Data centers come up in another debate (District 3) between Hauschild and Zupancich

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Duluth News Tribune reports…

Candidates in a rematch of one of Minnesota’s most hotly contested State Senate races sparred over fraud, data centers and tariffs at a forum Monday night.

Incumbent District 3 Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown, repeatedly described himself as an independent-minded legislator unafraid to buck his party. …

But his Republican challenger, Babbitt Mayor Andrea Zupancich, said Hauschild has voted with the DFL about 95% of the time. She contended the state needs a change in direction.

Here’s what was said about data centers…

Zupancich admitted she’s “still learning about data centers,” as that hasn’t been an issue to date in her rural area. But she stressed that it’s important that the community be “fully informed” and for “everyone to have a seat at the table.”

Hauschild, likewise, said it is important that “local communities have a say,” while noting Minnesota has already passed some of the strongest regulations in the country. That includes monitoring of water usage and ensuring the companies pay for their energy, he said.

But Zupancich criticized her opponent for co-authoring a bill to give data centers what she described as a “free-ride” tax break for 35 years.

Hauschild responded by saying that was an initial proposal, but the final legislation actually raised taxes for the companies “by tens of millions of dollars.” He also noted his efforts to ban elected officials from signing non-disclosure agreements.

Candidates running in District 8 debate, data center comes up

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Duluth News Tribune reports…

In a forum hosted Monday night, incumbent Sen. Jen McEwen and Republican candidate Darrick Law answered some of the biggest questions facing constituents, from data centers and copper-nickel mining to protecting taxpayers from fraud.

Data centers were part of the discussion…

On data centers, Law agreed with McEwen on removing NDAs that bar communication between local government and the community.

“Data centers are a pretty functional part of our society right now,” Law said. “However, communities should have a voice on data centers being put in their neighborhoods.”

 

Inver Grove Heights approves data center site plan (Dakota County)

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KARE11 reports…

The Inver Grove Heights City Council approved the major site plan Monday for a 55,000-square-foot data center.

The plan includes a framework for construction, including the architecture, landscaping, light output, and parking.

The vote comes two weeks after the council let the project continue, despite a moratorium on data centers in the city. The developer sued, saying they started the process well before the moratorium took effect. That one-year moratorium is in effect for any other data center projects there.

SpaceX suggests the FCC end rural subsidies

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Doug Dawson from CCG Consulting reports…

SpaceX has now told the FCC multiple times that the agency should begin the process of phasing down and eliminating all rural high-cost subsidies from the Universal Service Fund. The company filed comments asking for the end of subsidies in FCC Docket 26-96, which is looking at reforming the High-cost fund for an all IP Future, and in Docket 10-90 that was looking at Universal Service Fund reform. In both filings, SpaceX says that its proliferation of low-orbit satellites means that rural subsidies are obsolete and are no longer needed. The company characterizes anybody who disagrees with it as a “subsidy-dependent incumbent”. SpaceX goes on to argue that the money currently spent on rural subsidies should be redirected to programs that lower the cost of broadband for low-income families.

Doug looks at many aspects of the issue, I’ll just add one…

I think the SpaceX request raises multiple policy questions. First, is satellite really providing broadband? Earlier this decade the FCC declared that Starlink was not providing broadband when the agency canceled the $885 million award Starlink had won in the RDOF reverse auction. At the beginning of this year, Ookla said that only 45% of Starlink customers were meeting the FCC’s definition of broadband at 100/20 Mbps. But Starlink’s speeds have been slowly improving, and will be boosted over the next five years as the company replaces the current V2 satellites with the new V3 satellites that provide 10 times more download capacity and 22 times more upload capacity.

EVENT Sep 29: The State of AI in Rural Broadband: Findings from 132 Providers

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The Fiber Broadband Association shares…

AI is moving from a future consideration for rural broadband to a critical tool for operators in record time. This webinar unpacks the 2026 Rural Broadband State of AI study, a first-of-its-kind report drawn directly from 132 rural broadband providers on where they stand with AI adoption, what’s holding them back, and where they expect the most value. The findings paint a picture very different from the “move fast or fall behind” narrative dominating industry headlines: 91% of providers expect AI to have a significant impact on their business, yet 56% feel they’re behind — even though only 1% of the industry has actually integrated AI into core systems.

