HERMANTOWN — An anticipated showdown slated for next week that promised to pit supporters and opponents of a controversial proposed data center against one another will have to wait.

Dan Lessor, a vice president for Mortenson Development Inc., informed Hermantown city officials this week that the firm will not push ahead with permit requests that had been scheduled for consideration by the city’s planning and zoning commission Tuesday, Nov. 18.

This change of course follows a petition to the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board requesting a more in-depth review of the project in the form of an environmental assessment worksheet, as well as in the wake of a subsequent lawsuit filed Nov. 5 by the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and a grassroots group of concerned citizens

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