Views of Harmony City Council Meeting on data centers on Aug 5 (Fillmore County)

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Earlier I wrote about the upcoming City County meeting in Harmony (Aug 5) to discuss data centers. Post Bulletin offers some perspective on the meeting…

For the last several months, Harmony city officials have worked on a draft ordinance that would define the kind of data center to be built in Harmony. A proposed ordinance is set to be rolled out at a public meeting on Aug. 5, 2026, in the city hall chambers and could set the stage for receiving bids from tech companies.

Harmony Mayor Steve Donney, a data center supporter, emphasizes that the data center exists as a proposal only.

If the city does go forward, it would be a “small” data center compared to the larger projects underway in Pine Island and Cannon Falls. It would be built on 60 acres on the northwest edge of Harmony near the intersection of U.S. Highway 52 and County Road 22. Its growth and operations would be restricted by the proposed ordinance, he said.

He said many opponents have in their minds that Harmony is looking to build a massive, hyper-scale data center and that is not the case. …

Opponents aren’t placated at the moment. Robbie Brokken, a Harmony resident, said she worries that a center will cause utility rates to rise, contaminate the land and water and make horrible noise. Property values, she fears, will plummet. The benefits touted by data center advocates — new jobs, a boost to city finances — won’t be enough if it comes at such cost.

Pine Island data center on hold until court ruling (Goodhue County)

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KSTP.com reports…

A lawsuit has paused a planned data center in Pine Island.

Construction was supposed to start this month on Project Skyway near Highway 52. Earlier this year, the Pine Island City Council approved a conditional use permit to develop at least 100 acres on nearly 500 acres of land.

“This is my home,” Janet Hanke said.

But Hanke said she has questions about the city’s future and about the proposed project in the city of about 4,000 people.

The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) sued Pine Island and the developer Ryan Companies. The nonprofit claims the city did not conduct an adequate environmental impact study before approval.

“That’s where the public can see how is this going to affect my resources, the water that I depend on, the air that I breathe, my quality of life,” Kathryn Hoffman said, CEO of The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. “The first concern is really about the secrecy.”

For now, MCEA is waiting for a court ruling. Until then, construction cannot start.

Kandiyohi County Board approves fiber expansion to Svea

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Yahoo News reports...

Fiber internet is spreading farther in Whitefield Township through Svea. An expanded infrastructure project has been approved by the Kandiyohi County Board and will pass by 70 additional properties from the originally intended 52, for a total of 122 passings.

More on the project…

In April of this year, the voted to approve the installation of fiber internet around Svea in partnership with Vibrant Broadband and Whitefield Township. The original project used American Rescue Plan Act funds, according to Kandiyohi County Administrator Kelsey Baker.

More details…

The expansion of the project will cost the county $88,927.98. This is in addition to the $100,800 in rescue plan dollars approved for the original plan. The new costs will be drawn from the county’s reserve funds as one-time expenditures.

“There was some leftover ARPA dollars for broadband at the time we had to make a commitment. Those dollars went into reserve and now they are coming back out. It is not new levy dollars being used here,” Kandiyohi County Commissioner Roger Imdieke said during the discussion Tuesday.

The cost to the county is matched funds. Kandiyohi County and Vibrant Broadband each will pay for 28% of the project expansion. Whitefield Township pays 9% of the costs, and the state Broadband Line Extension Connection Program will pay 35%.

The original project cost a total of $210,000. The project expansion will cost an additional $312,532.26. Together, the total project is now $522,532.26.

KSTP/SurveyUSA poll finds Minnesotans are concerned about data centers

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KSTP reports…

Data centers continue to concern Minnesotans to the point that most oppose new construction of them in the state.

Results of a new KSTP/SurveyUSA poll indicate that Minnesotans’ hesitancy toward data centers stems from concerns about the centers’ impact on resources, costs and even just an overall apprehension with artificial intelligence (AI).

The article breaks down results by segments of data. And you find more KSTP/SurveyUSA poll results here.

Government Accountable Office looks at IIJA and IRA

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The GAO (Government Accountable Office) reports…

The IIJA and IRA provided billions in federal funding to agencies to distribute through mechanisms like grants and loans. Beginning in January 2025, executive orders directed agencies to pause this funding to review it for consistency with administration priorities. Grant recipients have raised concerns that delays in distributing these funds affect their ability to implement their projects.

GAO was asked to review the status of IIJA and IRA funding. This report describes selected agencies’ (1) IIJA and IRA budget authority, obligations, rescissions, and disbursements for fiscal years 2022 to 2025; (2) processes for reviewing IIJA and IRA funding in response to executive orders; and (3) IIJA and IRA funding review status.

To address these objectives, GAO selected agencies with among the highest amount of combined IIJA and IRA funding. Of these agencies, GAO selected EPA, Interior, NTIA, and DOT for this report. GAO will report on the Department of Energy and Department of Agriculture separately.

