PINE ISLAND, Minn. — The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) has filed a lawsuit to try to stop the development of a data center in Pine Island.
In a motion filed on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, MCEA requested a temporary restraining order without hearing that would prevent the city of Pine Island — one of two defendants along with Ryan Companies, the developer behind a potential data center — “from granting any permits related to the Project Skyway Alternative Urban Areawide Review until this Court makes a determination on Plaintiff’s motion for a temporary injunction.”
A court date is set for 1 p.m. Feb. 2, 2026, via Zoom in Goodhue County District Court.
The temporary restraining order comes just days before the Pine Island City Council will consider agenda items related to Project Skyway — the name of the data center/technology park development proposed for the north side of Pine Island. At a 6 p.m. meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 16, the Pine Island council will consider a preliminary plat for Project Skyway and a preliminary development plan, said Pine Island City Administrator Elizabeth Howard.
Howard said the planned unit development language from Ryan Companies is actually more strict than the city’s own development ordinance in most cases.
Howard said the agenda items on Tuesday are just an initial step. A final plat and development plan would need to be approved. The city would also need to eventually approve an application for annexation, a rezoning approval for the property and a conditional use permit. None of those items are on Tuesday’s agenda.
All of that would need approval — and several opportunities for public input — before any construction of roads, sewers and utilities, none of which would allow the construction of an actual data center, which would be a few more levels of approval down the road, she said.
There would also need to be approval from the state Public Utilities Commission before a data center would be constructed.
On Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, attorneys for Ryan Companies filed a brief requesting that a judge give Ryan Companies a chance to respond to the temporary restraining order request before making a judgment.
“Ryan intends to respond to the TRO request today, December 15, 2025,” the brief states. “Ryan respectfully asks the Court to refrain from ruling on MCEA’s Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order until Ryan has had the opportunity to respond.”
No response from Ryan Companies’ attorneys had been filed as of 3:30 p.m. Monday.
A statement from MCEA said the request filed in Goodhue District Court seeks to halt the project until the court has the opportunity to weigh in on the issues in the case.
“MCEA filed a lawsuit in October against Pine Island and data-center developer Ryan Companies US Inc.,” the statement reads. “The TRO-request is in response to the defendants’ decision to continue moving forward with the development while the lawsuit is pending.