 

We’ll walk through the report’s maturity framework (Dabblers, Explorers, and AI Operators), the real barriers to progress, and the practical, peer-sourced recommendations for building momentum. Highlights include:

  • 82% of providers have no defined AI strategy, but the gap between “Dabblers” and “AI Operators” is structural, not just behavioral.
  • The top blocker to AI adoption is skills and confidence (68%) — not cost or data quality
  • 73% of providers expect vendors to play a meaningful role in their AI future
  • Four practical steps any provider can take to move from Dabbler toward Operator, plus seven key takeaways for the next 12 months

Attendees will leave with a realistic benchmark for where their organization stands against true industry peers, and a concrete starting point for their next AI initiative.

County Commission candidates in Fergus Falls talk about data centers (Otter Tail County)

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The Fergus Falls Daily Journal reports…

County Commission District 2 incumbent Wayne Johnson and challenger Jeff Gontarek participated in a forum Saturday, Sept. 26, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of East Otter Tail County and the National Organization for Women Fergus Falls chapter at the Otter Room in Ottertail.

In the wide-ranging forum, Johnson and Gontarek addressed multiple topics including property taxes, emergency services, their top three priorities and their thoughts on data centers.

Here’s what they said about data centers…

Johnson said county-wide zoning faces resident push back over land rights and recommended that townships adopt their own zoning ordinances to prevent unregulated development outside city limits. He said data center construction would damage local roads through heavy truck traffic. He would require decommissioning plans and bonds for large developments, similar to proposals for solar and wind farms, so land can be restored and money is available if a company abandons a site. He said wind and solar farms are acceptable in the right locations, and that rural Minnesota may currently be less attractive to data center developers than North Dakota.

Gontarek said he opposes data centers in Otter Tail County at this time. He cited about 25 hours of research and said he found they do not create significant numbers of jobs. He also questioned the return on investment for the tax base and raised concerns about water use, noting that local river levels are low. He said existing problems such as roads and taxes should be addressed before new developments are considered.

EVENT Oct 8: digitalLIFT’s 4th Annual Day of Equity

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From the hosts…

digitalLIFT’s 4th annual Day of Equity is October 8, 2026. Don’t miss this amazing and empowering day! Six sector-specific sessions feature engaging presenters, industry leaders, and powerful content that will inform, educate, encourage, excite, and inspire you and everyone who attends. Register For the Day of Equity Sessions Today!

Data center supporters in Pine Island ask MCEA to drop its lawsuit (Rice County)

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Post Bulletin reports...

A letter to the environmental advocacy group states, “Your lawsuit is an unasked for disruption of our democratic process that threatens many amazing benefits for our city, school, county and state,”

A group of data center supporters is asking a Twin Cities environmental group to get out of Pine Island’s business.

A letter sent to the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy — the St. Paul-based group that is suing both the city of Pine Island and developer Ryan Companies, LLC, over the proposed data center in Pine Island — “respectfully request that you drop the lawsuit so that partnerships between Pine Island, Google and Ryan Companies can move forward.”
The letter, addressed to MCEA Executive Director Kathryn Hoffman, has been signed by 183 “residents, business leaders and educators” from Pine Island.

You can read more on the lawsuit in an earlier post.

Purdue report finds increase of US households experience reduced digital participation because they have mobile-device access only

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Roberto Gallardo of Purdue University has a new study (An Evolving Digital Divide:
Measuring and Understanding Mobile-Dependent Households (MDH)) out looking at folks with mobile-only access to broadband…

Despite unprecedented broadband investment, the share of U.S. households relying solely on cellular data and mobile devices or mobile-dependent households (MDH) increased from 11.9 to 14.1 percent between 2019 and 2024. This report introduces the MDH concept, which captures
the “double whammy” of limited data and limited screen size, and examines its determinants before and after the COVID-19 pandemic using Census tract-level data. Results indicate that the share of the population with any disability, households with a lack of internet access, income, educational attainment, and homeownership are among the strongest factors associated with mobile dependence, with several associations shifting in strength post-pandemic. As communities implement BEAD-funded broadband projects, these findings suggest that connecting households is insufficient if that connectivity comes through the most constrained pathway available.

