The data center fight in Carlton County, Minnesota
As of September 27, 2026, Carlton County, Minnesota has a data center moratorium in force (action taken Aug 24, 2026; documented end date 2027-08-24).
Status is derived, not stored — a pause with a documented end date flips to Expired on its own — and the source is right next to the claim.
Status today
One-year interim ordinance, unanimous, effective immediately; bars approval of new data center development in every county township, including crypto mining and AI compute. Directs the planning commission to study whether county regulation is needed, with a progress report due back to the board by February 2027
SourceNews
read 2026-08-30
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
Recent news
8 stories tracked since 2026-08-25 across 5 outlets. 8× Local officials are moving to pause or block the project. Most recent: “Carlton County passes data center moratorium” (Moose Lake Star Gazette, 2026-08-27).
- Carlton County passes data center moratorium
- Carlton County approves 1-year data center moratorium
- Carlton County institutes 1-year data center moratorium
- Carlton County holds public hearing on data center moratorium
- Carlton County unanimously approves data center moratorium
- Carlton County holds public hearing on data center moratorium
- Carlton County holds public hearing on data center moratorium
- Carlton County passes one-year moratorium on creation of data centers
Automated news aggregation, not human-verified — follow each link to the original outlet. Part of the story tracker, 8 headlines archived.
What to do next
- Questions to ask at the hearing — force specific answers onto the record.
- Estimate the impact — electricity, water, and rate pressure for any facility size in Minnesota.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- Minnesota briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Nearby in Minnesota
- Pine County (40 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-08-18
- Elk River (109 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-08-03
- Washington County (114 mi) — Enactedfixed term, end date not recorded
- Waite Park (115 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-05-04
- St. Joseph (118 mi) — Enactedfixed term, end date not recorded
- Minneapolis (123 mi) — Enactedexpires soon — 2026-11-21
- Wright County (127 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-05-19
- Inver Grove Heights (129 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-06-26
All 18 tracked actions in Minnesota are on the state page.
As of August 2026 · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Part of the U.S. data center moratorium tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0.