Blandin on Broadband

News and information on broadband use, policy, and trends

Blandin on Broadband

Winona County Board considers temporary data center ban

Posted on by
Reply

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

Posted on by
Reply

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

Posted on by
Reply

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.

Follow up on Castle Rock data center lawsuit dismissal (Dakota County)

Posted on by
Reply

Hometown Source reports…

Castle Rock Township’s lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice in Dakota County District Court, according to a stipulation order, on Sept. 15 against the city of Farmington, MNLCO Farmington LLC and Farmington School District 192.

The lawsuit filed in February 2025 claimed the city of Farmington violated the orderly annexation agreement when the Farmington City Council approved rezoning for a 2.5 million-square-foot data center concept.

The court said the township and the defendants each seek dismissal with prejudice, which means the case can’t be refiled in court.

The parties also agreed that the defendants will waive all costs, disbursements, and attorneys’ fees that the defendants would otherwise have sought to recover from the township.

It was reported last week that Castle Rock has been working on a settlement agreement with the defendants, but no further information has been released regarding terms from the township, the city or the Colorado-based data center concept developer Tract.

The article gives a nice history of activity related to the project.

EVENT Sep 26: Stop the Pine Island Data Center conversation (Goodhue County)

Posted on by
Reply

Post Bulletin reports…

A conversation around data centers, health and policy will take place in Goodhue this weekend.

The two-hour event, organized by Stop the Pine Island Data Center, starts at 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, at St. Luke Lutheran church in Goodhue. Attendees can RSVP through an online form.

The event comes roughly one month after Google held a community event in Pine Island, the town its proposed technology campus, Project Skyway, would be. A Goodhue County judge has temporarily blocked the development from proceeding.

Southeast Minnesota lawmakers listen as residents weigh regulations amid data center talk

Posted on by
Reply

KTTC reports…

As talks for data centers continue to expand across Minnesota, communities in the southeast corner of the state are grappling with how to balance technological growth with local oversight.

On Thursday, DFL state lawmakers Sen. Liz Boldon and Rep. Tina Liebling hosted a virtual town hall to hear directly from Rochester-area constituents regarding potential policies and regulations surrounding large-scale data center facilities.

During the forum, residents raised concerns over data privacy, long-term environmental impacts, and skepticism regarding promised local economic benefits. Similar pushback has already placed a planned data center development in Pine Island on hold amid an ongoing lawsuit.

Lawmakers noted that the public’s unease is part of a broader national trend. A recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that more than half of Americans believe data centers are mostly bad for the environment, while 6 in 10 respondents said they would not feel comfortable having a data center built in their own community.

They spoke about data center in past legislative sessions…

Over the past few legislative sessions, Minnesota lawmakers have taken steps to rein in industry incentives and impose stricter environmental guardrails. Recent legislation eliminated a $140 million state sales tax exemption on electricity for data centers and instituted requirements that facilities using more than 100 million gallons of water coordinate directly with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

They spoke about sticky issues…

Another major policy point under discussion is the prohibition of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in municipal negotiations with developers. Local governments are already moving in that direction; the city of Harmony included an NDA ban in the latest draft of its data center ordinance, which is currently before its planning and zoning committee.

Attorney General Ellison calls on Congress to protect Americans from unchecked AI development

Posted on by
Reply

Attorney General Ellison announces...

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison today joined a bipartisan coalition of 26 attorneys general in calling on Congress to immediately regulate the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. In a letter to congressional leaders — House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — Attorney General Ellison and the coalition warn that reports of recent incidents demonstrate that unchecked AI development endangers Americans and poses a potential threat to our financial system, critical infrastructure, and national security. The coalition urges Congress to quickly pass substantive legislation to regulate the AI industry to ensure that development occurs at an intentional pace, incorporates safety and transparency by design, and maintains states’ ability to oversee the industry.

“To protect public health, our government regulates everything from aircraft to aspirin to aircraft. It is past time Congress do the same with artificial intelligence,” said Attorney General Ellison. “This new technology has the potential to cause big problems or to help solve them, and which route it takes may well depend on what we do now to shape and guide it. We will be doing the American people a tremendous disservice if we allow the frontier of AI development to remain a wild west of near-misses and chilling failures. That’s why I’m calling on Congress to responsibly regulate artificial intelligence, to not preempt state-level rules and regulations, and to give state attorneys general full authority to enforce federal law regulating AI.”