I’ve been looking at reports about computer vs phone vs tablet access for years. I am acutely reminded of the difference on vacation. I can do many things on my phone, and in a pinch, I could do my job but it’s much more difficult. Roberto looked at 5-Year American Community Survey (ACS) dataset ending in 2019 and in 2024 to view mobile-only access.

Here are some images of what it looks like

His conclusions…

To summarize, this report introduces the concept of mobile-dependent households experiencing the “double whammy” of relying solely on cellular data and mobile devices and examines the factors associated with this growing population before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Recalling that the share of MDH increased from 11.9 to 14.1 percent between 2019 and 2024, a period of unprecedented federal broadband investment. This growth, combined with the expanding footprint of high-high clusters shown in the LISA maps, suggests that infrastructure deployment alone does not resolve the structural conditions pushing households toward mobile-only connectivity. This is
important to keep in mind as the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) investments across the country start to materialize and the future of the Digital Equity Act funds, which targets skills and devices is uncertain.

Several post-pandemic shifts stand out: the metro-nonmetro gap widened as metro tracts gained a significant negative association with MDH by 2024; disability’s association with MDH strengthened substantially, reflecting the consequences of essential services moving to digital platforms that small screens and capped data plans cannot adequately support; the no-internet association also
strengthened, indicating that where fixed broadband is absent, the households that do come online are increasingly doing so through mobile; income’s association strengthened as well, consistent with fixed broadband becoming more of a premium good in the post-pandemic economy; and the
association with the share of the population aged 65 or older disappeared entirely, suggesting that older adults who entered the digital world during the pandemic did so disproportionately through smartphones rather than fixed broadband. Notably, blue-collar occupations, while still positively associated with MDH in both years, weakened in strength, possibly reflecting that broadband expansion reached more blue-collar communities post-pandemic even as afordability became a more dominant barrier.

And cutting to the chase…

In moving beyond the question of whether households are linked to how they are connected, this report reveals that a growing share of American households experience a second-class form of digital participation. As Napoli and Obar (2014) warned over a decade ago, treating mobile access as equivalent to fixed broadband risks rendering this growing population invisible. The MDH concept makes them visible.

EVENT Sep 30: Eagan community session and online survey on data centers (Dakota County)

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St Paul Pioneer Press reports…

If you live or work in Eagan and you have thoughts on data centers, the city wants to hear from you.

The city of Eagan is hosting a community input session Wednesday where community members are invited to weigh in on data center development as the city considers future regulations.

The drop-in event, called the Data Center Ordinance Community Input Session, comes seven months into the city’s one-year moratorium on data center development.

The moratorium, enacted in February, halted development of any new data center that would use more than 20 megawatts of electricity, and upgrades to existing data centers above 9 megawatts, in addition to any proposed centers within 500 feet of residential homes.

More information…

Instead of a presentation, participants are invited on Wednesday to move through several stations and share their thoughts, questions and potential impacts that should be considered. City staff will be available to collect comments and capture questions and perspectives, according to the city.

For those unable to attend, or those who prefer to share their thoughts online, the city has launched a Data Center Community Survey.

The survey, which expires Nov. 1, asks a handful of questions including, “If the City adopts data center regulations, what do you think Eagan’s regulations should try to accomplish?” and “What questions do you think the City should answer before deciding what regulations are appropriate for data centers?”

The details:

Eagan Data Center Ordinance Community Input Session

When: 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30

Where: Eagan City Hall, 3830 Pilot Knob Road, Eagan

Survey: https://shorturl.at/30GF9

Pine Island anti-data center group hosts info session (Goodhue County)

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KAAL TV reports…

Southern Minnesotans came together to learn more about health concerns and state law related to data centers in Goodhue this Saturday.

With a data center project in the works in Pine Island and other cities, attendees came with plenty of questions for the experts featured in this event.

There’s lots and lots of more information that the city council and the citizens need to be made aware of,” Randolph resident, Ann Bezdichak-Boselmeier said.

Ava Corey-Gruenes, an organizer and outreach coordinator with Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, said that water pollution caused by data centers has been linked to cancer, miscarriages and kidney conditions.

She said the purpose of the event was to help the public make informed decisions about data centers.

