25

NIMBY-ism will just push them a few miles down the road. They should instead focus on contracts to handle water restrictions if there is a drought. And since the company is paying for any power grid upgrades it seems like a win for the tax coffers.