POLICY The wetlands rewrite lands in the Federal Register today. EPA and the Army published their supplemental proposal on the definition of “waters of the United States” today, which starts a 30-day comment clock closing Oct. 9 on docket EPA-HQ-OW-2025-0322. The supplement adds a perennial test to the options already on the table from the November 2025 proposal. A water would be relatively permanent if it holds standing or flowing water year-round in ordinary conditions. A wetland would meet the continuous surface connection test only where the connecting surface water is itself perennial and the boundary between the two is indistinguishable. Both definitions carry the same carve-outs. Drought and other anomalous events would not break jurisdiction, and neither would regular interruptions of 30 consecutive days or fewer in a year. The agencies ask which drought tools should govern that call. The supplement does not reopen ditches, prior converted cropland, waste treatment systems, or groundwater. The test decides where a delineation finds federal jurisdiction and where a Section 404 permit is required.
Sources: Federal Register, Sept. 9; EPA fact sheet; Engineering News-Record, Sept. 8
FUNDING Hennepin County says it is out of room on the Blue Line Extension. County officials told a Sept. 1 meeting in Brooklyn Park that the METRO Blue Line Extension still carries a $224 million gap after the county raised its own commitment to nearly $2.3 billion, and they asked the Metropolitan Council to close it with Section 5307 formula money. The Council disputes that reading of what those funds can pay for, citing federal requirements, state law, and existing agreements. The county points to $126.1 million in 5307 funds the Council spent on the Green Line Extension, and it floated three ways to cut the cost of the 35 planned light-rail vehicles. Ninety-five percent of the non-federal share is identified and the project is 90 percent designed. The federal funding application goes in this fall and a full funding grant agreement is targeted for 2027, with construction starting in 2028 and service in 2033. The Corridor Management Committee meets again Sept. 24.
Sources: MPR News, Sept. 2; Hometown Source, Sept. 8
BIZ Construction planning went flat in August. The Dodge Momentum Index slipped 0.4 percent to 282.0 from July’s revised 283.0, Dodge Construction Network reported Sept. 8. Commercial planning fell 3.0 percent and institutional planning rose 4.9 percent. Sarah Martin, Dodge’s director of economic research, said “weaker data center planning predominantly drove the flatter trend” while most other sectors picked up. The index counts nonresidential projects entering planning, which is the stage where design work is scoped and awarded.
WORKFORCE The Twin Cities added construction jobs faster than all but four metro areas. The Associated General Contractors of America’s metro employment analysis, released Sept. 2 on July data, puts Minneapolis-Saint Paul-Bloomington up 7,200 construction jobs over the year, a 7 percent gain and the fifth-largest increase in the country. The national picture is thinner. Of 360 metro areas, 173 added construction jobs over the year, 127 lost them, and 60 were flat. Houston led on volume at 13,100 jobs and Baton Rouge grew fastest at 27 percent. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario lost the most, 6,100.
Sources: AGC of America release via tEDmag, Sept. 3; AGC construction employment data
ENG Two transmission dockets reach the Public Utilities Commission on Sept. 17. The Commission takes up a route permit for Coneflower Energy’s 345-kilovolt line in Lyon County, a segment under a mile long that would connect the 245-megawatt Coneflower Solar project to Xcel Energy’s Garvin substation. Public hearings ran July 29 and 30 and a draft permit issued June 25. The same agenda carries a request to reconsider the July 15 order clarifying the environmental report scope for PowerOn Midwest, the 765-kilovolt backbone Great River Energy, ITC Midwest, and Xcel propose across southern Minnesota and eastern South Dakota between the Lakefield and North Rochester substations. Route permit applications on that project are targeted for 2027 and service for 2034.
Sources: Minnesota PUC, Sept. 17 agenda; Minnesota PUC, Energy Infrastructure Permitting (Coneflower)
FUNDING Applications for $610 million in federal bus money are due Sept. 21. The Federal Transit Administration’s fiscal 2026 notice puts $589 million into the Low or No Emission program and $21 million into the Buses and Bus Facilities competitive program. States, local governments, tribes, and designated recipients may apply, and private nonprofit transit providers may participate as subrecipients. The federal share runs to 80 percent, rising to 85 percent for buses meeting Clean Air Act or accessibility standards and 90 percent for the equipment and facility components that serve them. Zero-emission applicants must direct 5 percent of the federal request to workforce development unless they document a lower need in a zero-emission fleet transition plan. Garages, charging and fueling infrastructure, and the fleet transition plans themselves are consultant scope.
Sources: Federal Transit Administration; Federal Register, July 27
ENG A shuttered Iowa reactor gets $1.9 billion to come back. The Department of Energy closed a loan of up to $1.9 billion on Sept. 8, through its Office of Energy Dominance Financing, to restart the 615-megawatt Duane Arnold Energy Center in Linn County, Iowa. NextEra Energy targets a restart no later than the first quarter of 2029, pending Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing, and Google holds a 25-year power purchase agreement for the output to serve its Iowa cloud and AI operations. DOE puts the work at 1,500 construction jobs and 450 permanent ones, and the plant at 500,000 homes served. Restarting a plant is a MISO-region answer to the same large-load demand driving Minnesota’s transmission and generation dockets.
Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, Sept. 8; Engineering News-Record, Sept. 8
Vadnais Lake Area Water Management Organization · general engineering services, 2027-2028 · due Sept. 30 · RFP
City of Frazee · Phase 1 archaeological survey, Wannigan Regional Park east bank · due Sept. 18 · RFP
Entries are open for ACEC Minnesota’s 60th annual Engineering Excellence Awards, with winning projects recognized at the Feb. 18, 2027 gala, and the four-session Emerging Leaders program for early-career staff runs this October and November. Sign up before spots fill!
The (Almost) Daily Brief publishes most weekdays: policy, funding, workforce, and industry news for Minnesota’s engineering firms, in a few minutes of reading.