The (Almost) Daily Brief

Hermantown Grants the Google Data Center Permit as a Judge Declines to Halt It

By Megan Dayton · 11/2/2026

POLICY  Google agreed to put its proposed Pine Island data center through a state environmental assessment worksheet before construction, settling the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy lawsuit over the project. The advocacy group announced the settlement Oct. 28. Google and its developers must win state approval of an environmental review before construction begins, run the project through the environmental assessment worksheet process with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and wait for both the agency and the city to approve the plan. The review must analyze local community and environmental effects, including noise, light pollution, water use, and effects on energy resources, and must carry a mitigation plan. The findings go public with a 60-day comment period while the agency considers the proposal, and the agency may approve it, approve it with modifications, or reject it. Kathryn Hoffman, the group’s chief executive, told KAXE that because the case settled out of court the review binds no other Minnesota data center, including the Hermantown project, and that statewide enforcement would likely require legislation. She said she hopes other projects adopt similar reviews voluntarily, and noted that Google owns the Hermantown proposal as well. Engineering News-Record reported in June that Goodhue County District Court Judge Patrick Biren had issued a temporary restraining order barring construction on about 100 acres of the 485-acre site, which Ryan Companies is developing, after finding the group had shown possible success on the merits.

Sources: KAXE, Oct. 30; Engineering News-Record, June 8

ENG  MnDOT moved the preferred voltage drop for intelligent transportation system branch and feeder circuits to 4 percent. The department revised its ITS and traffic management system design resources between Oct. 22 and Oct. 29 and published the changes Oct. 30. In the ITS/TMS Design Quick Reference Guide, revised Oct. 29, the copper conductor cable and amperage capacity section was replaced with electrical wire characteristics, Table 3-1 from the ITS/TMS Design Manual is revised, and the circuit breaker sizing explanation is updated. Applicable distances changed for several typical branch conductors, and the maximum preferred amperage tables were recalculated for the 4 percent drop. The fiber optics schematic was updated. The sample plan, also revised Oct. 29, adds proposed signal-system-mounted cameras at notes 54 and 55 on sheet 12. Four detail sheets changed: sidewalks were added to the pole foundation detail in the sediment and erosion control detail, Light Foundation Design E Modified was separated from the CCTV foundation in mulch material type 9 installation, sidewalk placement was revised on non-intrusive detection pole installation, and CCTV cabinet installation was split out from ramp control signal foundation installation in the detail sheet order.

Sources: MnDOT GovDelivery bulletin, Oct. 30; MnDOT ITS/TMS design resources

WORKFORCE  Minnesota State and the University of Minnesota must either right-size their systems, likely by closing campuses, or cut annual budgets by at least $225 million over two years. Both systems, along with 18 private colleges, recorded flat enrollment this fall after several years of increases. A projected 12 percent drop in the number of Minnesota high school graduates sits behind the decision. State projections hold the count of 18- and 19-year-olds steady through 2032, put it in decline between 2033 and 2037, and leave it 10,000 people short of current totals until 2040. Nathan Grawe, a Carleton College economics professor, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that a double-digit enrollment decline would be highly disruptive, and traces it to a 16.5 percent national dip in births that began 18 years ago. Susan Brower, the state demographer, calls the shape “more of a gentle slope, downward slope, than a cliff.” Paul Cerkvenik, who leads the Minnesota Private College Council, puts the state’s shrinkage at 10.5 percent in the five years after 2035, against a 16 percent decline across the Midwest. Dan Currell, a Gustavus Adolphus College trustee and former U.S. Department of Education official, calls the cliff “a monster in the closet that doesn’t exist,” and notes that national graduate counts peak in 2026 and fall back to 2018 levels by 2036. Jack Miner, the University of Minnesota vice president for strategic enrollment management, puts the share of Minnesota high school graduates not going to college at close to 40 percent.