On July 16, Hugging Face, an open-source library and repository, reported that it was being attacked by an unknown third party. Within a week, OpenAI admitted that the attack was waged by its AI agents, which escaped a testing environment and infiltrated Hugging Face using stolen credentials. OpenAI was aware of the agents’ capabilities and failed to monitor their activity or stop their exploits. The agents’ actions, if perpetrated by a human, would have constituted criminal conduct.

Following the Hugging Face incident, Anthropic and Meta also acknowledged their AI agents had also entered the open web and performed dangerous and unlawful actions. This agent behavior has been known to the industry for years and is a direct result of their training. Through a practice called “reinforcement learning,” AI labs reward models’ achievement of goals and penalize unsuccessful attempts, leading models to take reckless measures to complete the tasks they are given.

These reports have led to some of the AI industry’s leading developers calling for regulation. OpenAI’s Chief Global Affairs Officer called for “mandatory, capability-based national AI safety regulation.” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urged the United States to lead international coordination of AI model development because this effort “will require government support.”

Attorney General Ellison and the coalition are calling on Congress to take immediate action to ensure AI development does not lead to irreversible damage or further illegal behavior. In their letter, Attorney General Ellison and the coalition emphasize that any AI regulatory scheme considered by Congress must include:

  • Federal oversight of safety testing and standards, led by experts in the field of AI model safety and backed by consistent performance benchmarks;
  • Uniform and transparent government-led incident response with public findings that allow the industry to rapidly evolve in response;
  • Safety infrastructure and experienced leaders to make critical safety decisions unburdened by profit maximization;
  • International cooperation to pace AI advancement and prevent the development of harmful superintelligence; and
  • A prohibition on preemption of state laws and full authority for state officials to enforce federal protections.

Joining Attorney General Ellison in sending the letter to Congress are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia, and American Samoa.

Paul Bunyan Communications announces expansion to Hibbing (St Louis County)

Posted on by
Reply

Paul Bunyan Communications announces...

Paul Bunyan Communications will be expanding its GigaZone® all-fiber optic network to the city of Hibbing and is asking residents and businesses complete a survey to help the cooperative determine the timeline and scope of the project.
The short online survey is available online at hibbingsurvey.com and will remain open through October 14.
“We serve portions of the rural areas around the city of Hibbing, and we’ve heard from several residents and businesses of the community who are interested in our service,” said Chad Bullock, CEO/General Manager of Paul Bunyan Communications. “This survey will give the entire Hibbing community an opportunity to let us know directly if they would like us to bring GigaZone all-fiber optic Internet & our full suite of technology services to their homes and businesses”.
The cooperative has already determined it will start expansion construction soon in two areas of the city of Hibbing that includes over 880 locations. To check to see if your location is in this fall’s expansion plans and to sign up visit https://paulbunyan.net/gigazone/availability-map/
For more than 70 years, Paul Bunyan Communications has brought the latest communications technology to communities across northern Minnesota. Today, the cooperative provides high-quality, reliable Internet & WiFi services across more than 6,000 square miles, including neighboring rural communities and cities such as Buhl, Cook, Britt, Marble, Nashwauk, and Keewatin.
As a member-owned cooperative, Paul Bunyan Communications carefully evaluates potential expansion opportunities. Community interest, available funding, construction logistics, and the need for services are among the factors considered when determining where to expand its all-fiber optic network.
“We want to hear from Hibbing,” Bullock added. “The more information we have about the level of interest throughout the city, the better we can establish the scope and timelines for the project”.
Hibbing residents and businesses interested in GigaZone® Internet & WiFi are encouraged to complete the short survey at hibbingsurvey.com. There is no obligation to sign up for service by completing the survey.
More information about Paul Bunyan Communications, including services and pricing is available at paulbunyan.net.

EVENT Oct 1: Google to launch prototype satellite to test for possibility of an AI data center to outer space

Posted on by
Reply

MSN reports…

The launch of a prototype satellite scheduled for next week will be through the company’s Project Suncatcher initiative.

As AI data centers are being built around the world at a growing pace, Google is looking to expand the trend in outer space starting next week.

Plans have been in the works…

The company first unveiled Project Suncatcher in an announcement last November, saying its goal is to launch two prototype satellites by early 2027 “that will test our hardware in orbit, laying the groundwork for a future era of massively-scaled computation in space.”

For its upcoming Oct. 1 launch into space, Google’s prototype satellite will be loaded onto a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, The New York Times reported. The company told the newspaper it is not sending a full data center but rather an experimental version of one.

