BIZ The drones firms fly for survey and inspection come from one Chinese manufacturer, and a federal proposal would stop the next ones at the border. The Federal Communications Commission issued a public notice on July 21 proposing to bar the continued importation and marketing of foreign-made unmanned aircraft it classifies as “military-grade,” even where the equipment was already authorized for the U.S. market. Seven capability categories are in scope, among them thermal imaging, lidar, docking stations, and aircraft over 55 pounds at takeoff. As written, the proposal reaches back to authorizations granted before Dec. 22, 2025, though aircraft already in an owner’s possession would not be affected. Comments are due Sept. 2. The dependency is close to total. Associated Builders and Contractors surveyed its member companies May 1 to 15 and found 36.1 percent fly drones. DJI accounts for 97.1 percent of primary aircraft and Autel Robotics, also Chinese, for the remaining 2.9 percent. Skydio was named as a primary platform by none. Respondents put the aircraft to work on site progress monitoring (81 percent) and inspections (50 percent), and 28 percent had spent more than $10,000 on hardware. Matt Abeles, the association’s vice president of construction technology, said contractors “would have minimal alternatives based on cost and function.” A separate 100 percent tariff on certain imported drones takes effect Sept. 3.
Sources: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman client alert on the FCC public notice, July 21; Construction Dive, Aug. 26; DroneXL, Aug. 24
ENG A Golden Valley contractor will help build a $1.3 billion NBA arena. The San Antonio Spurs selected Mortenson and San Antonio’s Bartlett Cocke General Contractors on Aug. 26 as construction management leads for their new downtown arena. Overland International is the architect and Pape-Dawson the civil engineer, with CAA Icon serving as project manager. Bexar County is contributing $311 million and the City of San Antonio $489 million, and the team covers the balance along with any cost overruns. The arena anchors a downtown sports and entertainment district that also takes in a convention center expansion and a new hotel.
Source: Construction Dive, Aug. 26
POLICY Minneapolis has put dates on its data-center zoning rewrite. City planning staff’s preliminary recommendations would confine data centers to the downtown DT1 and DT2 districts and allow them only in existing buildings, with a conditional use permit and a cap of 175,000 square feet of white space. Applicants would have to disclose expected water, electricity, and generator use and submit a sound plan, and server rooms would have to be set back from residential units. The City Planning Commission public hearing is set for Oct. 13, the council’s Business, Housing and Zoning Committee for Nov. 5, and the council vote for Nov. 12. Writing on Aug. 26, the North Loop Neighborhood Association said an application need only be deemed complete before the new rules take effect to be judged under the current ones, and that approval is not required by then. The association is tracking Legacy Investing’s proposal for the former Star Tribune printing plant and expects the developer at its planning and zoning committee on Sept. 23, with a board vote Sept. 30.
Sources: City of Minneapolis, data-center text amendment; North Loop Neighborhood Association, Aug. 26
POLICY A fight over who pays for data-center transmission has landed at federal regulators. American Transmission Company and Wisconsin Electric Power Company asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve four amended large-load project commitment agreements and a minimum transmission charge agreement covering Microsoft’s data center in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. ATC expects to spend $500 million on grid upgrades for the site, and the proposed 15-year arrangement has the utility pay ATC for the facility’s projected transmission capacity and bill Microsoft for it. Microsoft objected in an Aug. 21 filing that the agreements were negotiated without it and contain “errors, contradictions and inconsistencies.” It argued retail customers are not shielded from cost shifts, that large-load customers could be charged twice, and that an early termination fee would hand ATC a windfall. The Citizens Utility Board said the proposal “would likely be an improvement over the status quo” while still leaving other customers exposed. Wisconsin regulators approved a similar minimum transmission charge in the spring. ATC is developing the Iron Range 345-kilovolt line now before the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission with Minnesota Power.
Sources: Utility Dive, Aug. 24; WRJN, Aug. 26
POLICY A federal appeals court left the permits for a $28 billion LNG terminal intact. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Aug. 26 rejected a consolidated challenge to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass 2 terminal and the CP Express pipeline in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. Environmental groups and commercial fishermen, led by For a Better Bayou and joined by the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council, argued the commission had not adequately weighed the project’s environmental effects or its consequences for the seafood industry. The court held that the commission acted lawfully and accepted its finding of a moderate but not significant effect on commercial fishing. The terminal is designed to export up to 28 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas a year and is expected to begin operating in late 2027. A separate challenge to the Department of Energy’s approval is still pending, as is oyster-industry litigation over dredge spoil from the construction site.
Sources: Louisiana Illuminator, Aug. 27; Engineering News-Record, Aug. 26
ACEC Minnesota’s 2026 M&A Summit runs Wednesday, September 16, and the four-session Emerging Leaders program for early-career staff runs this October and November. Sign up for both before spots fill up!
The (Almost) Daily Brief publishes most weekdays: policy, funding, workforce, and industry news for Minnesota’s engineering firms, in a few minutes of reading.