The article proceeds to share various views from attendees and planners and give a quick update…

The data center in Pine Island is paused under a court order after the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy filed a legal challenge questioning the environmental impacts of the data center.

The next hearing is set for Nov. 16.

Faribault city council candidates talk data center (Rice County)

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Faribault Daily News reports on a candidate forum between City Council candidates Paul Wunderlich, John Rowan, and Katie Howard…

All three city council candidates present during Wednesday night’s candidate forum at Harvest Church said they did not support the Archer data center development, while two said they use artificial intelligence daily. Other topics of conversation included the difficulty in keeping tax levies low, and whether Faribault should loosen density regulations and embrace smaller homes.

A crowd of elected officials, candidates, and about 8 members of the public gathered to hear what candidates Paul Wunderlich, Councilor John Rowan, and Katie Howard had to say. Candidates Natalie Halverson, Lexi Temple and Kameron Gustafson had scheduling issues and could not attend, organizer Linda Cross said.

The article outlines their various views, including the following…

All three candidates said they opposed the Archer data center, but acknowledged it was too late to just say no to it. Howard said she, Wunderlich, and Jacob Reed, who did not advance past the primary election, worked to develop a plan of what regulations and limits they’d like to see for any data center development coming into Faribault. …

Rowan, the only incumbent in the race, said in his introduction that he was not on council when the data center was initially approved. Rowan called the developer a speculator, saying the ultimate goal was to flip the data center to a buyer to make an easy profit. That process is already in motion, he said. …

Wunderlich agreed with Rowan and said he believed the developer was treating Faribault as a commodity, not a town. He was also concerned with the current council’s plan to vote on datacenter standards in November. Wunderlich said he was concerned the standards would not go far enough.

Winona County Board considers temporary data center ban

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Winona Post reports…

As communities across the country debate how to address the rise of AI and the data centers that back the technology, the Winona County Board earlier this month took its first step toward analyzing whether to block or allow data centers in this area. The board voted unanimously for the Planning Commission to study the issue and consider a moratorium of up to one year.

Winona County Planning and Environmental Services Director Ross Dunsmoor highlighted at the County Board’s September 9 meeting some concerns that have come up nationwide about data centers, from their use of water, electricity, and land, to the noise they generate. On the other hand, he also said some municipalities have received investments in their infrastructure from data center developers.

Dunsmoor explained that locally, under current zoning regulations, the county would only allow data centers in general industry zones. However, he added that townships control the zoning regulations for a number of these areas, leaving just one zone subject to the county — New Hartford Township.

The article highlights diverse opinions from Commissioners. And mentioned plans…

The Planning Commission will next study a potential moratorium. Community members will then have a chance to provide input during a public hearing, Dunsmoor explained, and then the County Board will discuss the topic again.

Federal government steps in with potential data center legislation but Minnesota legislation already covers it

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Alexandria Echo Press reports…

 While national discourse swirls around rapidly evolving AI and hyperscale data centers, Minnesota’s elected officials have been working on safety and regulatory interventions at all levels of government.

Just before adjourning for break, the U.S. House overwhelmingly passed the “Ratepayer Protection Act,” which would require states to consider implementing a standard requiring certain “large-load” customers, such as data centers, to cover the electricity costs associated with their projects.

The federal legislation is not likely to make much of a difference for Minnesotans, as the state already passed a standalone data center bill in 2025 that requires the hyperscale facilities to cover new electricity costs.

That requirement applies to the state’s first hyperscale data center in Rosemount, owned by Meta, which has not provided an update on when the facility would be operational. The City of Rosemount had previously said it would be complete by the end of summer.

Duluth resident says there’s still a place for landlines in rural Minnesota

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Duluth News tribune reports…

Rural Minnesota is often overlooked. Many people in our region, especially seniors and older adults, rely on their landline phone service. Many still do not have cell service due to the increased cost or simply the unavailability of adequate broadband in their area. Frontier, a major provider in these areas, plans to discontinue its traditional landline service and has made that proposal to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.

AARP wants to ensure that consumers are not left without dependable and affordable access to essential phone service. We hope the commission requires strong consumer protections before allowing a discontinuation of landlines. Reliable and affordable phone service is too important to tinker with without making sure everyone has that protection.