Minnesota Data Center Intel

Recent Minnesota data center news

• Jul 31, 2026

  Data center developer eyes disused newpaper printing plant

  The Minnesota Star Tribune has sold its shuttered North Loop printing plant in Minneapolis to Legacy Investing, which plans to convert the site into a data center.

  • Legacy Investing bought the former Star Tribune printing plant on the edge of Minneapolis and plans a new data center there.
  • This is Legacy’s second such redevelopment; it previously turned a downtown Minneapolis building into a data center for artificial intelligence and cloud computing, with capacity of about 30 MW, while the new site is expected to host around 20 MW of data center equipment.
• Jul 30, 2026

  Top House Democrat Attacks Musk over Gas-Powered Data Centers in Tennessee, Mississippi

  Rep. Frank Pallone has sent a July 28 letter to Elon Musk warning that SpaceXAI’s Colossus 1 and Colossus 2 data centers may pose pollution risks in Tennessee and Mississippi.

  • Pallone, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the rapid spread of AI facilities is straining local infrastructure and alarming residents.
  • The article references a July 28 letter and describes community concerns over the pace of giant data centers being built in local neighborhoods.
• Jul 27, 2026

  Data Centers are Hotbeds of Health Risks

  The article argues that U.S. data center growth is driving fossil-fuel use, air pollution, and public health harms, while highlighting policy proposals and clean-energy alternatives.

  • More than 5,500 U.S. data centers already exist, with thousands more under construction or in planning; the article says developers are planning or constructing more than 90 GW of on-site, off-grid natural-gas power plants to avoid grid interconnection queues.
  • It cites estimated health damages of $53–99 million per year from permitted PM2.5 emissions at a Loudoun County, Virginia facility, $6 billion in annual U.S. health costs in 2023 from fossil-fuel plants powering data centers, and a projection of $20 billion annually by 2028; it also notes proposed congressional bills and mentions solar, battery storage, and microgrids as solutions.
• Jul 20, 2026

  Data centres, rising demand, and Alberta's energy bills

  The Pembina Institute published an analysis arguing that Alberta’s proposed approach to powering data centres could raise electricity costs and emissions, and urging better policy on grid access, efficiency, storage, and flexible demand.

  • The article says Alberta’s BYOG (bring your own generation) framework would effectively require new data centres to add gas-fired generation, limiting cleaner options even when renewables and storage could be cheaper and faster to build.
  • It cites Meta’s recently announced 1,800 MW data centre in Sturgeon County and says the project was acknowledged by Alberta officials as carrying up to a 6% decrease on the transmission portion of consumer bills, equal to about $1.50/month for the average household.
  • The piece is commentary/analysis, not a fresh project announcement, and it references other jurisdictions such as Nevada, Texas, and Minnesota as examples of data-centre power procurement using cleaner resources.
• Jul 14, 2026

  New York becomes first US state to impose data center moratorium

  New York has announced a one-year moratorium on new large-scale data centers.

  • Governor Kathy Hochul signed the order into law, immediately pausing environmental permits for projects of 50MW or more while a regulatory framework is developed.
  • The framework will include a Generic Environmental Impact Statement on energy demand, water use and quality, and air quality, and local entities will receive guidance within 60 days on community benefits negotiations; the order also directs consideration of a New York Grid Acceleration Fund.
  • The article also references earlier and proposed legislation, including S.9144 introduced by Elizabeth Krueger and a proposed national moratorium, the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act, introduced by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in March 2026.
• Jul 13, 2026

  Tract looks to develop 900MW data center park outside Richmond, Virginia

  Tract has announced a pre-application filing to develop the Tuckahoe Technology Park, an 872-acre master-planned data center campus in Goochland County, Virginia.

  • Filed a pre-application for a conditional use permit (CUP) through VALCO Goochland, LLC for land in the county’s technology overlay district (TOD West).
  • The proposed campus would include 12 buildings, reach 900MW at full build-out, and require more than $3 billion in investment; a community meeting is scheduled for July 23.
  • Tract says it aims to make sites zoned, powered, and shovel-ready for other developers, and county officials said negotiations have been ongoing since late 2023.
• Jul 9, 2026

  Officials in Elk River, Minnesota, deny data center application, consider moratorium

  Elk River officials have rejected a zoning amendment for Swervo Development Corp. affiliate Elk River Capital’s proposed 33MW data center and are considering a one-year moratorium on new data centers.

  • The Elk River City Council voted against an ordinance amendment for the project at 19178 Industrial Blvd NW, which would have converted an existing 60,000-square-foot industrial building into a 33MW data center in the city’s light industrial zone.
  • The council still needs to vote on a conditional use permit, but has indicated it will likely deny it; the planning commission had already recommended denial in June, and city staff were asked to draft a one-year moratorium on new data centers.
  • The facility was set to be operated by Irongate Data Centers; Swervo-related projects mentioned in the article include sites in Woodbury and Detroit, plus an Eagan colocation conversion facing a separate moratorium and lawsuit.
• Jul 6, 2026 · Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

  The Data Center Water Problem Is Soluble

  ITIF has published a policy report arguing that data center water use can be managed through state-led regulation, standardized disclosure, watershed-based review, and targeted federal support.

  • The report says states should require facility-level water disclosures, use watershed-specific performance standards, and establish joint water-energy review for large data center loads.
  • It also recommends federal action on standardized metrics, procurement, and R&D rather than a national water mandate; examples cited include Nvidia Rubin liquid cooling and Microsoft zero-water cooling designs.
• Jun 24, 2026

  Construction employment rises in 30 states over past year, AGC reports

  The Associated General Contractors of America reported that construction employment increased in 30 states and the District of Columbia between May 2025 and May 2026.

  • Main announcement: AGC reported state construction employment increased in 30 states and D.C. between May 2025 and May 2026; Texas added 18,700 jobs (2.1%), North Carolina added 13,600, Wisconsin added 9,000, and Wisconsin posted the largest percentage increase (6.2%); California recorded the largest annual decline at 13,100 jobs (−1.5%).
  • Monthly detail and risks: From April to May, construction employment increased in 23 states and D.C., declined in 22 states, and was unchanged in 5 states; monthly leaders included Texas (+3,600) and Wisconsin (+2,900). AGC officials Ken Simonson and Jeffrey D. Shoaf cautioned that opposition to data center projects and uncertainty over federal transportation funding pose threats to future construction job growth.
• Jun 19, 2026

  Earth’s Follies Week 70: the murky pool of consequences

  Xylb’tok the Martian publishes a satirical opinion column summarising multiple recent Earth events including US military strikes in Venezuela, a paused US-Iran peace/rebuilding deal, and pollution allegations at Elon Musk’s xAI data centre.

  • Main announcement/action: The piece reports on recent US military strikes in Venezuela (targets linked to Tren de Aragua), a widely reported US contribution of around $300bn towards rebuilding tied to a Trump-Iran peace settlement (the deal was reported paused due to ongoing conflict and followed shortly by a reported ceasefire). It also highlights allegations that xAI’s data centre in Memphis/North Mississippi is emitting pollution from dozens of gas turbines and that the NAACP has called for federal intervention (and that there is a legal effort to shut down the lawsuit).
  • Background and other details: The column is opinion/satire (not a primary announcement); it references reporting from Reuters, The Guardian, BBC, The Independent and AP News, mentions millions in cost overruns and hydrogen-peroxide treatments at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, and cites calls to invoke the Insurrection Act (reported urging by JD Vance). The piece mixes factual references and satire rather than announcing a new policy directly.