Source: Minnesota Star Tribune, Nov. 2

BIZ  American Electric Power has split a $37 billion transmission program between Jacobs and WSP USA. The utility named Jacobs for its seven-state eastern transmission portfolio and WSP USA for its four-state western portfolio on Oct. 29, one day after it set out a $100 billion capital plan for 2027 through 2031. Neither firm disclosed a contract value, and the $37 billion is planned systemwide transmission investment, not the value of the two awards. Of that total, $17 billion is earmarked for projects driven by regional transmission organizations, $11 billion for system reliability, and $9 billion for transmission serving individual customers. The company expects its transmission rate base to rise from $37 billion this year to $69 billion in 2031. AEP operates the largest 765-kilovolt transmission network in the country, and the plan extends it. Jacobs’ eastern scope covers engineering and design, project management and controls, siting, right-of-way acquisition, and environmental services. Engineering News-Record reports that the WSP western role may cover planning, permitting, engineering, and program delivery. The utility signed 15 gigawatts of new load commitments in the third quarter and puts incremental contracted load at 84 gigawatts by 2031, with 92 percent of that tied to data centers, including cryptocurrency customers, according to its investor presentation. A $5 billion Ohio project shows the scale. Three planned 765-kilovolt lines would serve SB Energy’s 10.4-gigawatt Piketon data center campus, with construction expected to begin in early 2027. AEP organized delivery support for its transmission program into two regional portfolios and selected a firm for each.

Source: Engineering News-Record, Oct. 30

POLICY  The Senate is set to take a cloture vote on Nov. 9 on the motion to proceed to the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. The bill would eliminate the federal right of first refusal for incumbent utilities, stripping their automatic right to build new regional lines, and would require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue a rule making each transmission planning region file a consolidated interconnection and regional transmission planning process. The commission would set a compliance timeline and a penalty for utilities that miss it, including a possible reduction in return on equity. The commission would also establish rate treatments for regional and interregional transmission planning and cost allocation, and require tariffs that allocate those costs to the customers who benefit. Representative Josh Harder, a chair of the Build America Caucus, told Utility Dive the cost-sharing provisions are the most important part of the bill. “We have seen, at least at the FERC level, essentially no new interregional transmission built in a long, long time,” Harder said. The bipartisan House Build More Agenda, announced Oct. 5, was developed alongside the Senate bill and adds policies aimed at clean firm generation, including streamlined nuclear regulation.

Source: Utility Dive, Oct. 29

BIZ  Granite Construction reported a record $7.5 billion backlog for the third quarter, $1.1 billion above a year ago. Revenue rose 23 percent year over year to $1.77 billion. Chief executive Kyle Larkin said on an Oct. 29 earnings call that federal transportation dollars keep flowing to active projects under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act even though Congress did not pass a permanent renewal of the surface transportation bill last month. The company is operating under a continuing resolution that extends surface transportation programs at those levels while work continues on fiscal 2027 appropriations and a longer-term reauthorization. Larkin said a significant portion of the original funding is still unspent, and that he expects those approved funds to support state and local transportation programs over the next several years. Federal work, including airfield and runway paving, roads, site infrastructure, civil work supporting military campuses, and water infrastructure, accounts for $1.3 billion of the backlog, and the contractor expects faster growth in federal, rail, and data center projects.

Source: Construction Dive, Oct. 30

ENG  The Federal Transit Administration issued Safety Advisory 26-01 on Oct. 30 on overhead catenary system and pantograph failures. The advisory recommends that State Safety Oversight Agencies direct the rail transit agencies in their jurisdiction to use their Safety Management System to review and analyze safety performance data, identify hazards tied to catenary and pantograph failures, conduct safety risk assessments, identify new or modified safety risk mitigations, and monitor whether those mitigations work as part of the agency Safety Assurance process. It also recommends the oversight agencies obtain documentation of those actions from the transit agencies they oversee. The agency says it acted in response to recent catenary and pantograph events that highlight emerging systemic risks across rail transit systems, naming structural failures, pantograph entanglements, and downed live wires. The recommended actions run to the oversight agencies, which carry the documentation duty. The advisory sets no comment period and no compliance date.