GAO analyzed the IIJA and IRA and financial data from agencies’ accounting systems and the agencies’ policies and guidance for reviewing IIJA and IRA funding. GAO also analyzed and summarized selected agency review data and found these data to be sufficiently reliable for the purpose of describing the status of reviews with some limitations. For example, EPA and NTIA did not provide all requested data. GAO also interviewed selected agency officials for each of the objectives.

Here’s what they found…

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provided budget authorities for transportation, infrastructure, and energy projects. Together, the four agencies selected for this review—the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of the Interior (Interior), National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and Department of Transportation (DOT)—obligated a majority of their IIJA or IRA funding.

  • IIJA. Of the approximately $574.7 billion provided to them, the four agencies obligated about 76 percent and disbursed about 54 percent of obligated funds for fiscal years 2022 to 2025.
  • IRA. Of the around $53.7 billion provided to them, EPA, Interior, and DOT obligated about 72 percent and disbursed about 60 percent of obligated funds for fiscal years 2022 through 2025. In July 2025, Congress rescinded $6.4 billion of the three agencies’ unobligated IRA funds per agencies’ data.

Most selected agencies reported developing new processes to review IIJA and IRA funding in response to dozens of executive orders issued starting January 20, 2025. The agencies used a variety of approaches to implement reviews, such as searching for terms from executive orders like “diversity” or “environmental justice.” Senior leadership for all selected agencies made final decisions on whether awards should be approved without modification, modified (funded with changes to terms or amounts), or canceled (discontinued), according to selected agencies’ officials and documentation. The extent to which agencies continued to obligate and disburse IIJA and IRA funds during their reviews varied within and across agencies.

As a result of their reviews, selected agencies reported approving about 9,500 awards ($128 billion) and canceling about 800 ($17.8 billion). More than 2,500 awards were pending a decision ($33.6 billion) as of varying dates shown below.

Status of Selected Agencies’ Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act Funding Reviews, as of the Dates Indicated

US House Committee approves bills aimed at modernizing the nation’s grid for AI data centers

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Broadband Breakfast reports…

House Republicans and Democrats found common ground Tuesday in supporting legislation aimed at shielding ratepayers from the rising grid costs associated with data center growth.

The Ratepayer Protection Act, H.R. 9340, sponsored by Reps. Gabe Evans, R-Colo., and Kathy Castor, D-Fla., sailed through the House Energy and Commerce Committee in a 52-0 vote, along with five additional measures focused on modernizing the nation’s power grid.

EVENT July 23: Pine Island City Council meeting on data centers (Goodhue County)

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KAAL 6 News reports…

After months of opposition to a proposed data center in Pine Island, some residents spoke in favor of the project during Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

Supporters told council members they believe the data center would bring economic benefits to the community, including new investment and growth for the city.

Construction on the project remains on hold after a judge issued a court order in response to a lawsuit raising environmental concerns.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for Thursday 23 July.

 

OpenAI says its AI models went rogue and hacked another tech company during test

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NBC News reports…

OpenAI said that an autonomous agent powered by its advanced artificial intelligence models went rogue during a security test and triggered a hack that compromised the infrastructure of AI startup Hugging Face. NBC News’ Brian Cheung reports.

 

How is Brooklyn Park Police Department using AI? (Dakota County)

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CCX Media reports on AI use by Brooklyn Park Police Department. Great for areas that have broadband access…

From health care to education, artificial intelligence is rapidly changing our world. Now, that same technology is being used by the Brooklyn Park Police Department.

MN University professors are creating tools and toolkits to help communities understand impacts of data centers

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MN Daily reports on how university professors are supporting the communities by researching large-scale data center facilities’ community impacts. The article starts with a basic introduction to data centers and goes into explanation of how the university professors are (or could be) using their resources to help the community….

“There is a need for education and capacity building so that communities can effectively engage in this technically complicated space,” Chan said.

To fill this gap, University of Minnesota researchers are deploying their expertise.

There may be a tool to help provide third party data on water use…

Hydrology professor John Nieber and Geosyntec engineer Nigel Pickering are using data centers as a case study for a state-funded project assessing the cumulative impacts of small and hyperscale facilities on local water systems.

While 20 years of state water records are available, the challenge lies in modeling the physical impact. The researchers are using LiDAR and GIS, which are mapping technologies, and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources data to map these subterranean effects.

The missing piece is transparent data from the tech companies on their exact internal water use, Pickering said, but the system could be built to ingest that data as soon as it becomes available.

“Collecting the spatial information [isn’t] going to be a big challenge,” Nieber said. “The challenge is accurately accounting for the specific behavior of individual data center designs.”

Their tool will model how data centers consume and redistribute water, transforming unknown environmental risks into quantifiable metrics so communities can make informed choices.

Professors are working on a toolkit for local policymakers…

[Humphrey School assistant professor Elise] Harrington and University law professor James Coleman are analyzing data center development around the country to create a decision-making toolkit for local leaders.

“Our role is not to advocate that local governments should be for or against data centers, but that they need the best information to make the right decision in close collaboration and coordination with their own residents and their own community members,” Harrington said.