In its blog post ahead of the scheduled launch, Google detailed the behind-the-scenes work for Project Suncatcher, such as testing whether its AI hardware can survive in space.

The plans are long term..

In describing his company’s expectations for the prototype satellite, James Manyika, Google’s senior vice president, told the Times, adding, “We don’t expect, to be perfectly frank, that we’ll have anything usefully operational in the next few years.” He compared that with Google’s earlier work on driverless cars, which took the company 15 years to research before anything came to fruition.

Governor Walz talks about Destination Medical Center and data centers in Rochester (Olmsted County)

Posted on by
Reply

Post Bulletin reports…

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz visited Rochester on Wednesday, Sept. 23, to speak about Destination Medical Center and the years of public and private investments into the local economic development initiative.

Data centers came up…

When asked about AI innovation and guardrails, Walz said he sees the frustration around generative AI use and data center development as a communication issue.

“We’re going to have the resources, energy-wise, to be able to make sure prices don’t go up on folks, but the industry has done little to talk about that,” Walz said. “The frustration, I think, with the data centers is just a manifestation of the anxiety around AI in general.”

Walz said technology companies should communicate more with communities on what happens inside data centers and how that computing power is used.

“Make the connection to them,” Walz said, “that the data center is going to process the images … of that tumor in your child that is going to be taken out and cured.”

Woodbury approves moratorium on new data center (Washington County)

Posted on by
Reply

Woodbury News Net reports…

Woodbury’s City Council approved a moratorium Sept. 23 on new data centers and expansion beyond existing approvals, giving the city up to a year to study water use, electricity demand, noise and possible zoning changes.

Before voting, council members worked through which changes would require new permits and which activities existing approvals already allowed.

Woodbury has no active applications or conversations with data center developers, City Planner Eric Searles said. The city intends to study the industry before another proposal arrives.

More on local data centers…

Before approval, council members broadened the restriction to cover building permits and other city permits, including electrical permits and permits for work in public rights of way.

The ordinance presented to the council blocks related rezoning proposals, comprehensive plan amendments, conditional use permits and variances, along with applications to establish or expand data centers. It also covers proposed water or sewer users whose annual consumption would place them among the city’s largest users. It takes effect upon adoption and publication and can end before a year if the city repeals it or adopts replacement regulations.

Woodbury’s three existing data centers include two IronGate facilities and a Medtronic facility at 515 Bielenberg Drive.

The city identified the three centers as similar or like uses and does not regulate them through conditional use or other zoning permits, but the future study could establish regulations and rules for permits that would affect existing facilities and future development.

At its existing Woodbury facilities, IronGate lists 15 megawatts of capacity for computing equipment at 401 Bielenberg Drive, its east campus, and 6 megawatts leased at 500 Bielenberg Drive, its west campus. The company describes both campuses as fully leased. Its website does not report either facility’s actual electricity use or capacity for future expansion.

Operators of the facility at 500 Bielenberg Drive had told the city they were at electrical capacity, although space remained available inside the building, Searles said. City officials did not provide exact electrical capacity figures for each facility at the meeting.

EVENT Sep 29: Monticello Tech LLC, data center developer, hosts meeting (Wright County)

Posted on by
Reply

The Monticello Times reports…

Monticello Tech LLC, the developer proposing a large data center campus in Monticello, will hold a community open house from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29, at River City Extreme, 3875 School Boulevard.

The event is being organized by the developer and is not a city-hosted public meeting. Representatives are expected to present information about the proposed development and answer questions from community members.

It will be the second open house hosted by the development team, following an event held at the same location in January.

Doors will open at 6 p.m., with the Monticello Tech presentation beginning at 6:15 p.m. A question-and-answer session will follow, along with small-group breakout sessions for additional questions.

The proposed campus would encompass up to 3 million square feet on land south of 85th Street Northeast and east of Highway 25.

The open house is free and open to the public. Appetizers, water and soda will be provided.

MN Letters to the editor on data centers (Aug 17-Sep 22, 2026): a look at the ranges of views

Posted on by
Reply

This is the second in a growing series. As data centers have been an increasingly hot topic, I’ve posted informational articles, events (announcements and notes), decisions and counter decisions. In July, I began collecting editorials that crossed my transom with minimal curation to share with readers in chronological order. Again, this is the second edition in this roughly monthly series.

