Google's planned behind the scenes, but the Star Tribune reported how the company ramped up a lobbying blitz at the Legislature last year. Through public records, we showed Google was invited by state officials to talk about the Pine Island data center:
www.startribune.com/state-invite...
NEW: Google will build a data center in Pine Island, near Rochester. The tech giant will also pay for a significant amount of new wind, solar & battery power.
Google has been eyeing the state for at least a year, but had been quiet about its plans:
www.startribune.com/google-annou...
Minnesota Power says it won't use energy from the Nemadji Trail Energy Center, a setback for the $1 billion gas plant proposed in Superior, Wi.
MP said litigation and permitting has gone on too long, and it needs energy quick:
www.startribune.com/northern-min...
One data center developer has disavowed NDAs. “If you can’t talk openly about what you’re trying to do, that says bad things,” he said. “It causes people not to trust what’s going on.”
Story w/ @janahollingsworth.bsky.social & Eva Herscowitz: www.startribune.com/ndas-code-na...
NEW: We asked every city and county with a known data center proposal if they signed an NDA related to the project.
Here's how Minnesota officials use NDAs, code names and shell companies to support data center secrecy:
www.startribune.com/ndas-code-na...
The secrecy behind data centers in Minnesota. From @walkerorenstein.bsky.social and me.
www.startribune.com/ndas-code-na...
The plan reflects an energy sector changing at breathtaking pace, and the lengths biz, local gov's and utilities will go for a piece of the volatile but lucrative AI boom.
The plan has also been met with mixed feelings in the center of MN's renewable power sector
www.startribune.com/in-minnesota...
NEW: Among farm fields and tiny towns in SW Minnesota, a power developer is planning a $4b data center that could grow to $10b.
The project would be remarkable for its rural location, size and an idea to bundle clean power with a data center. www.startribune.com/in-minnesota...
With gas it can often be somewhat bland capital projects, here's the short version from Xcel in a couple of screencaps but link for more detailed info. efiling.web.commerce.state.mn.us/documents/%7...
They say they shouldn't have similar capital needs in the next few years after this
Yep, if approved
These rate increases don't reflect the cost of gas, which is passed to customers directly and varies with the price of the commodity.
In February, the Minnesota PUC approved an 8.17% rate hike for Xcel's natural gas customers. That was slightly lower than what Xcel initially had asked for in November 2023.
www.startribune.com/minnesota-ut...
Xcel Energy has asked state regulators to increase rates for gas heating customers by 8.2%, a typical bill increase of $85.32 annually.
Here's a short explanation from Xcel about why:
Otter Tail Power is asking state regulators to approve a 17.7% rate increase for its customers, which would cost the average household nearly $218 per year.
Below is the company press release with the reasons for the hike, such as ending electricity supply from a coal plant:
An update on the Isle Royale saga. But still no info from federal investigators. www.startribune.com/son-killed-f...
Not all in GOP oppose the transmission plan, however. Officials representing Indiana, Iowa and Kentucky defended it.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said "more than 7 [gigawatts] of proposed energy generation projects would be stalled by months to even years."
www.startribune.com/attempt-by-n...
The fight is another example of how basic grid infrastructure has become more partisan.
As local energy priorities diverge, it’s also straining the cooperation that’s essential for a regional grid that connects 15 states and Canada’s Manitoba province.
www.startribune.com/attempt-by-n...
North Dakota, Montana and three southern states are trying to block a $22b plan for power lines across the Midwest that will reshape the grid as coal plants retire and demand surges.
Our regulators call it an 'economic attack.'
www.startribune.com/attempt-by-n...
RIP to my great aunt Miriam, who survived the Holocaust, fleeing the Nazis after Kristallnacht. She was a brilliant writer and person with an incandescent spirit and a magnetic personality. stljewishlight.org/obituaries/m...
Serious crime is down on Metro Transit, but riders continue to report “quality of life” crime that makes some feel unsafe on light rail.
How the Minnesota Star Tribune used AI to bolster its traditional reporting to cover a mass shooter
www.poynter.org/reporting-ed...
The city of Hermantown won't say Mortenson has proposed a data center but said zoning planned for the land calls for places that house or operate computers, data and transaction processing, along with digital storage.... www.startribune.com/northern-min...
A massive development proposal that Hermantown is describing only as a “communication services facility” was identified as a data center in a January letter sent to city officials. Story w/
@janahollingsworth.bsky.social : www.startribune.com/northern-min...
I've struggled to put into words how I feel about Cascade PBS cutting its entire newsroom today. That newsroom (formerly Crosscut) gave me space to do the most in-depth, informative public policy journalism of my career -- work other journalists continued after I left. The region is now worse off.
At the same time, the average Xcel customer past due on their bill owed $270 in 2019. That figure was nearly double between 2021 and 2024.
www.startribune.com/xcel-is-cutt...
Xcel Energy disconnected 52,549 Minnesota households from electricity or gas last year.
That is more than triple the number from 2019, the year before the pandemic moratorium began. It’s far more than any year in at least a decade: www.startribune.com/xcel-is-cutt...
NEW: Minnesota utilities are shutting off power to customers in record numbers in the years after a temporary ban on the practice during COVID-19.
For Xcel, the ability to disconnect remotely with 'smart' meters is playing a role in the enormous spike: www.startribune.com/xcel-is-cutt...
Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, died Wednesday after being shot at a college event, Trump said.
Perhaps more than any other Minnesota city, Becker’s fate is linked to the changes transforming Minnesota’s energy sector. That now includes the convulsive data center industry.
Amazon's retreat from Becker is the latest 'gut punch' in a volatile era: www.startribune.com/amazon-retre...