Designed as a customizable menu of options, the toolkit overlays a data-center lens onto existing municipal frameworks like land use, zoning and moratoria. However, because cities lack authority over major utilities, asking the right questions is vital. Water metrics are intuitive for cities operating local water utilities, Harrington noted, but navigating the electricity sector remains a significant blind spot.

EVENT Aug 24: Carlton County Board to discuss a data center moratorium

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KAXE reports…

The Carlton County Board has scheduled a public hearing to discuss a data center moratorium.

The public hearing was scheduled during the July 14 Carlton County Board meeting.

If approved, a year-long interim ordinance — commonly known as a moratorium — would be put in place while the county conducts a study. The study would evaluate whether additional data center regulations are needed in the county.

The public hearing comes after the grassroots Carlton County Land Stewards requested a moratorium, at both a county planning commission meeting and a board of commissioners meeting. The requests were followed by multiple members of the group speaking at the July 7 Committee of the Whole meeting.

It also comes as nearby Hermantown considers a proposal from Google to build a data center there.

The hearing will be at 4:15 p.m. Aug. 24 in the Carlton County Transportation Building Board Room in Carlton.

EVENT July 25: What’s the Data on Data Centers? in Mankato

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A notice from the planners…

A People’s Hearing on Public Health, Environmental Justice, and Greater Mankato’s Future

How might data centers impact our climate and health? What’s happening in Greater Mankato – and what can you do about it?

Join us for a presentation and Q&A session on how AI-driven data center growth could impact our community’s health and climate — and what you can do about it. Share your experiences, voice your concerns, advocate for stronger policies, and connect with fellow community members and advocates. Your input can help shape fairer data center policy and implementation.

Event hosted by the Southcentral Minnesota Clean Energy Council, Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, Many Rivers Network, and Global Civilian Coalition.

EVENT Aug 3: North Mankato public meeting on data center moratorium

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Mankato Free Press reports…

North Mankato residents will have the chance to speak their mind regarding a year-long data center moratorium, following shortly after Mankato unanimously passed a moratorium of their own after the majority of public input was in favor of the ordinance on July 13.

The City Council unanimously voted in favor of setting a public hearing on Aug. 3 on an ordinance authorizing a study and imposing a moratorium on data centers.

The proposed ordinance defines a large-scale data center as a facility primarily used for storing, processing, managing or transmitting digital data that exceeds 250,000 square feet or uses 50,000 gallons of water per day or more. The definition also includes supporting infrastructure such as offices, cooling systems, generators, water storage and utility substations, while excluding smaller computing facilities that are incidental to another primary use.

Under the proposed ordinance, any new data center is considered a prohibited use within the city during the moratorium. The ordinance also bars the construction or expansion of new or existing data centers and directs the city not to accept, review, process or approve permit applications or other requests related to those projects while the moratorium remains in effect.

The new action follows a July 6 council work session where council members discussed adopting a temporary moratorium to allow time to study potential zoning regulations, environmental impacts and development standards for data centers. No formal action was taken at that meeting.

EVENT Aug 5: Harmony City Council meeting to discuss data center ordinance (Fillmore County)

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The Fillmore County Journal reports…

At the July 14 Harmony City Council meeting, the consent agenda was approved and included the minutes of the special and regular meetings on June 9, the claims and June checks, the investment report and cash balances, the budget year-to-date, and an annual step increase for Financial Clerk Karen Apenhorst.

And here’s the information on data centers…

The second draft of the Data Center ordinance is ready to review. City Attorney Greg Schieber recommended holding another joint planning session to go over it. The council approved a joint planning session on August 5 at 6 p.m. at the community center. The council also requested that it be posted on the city’s Facebook page as well as the usual posting spots. To avoid the meeting going too late into the evening, questions and comments from the public will not be accepted at that time, but there will be forums for those at a later date.

The City Council met in March 2026 to discuss the data centers. The Fillmore County Journal reported back then…

Members of the Harmony City Council, the EDA, and the Planning and Zoning Commission met on March 18 for another joint planning session to continue discussing the creation of a city ordinance to govern a data center if one were built in Harmony. As of now, there is no development agreement or specific company that is planning to build a data center in Harmony, but there are multiple companies interested due to the fact that MiEnergy and Dairyland Power Cooperative have excess energy available. The joint meetings between the three groups ensures that everyone is on the same page throughout the process of drafting the ordinance and for full transparency to the public. At each of the meetings, the public is welcome to ask questions and give input. Currently, the first draft of the ordinance is in its end stages.

The article go on with great detail about what had been discussion and/or decided.

State Broadband Chiefs, including Minnesota’s Bree Maki, talk about guidance on $21 Billion of remaining BEAD funds

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Broadband Breakfast reports…

Four state broadband directors [including Minnesota’s Bree Maki] said Wednesday they remain in the dark about how they can spend billions in leftover federal broadband dollars, uniting behind a single plea to Washington: Give states the flexibility to fund what their residents actually need.

Speaking during a Broadband Breakfast Live Online panel, the officials described a monthslong wait for guidance from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration on the remaining Non-Deployment funds, money remaining after states finish connecting unserved locations under the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.