Source: Federal Register, Oct. 30 (2026-22168)

PROJECTS  Olmsted County broke ground on the Highway 14 and CSAH 44 interchange on Oct. 30. County, state, and federal elected officials joined local engineers and MnDOT staff at a late-morning event. The project redesigns the interchange, constructs on and off ramps, builds four bridges, and moves 750,000 cubic yards of earth. Olmsted County counts 10 to 13 crashes per year at the interchange. Highway 14 carries 30,000 vehicles per day through the interchange and CSAH 44 carries 3,000.

Sources: KTTC, Oct. 30; Rochester Post Bulletin, Oct. 30

POLICY  The Commerce Department preliminarily set zero dumping margins for HD Hyundai Electric and Iljin Electric on large power transformers from Korea. The preliminary results of the antidumping duty administrative review, applicable Nov. 2, cover the period from Aug. 1, 2024, through July 31, 2025, and determine that neither company sold subject merchandise at less than normal value. The department will keep the estimated weighted-average dumping margins currently in effect for the companies it did not select for individual examination. Interested parties may comment before the department issues final results. The underlying antidumping duty order on large power transformers from Korea has been in place since August 2012.

Source: Federal Register, Nov. 2 (2026-22343)

ENG  CPP Wind Engineering launched a wind certification program for utility-scale solar projects on Oct. 28. The consultancy says the program is the first of its kind in the industry. It runs in two parts. Site Certification confirms that a project has assessed climate and site conditions, set a stow strategy, positioned anemometers, and used a qualified tracker or fixed-tilt system. System Qualification is a one-time review of the wind engineering design data and methodology behind a tracker or fixed-tilt product line. Tornado risk sits outside the program and the firm assesses it separately with a probabilistic approach. David Banks, the firm president, said most of the wind damage the firm investigates happens at wind speeds sites see every year, and that most of it can be engineered out. For owners and developers, the site certification produces a documented record of wind engineering diligence for financing, insurance, and project sales.

Source: Solar Power World, Oct. 28

FUNDING  Voters in 11 states decide local and county transportation measures on Nov. 3. The measures cover sales and property taxes, bonds, and a parcel tax for roadways, public transit, safe streets, and bike and pedestrian infrastructure. The Center for Transportation Excellence counts 34 of 39 transit measures already voted on this year as passing, among them a 0.2 percent municipal income tax increase in Athens, Ohio, property tax levies in Cabell County and Huntington, West Virginia, and a 30-year sales tax extension in Sonoma and Marin counties, California. Jessica Grennan, executive director of the American Public Transportation Association Center for Transportation Excellence, told Smart Cities Dive that “these local measures really matter.” Results land Nov. 4.

Source: Smart Cities Dive, Oct. 26

ENG  MnDOT is testing prairie willows in the roadside soil along Interstate 94 at Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis. Hazel Schrader, a University of Minnesota horticulture researcher, is running the study with the department, which planted the first 40 willows in late October and will plant more in the spring. The site is compacted, littered, and carries elevated sodium and chloride levels from road salt. Two varieties came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station at Iowa State University, one of them a standard upland willow that grows to 10 feet. Schrader told the Minnesota Star Tribune that both varieties adapt to a wide range of soil conditions and are dense enough to fill gaps and hold soil. If the plants survive, MnDOT may use them to green medians and shoulders elsewhere. Michelle Huettl of MnDOT said the department also hopes the plants keep taggers off a noise barrier beside the site.

Source: Minnesota Star Tribune print edition, Nov. 2

The (Almost) Daily Brief publishes most weekdays: policy, funding, workforce, and industry news for Minnesota’s engineering firms, in a few minutes of reading. 

Browse past editions or subscribe →