The (Almost) Daily Brief

Hermantown Adopts Second Environmental Review for 1.7-Million-Square-Foot Data Center

By Megan Dayton · 10/7/2026

Join me TOMORROW. I am brushing off my demography skills at the ACEC Minnesota Leadership Breakfast to walk through the demographic and economic forces reshaping the engineering workforce, and what they mean for hiring, retention, and firm strategy. 8am to 10:30am, $55. Registration is open.

POLICY  MISO has asked federal regulators to let generation projects leave its 2022 interconnection queue without a penalty. The grid operator filed the proposal at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Sept. 21 and asked for an order by Oct. 19, a day before the 2022 cycle reaches its second decision point. Projects in that cycle could withdraw penalty free before Decision Point II on Oct. 20. The filing also raises the threshold that lets a project exit without penalty later in the process, from a 35 percent increase in network upgrade costs to 50 percent, and it caps the last study phase at one restudy across all cycles. MISO’s current rules allow repeated restudies in that phase. The operator told the commission that nonviable projects stay in the study process to avoid withdrawal penalties, and that late withdrawals trigger restudies that delay everyone behind them. The Organization of MISO States, which represents state regulators, tentatively supports the proposal. Ameren and Alliant Energy urged approval, and RWE Americas backed it while asking for further reforms. Pathway Power protested the higher cost threshold, saying MISO developed the proposal with a limited group of stakeholders and allowed 10 days for comments, and that it shifts financial risk onto the projects that stay in the queue.

Source: Utility Dive, Oct. 6

FUNDING  MnDOT has opened the letter-of-intent window for its next round of Transportation Alternatives grants. The Northwest Minnesota Area Transportation Partnership announced its solicitation Monday for fiscal year 2031 program funding, and letters of intent are due Friday, Oct. 30. The program carries $12.5 million statewide, sub-targeted to the seven area transportation partnerships. Eligible work includes pedestrian and bicycle facilities, historic preservation, and Safe Routes to School. Greater Minnesota applicants file a letter of intent first, and a regional representative then reviews the proposal and the steps required to deliver a federally funded project before a full application. Reviews by the regional development organization, metropolitan planning organization, or MnDOT district begin Nov. 2, and recommendations to proceed go to applicants by Nov. 25. The full application period opens Nov. 30 and closes Friday, Jan. 8. The partnerships select projects by March 29. For the 2026-2027 cycle MnDOT has handed the entire application process to the partnerships. The seven-county metropolitan solicitation runs through the Metropolitan Council and its Transportation Advisory Board.

Sources: MnDOT, Transportation Alternatives; MnDOT, Northwest Area Transportation Partnership

POLICY  MnDOT is taking comment on the first update to its statewide bicycle plan in ten years. The draft Statewide Bicycle+ System Plan is open for public comment through Friday, Oct. 23. The plan sets the vision, goals, and strategies for the department’s role in supporting bicyclists and other riders. MnDOT last updated the plan in 2016 and has since added the plus sign to cover e-bikes and other battery-powered devices. Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger said the plan will help the department and local partners align policies that deliver improvements for active transportation. The draft rests in part on several rounds of engagement with stakeholder groups and the public. Once the comment period closes, MnDOT will meet with each project committee to present the results and any proposed revisions.

Source: MnDOT, Oct. 6

ENG  State regulators have issued a draft site permit for a Dakota County battery rated at 150 megawatts. The Public Utilities Commission will hold two public hearings on Castle Rock Solar’s application for the Castle Rock Battery Energy Storage System in Castle Rock Township, docket ESS-25-430. The first runs online Monday, Oct. 19 from 12pm to 2pm. The second is at Farmington High School, 20655 Flagstaff Ave, on Wednesday, Oct. 21 from 6pm to 8pm. Written comments close Nov. 4 at 4:30pm. The 6.8-acre site sits entirely inside the footprint of the previously permitted Castle Rock Solar facility. Associated facilities include battery enclosures, inverters and transformers, electrical collection lines, access roads, and fencing. An administrative law judge from the Court of Administrative Hearings will preside and summarize the public testimony for the commission.

Source: Minnesota Environmental Quality Board Monitor, Oct. 6

ENG  Olmsted County and Rochester have put a creek realignment out for public comment. The environmental assessment worksheet for the South Branch Cascade Creek Stream Restoration is available, and comments close Nov. 5. The project would realign 4,229 linear feet of the existing channel, moving the stream north of where it runs now. The design calls for a channel carrying the dimension, pattern, and profile of a natural stream, following the restoration already completed in Phase 1 east of the site. The county lists improved water quality, floodplain connectivity, and in-stream habitat among the goals. Olmsted County is proposing the work in coordination with Rochester, which is the responsible governmental unit.