It’s meant as a quick scan of what topics are rising to the top for others. I will likely continue to collect and post in the future. I usually try to be balanced, but this is more illustrative of what crosses my path.

Port: Refocus the data center debate from hysteria to reality: They’re getting built
Aug 17, 2026 InFORUMN
Demand for data centers is being driven by our demand for digital services, including AI. Those who think we can stop their construction are kidding themselves.

Other View: Building data centers in space a crazy but great idea – Duluth News Tribune
Aug 21, 2026 Duluth News Tribune
From the editorial: “Orbital data centers may prove to be a completely irrational business venture. That’s no reason to oppose them.”

Letter: Debunking the case against a data center moratorium
Aug 22, 2026 InForumn
Carter Hass of Valley City writes about positives and negatives of data centers, not the politics.

Letter about Harmony data center…
Aug 24, 2026 Fillmore County Journal
“For Harmony, the central question is simple: What concrete economic benefit do local residents receive, and who carries the risk if the projections prove wrong?”

Letter: Data center comes at Pine Island’s expense
Aug 25, 2026, Post Bulletin
“Pine Island belongs to the people — not to Google.”

Other View: Secrecy a surefire way to lose public trust on data centers – Duluth News Tribune
Aug 26, 2026, Duluth News Tribune
From the editorial: “While NDAs aren’t unheard of in the public sector, using them to fuzzy up the details of a topic of such intense public interest is arguably never appropriate.

National View: Data-center moratoriums penalize public schools, taxpayers
Aug 31, 2026 Duluth News Tribune
From the column: “With two decades of data-center growth, Loudoun (County, Virginia) has maintained its pastoral character and remains a destination for many … who want good jobs and a better quality of life.”

Data centers, community growth, and looking ahead
Sep 3, 2026, Isanti-Chisago County Times
“At the same time, local communities have every right to ask questions.”

Letter: Look to the facts in data center disputes
Sep 3, 2026 Hometown Source
“Most of us use a data center every day without thinking about it.”

Data centers, cameras and AI
Sep 4, 2026, Pine County News
We all want the technology that helps make our lives easier and safer, but we need to consider the tradeoffs to our health, environment and civil liberties.

McFeely: Data center propaganda in full swing
Sep 7, 2026 InForum
Polling shows data centers increasingly unpopular, but ND Republicans and pundits don’t want to hear it

Data centers, cameras and AI
Sep 7, 2026, North Pine County News
“We all want the technology that helps make our lives easier and safer, but we need to consider the tradeoffs to our health, environment and civil liberties.”

Some Data Centers Are Good
September 08, 2026, Twin Cities Business
“There’s a way to win here, and it’s not by going the route of the moratoriums. We need to start by agreeing that some data centers are good.“

Opinion | Before a data center moves forward, Minneapolis must listen to the river
Sep 10, 2026, Minnesota Star Tribune
“We need to know how the proposed data center in the old Minnesota Star Tribune printing facility would impact the Mississippi River.”

Interim councilor says ‘don’t close your mind’ on data center discussion
Sep 11, 2026, Faribault Daily
“Anderson also warned about misinformation plaguing the conversation around data centers and thinks the community should dig deeper as it weighs the pros and cons.”

They Agreed, So I Read It Twice: The View from Up North
Sep 12, 2026, Minneapolis Times
“Lisa Demuth and Amy Klobuchar have found rare common ground on data centers: let communities decide, insist on transparency and make developers answer the hard questions.”

Data centers can be built responsibly
Sep 15, 2026, MinnPost
“We’re not having a full, balanced conversation about the risks and potential benefits of data centers in Minnesota.”

Ramstad: AI won’t kill us, and government won’t save us
Sep 16, 2026, MN Star Tribune
“Stop elevating AI executives as gods and expecting politicians to do things they don’t understand.”

MINNEAPOLIMEDIA EDITORIAL | Minnesota’s Data Center Boom Is Becoming a Test of Energy, Water and Local Democracy
Sep 17, 2026, MinneapoliMedia
The arrival of large data center proposals in Minnesota was initially presented as a straight economic development story… That framing is no longer adequate.

Artificial intelligence
Sep 17, 2026, Timberjay
Time to put the brakes on a technology with too many questions

Statewide View: Minnesota cannot afford to sit out data-center investments
Sep 19, 2026 Duluth News Tribune
From the column: “Prosperity comes from building things, attracting investment, and creating an environment where businesses want to grow.”

Cal Thomas: Will AI cause Doomsday in the world?
Sep 10, 2026, West Central Tribune
From the commentary, “AI should be taken seriously, but we probably need not panic as with so many other doomsday predictions.”

Candidate’s View: Vote for a legislator who knows how to protect public dollars
Sep 20, 2026, Duluth News Tribune
From the column: “My vote in the Minnesota Senate will belong to the people of Senate District 7 — not to any party, special interest, corporation, or political insider.”

Sen Klobuchar Receives Rural Electric Co-op Distinguished Service Award – in part for broadband work

Posted on by
Reply

Senator Klobuchar announces…

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) was awarded the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s (NRECA) 2026 Distinguished Service Award for championing electric cooperatives and the communities they serve. Klobuchar was nominated for the award by co-op leaders, including directors of the Minnesota Rural Electric Association (MREA). Klobuchar is the only Member of Congress to receive the award for the coming year.

They call out her work in broadband…

Klobuchar has long led efforts to support rural electric cooperatives and the communities they serve, as well as to support rural broadband and bridge the digital divide. …

Klobuchar has championed programs such as the Rural Utilities Service Electric Infrastructure Financing for rural infrastructure improvements and ReConnect for rural broadband deployment.

US Senators Sanders and Casar introduce legislation to create new federal agency to ban artificial superintelligence, pause advanced AI development

Posted on by
Reply

Senator Bernie Sanders announces…

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) today introduced the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act — legislation to stop artificial intelligence (AI) oligarchs from building machines humans cannot control and to pause advanced AI development until we have put in place rigorous federal testing and oversight to ensure AI does not harm humanity.

“When you are racing towards a cliff, you don’t just ease up on the gas pedal. You hit the brakes. When the future of humanity is at stake, we cannot let a handful of Big Tech CEOs write their own rules,” Sanders said. “Scientists have been clear: AI is an existential threat to humanity. It must be treated as such. This legislation will permanently ban the development of artificial superintelligence and would put in place an immediate pause on advanced AI development until we have clear safety rules in place — developed by the most knowledgeable scientists in our country. Congress must act now before it is too late.”

“Experts are warning that AI superintelligence, wielded by the wrong humans or by rogue AI, could kill countless numbers of people. But Donald Trump says he wants to encourage it. Something has to change,” Casar said. “Our bill bans the development of artificial superintelligence and pushes for international agreements so that no one, anywhere, builds AI too powerful for humans to control. Furthermore, our bill would immediately halt other dangerous AI capabilities, such as the capacity to develop biochemical weapons, or the capacity for AI to develop new AI instead of humans.”

Over the past few months, we have learned that AI models can circumvent restrictions to hack into computers. We have learned they can create never-before-seen viruses. And we have learned they can automate research to build smarter AI. Even as the AI companies claim they recognize these dangers and want to slow down, they are racing ahead — investing hundreds of billions of dollars into a technology that nobody can fully predict or control. That is unacceptable. The Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act will protect humanity by:

  • Banning Artificial Superintelligence. No person or entity may develop or deploy Artificial Superintelligence — an AI that exceeds human cognitive performance and capabilities across most domains, or has sufficient capabilities to destroy or disempower humanity, including by overthrowing the federal government.
  • Pausing Advanced AI development until a new, federal AI regulatory body is up and running and has established clear rules and model review processes to ensure safe and secure development and deployment of AI.
  • Establishing a new cabinet-level federal Department of Artificial Intelligence to safeguard the public from the dangers of artificial intelligence, including by enforcing a prohibition on artificial superintelligence. This department will be advised by the most knowledgeable scientists in our country to:
    • Monitor frontier AI systems at all stages of the lifecycle for dangerous capabilities.
    • Supervise the removal of dangerous capabilities like subverting shutdown commands or conducting unauthorized cyberattacks.
    • Supervise the destruction of artificial superintelligence.
  • Setting penalties for any person or entity that attempts to violate or circumvent the pauses and prohibitions laid out in this bill. Entities shall be subject to the corporate death penalty, and persons shall be subject to not more than 20 years in prison, which is similar to existing penalties related to unlawfully developing nuclear weapons.
  • Working to ban superintelligence around the world by setting the international policy of the United States to pursue international agreements, allied coordination, and policies such as export controls to prevent the development of artificial superintelligence anywhere in the world.

Read the bill text here.

Read a one-page summary here.

Read a section-by-section summary here.