Source: Minnesota Environmental Quality Board Monitor, Oct. 6

ENG  A Fillmore County quarry paid a $16,000 water pollution fine after redesigning its stormwater system. Bruening Rock Products, based in Decorah, bought the 30-acre quarry near Harmony in 2010. The state later raised concerns that runoff collecting in an old pit was warming before it flowed through a natural spring into Crane Creek, a designated trout stream. A stormwater plan was not approved until 2023. Owner Greg Bruening said the company worked two years with the Department of Natural Resources, the Pollution Control Agency, and engineers to design the dikes and settling cells now in place. Crews built long earth ridges that route rainwater into constructed ponds, holding sediment-laden water until solids settle so that only clean water reaches the creek. Bruening put the cost at $300,000 and said one settling cell remains to be built this fall. The state is using the site as a pilot example for other quarries. The Pollution Control Agency did not respond to a request for comment.

Source: KTTC, Oct. 7

ENG  MnDOT presented a first-in-the-nation buggy warning signal to engineers from eight states. The department installed the motion signal in January on Highway 44 between Mabel and Canton in Fillmore County. It detects an Amish buggy on the road and warns approaching drivers. Traffic Operations Engineer David Tsang, who developed it, presented the work Tuesday to transportation department engineers from eight Midwestern states. Tsang said buggies typically carry no lights and are painted black, which makes them hard to see, and that the danger comes from mixing high-speed and low-speed vehicles. MnDOT District 6 covers 11 counties in southeastern Minnesota and holds the state’s largest Amish settlement, in Fillmore County. Tsang said the department is now working on a radar-based version suited to wider use, and that Amish communities are buying cheaper land and traveling roads where drivers do not expect buggies.

Source: KTTC, Oct. 6

POLICY  Comments close Nov. 6 on the federal elevation certificate that surveyors and engineers seal. FEMA is seeking clearance from the Office of Management and Budget to keep collecting the National Flood Insurance Program’s Elevation Certificate and Floodproofing Certificate, and it published a 30-day notice on Oct. 7 at 91 FR 64160, docket FEMA-2026-0166. The agency says respondents are primarily surveyors, architects, or engineers, and it puts the annual burden at 3,517 responses, 12,735 hours, and $714,083 in respondent cost. Communities in the program use the certificates to document that new construction and substantial improvements meet the minimum floodplain standards at 44 CFR 60.3(c)(2) and (3), which require the lowest floor to sit above the base flood elevation. Nonresidential structures may instead be floodproofed under 44 CFR 60.3(c)(3)(ii), which requires walls substantially impermeable to water and structural components able to resist hydrostatic and hydrodynamic loads and buoyancy. Policyholders may also file an elevation certificate to set premiums and to claim the machinery and equipment discount. FEMA took five comments during a 60-day window that opened June 1. The Association of State Floodplain Managers and the City of Tucson asked for more comment space on the form, clearer and more industry-standard wording, and changes to the electronic form’s capacity and its use alongside other programs.

Source: Federal Register, Oct. 7

BIZ  Projects over $1 billion now take one of every four dollars spent on nonresidential construction. ConstructConnect chief economist Michael Guckes said that concentration is distorting the indicators firms read. Total construction starts fell in August after a July jump in large data center and manufacturing awards. He attributed that month-to-month swing to the timing of megaprojects. Backlog rebounded in August, and contractors holding data center awards carry substantially more work than those without. Juan Arias, national director of U.S. industrial analytics at CoStar, said growth is concentrated in infrastructure, power, advanced manufacturing, and data centers, while other segments contribute less. Manufacturing construction has pulled back from its 2024 and 2025 highs even as the semiconductor portion grew, with chemical and automotive work below year-ago levels. Data center planning cooled month over month in August. Construction input prices rose 1.2 percent on the month and sit 8.9 percent above August 2025, with metal and petroleum products, switchgear, and copper wire posting the largest increases. Guckes said the subcategory a firm competes in may be the most important factor in its near-term success.

Source: Construction Dive, Oct. 6

BIZ  The Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce has endorsed Google’s Pine Island data center. The chamber said Tuesday that Project Skyway represents an opportunity for Pine Island and the surrounding region through investment, job growth, infrastructure, education, and tax base. Under a financial agreement passed in February, developer Ryan Companies would fund $100 million of utility and road infrastructure, a $24 million fund for Pine Island schools, and $3 million in direct funding for the city, alongside $130 million in new property tax revenue over the project’s first 28 years. The project would support 700 skilled trades jobs during construction and 100 permanent jobs, making Google the city’s second-largest employer. A separate agreement between Xcel Energy and Google would add 1,900 megawatts of generation: 1,400 megawatts of wind, 200 megawatts of solar, and 300 megawatts of battery storage. Chamber president Ryan Parsons said the benefits set out in the agreements could extend beyond the site.

Source: Rochester Post Bulletin, Oct. 6

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