In 2025, Conservation Minnesota helped shape and pass bipartisan legislation that set guardrails around data centers to protect both our environment and consumers and made Minnesota a national leader. Thanks to that legislation, any data center in Minnesota must:
- Pay the full cost of their energy use
- Cover the costs of new infrastructure built to serve them
- Be placed in a separate “rate class” from consumers
- Comply with Minnesota’s 100% clean energy standard
There were no changes in 2026, but one thing’s for sure—the issue isn’t going away. Questions around water use remain while demand for data centers continues to grow. It’s likely we’ll see this issue resurface in the next legislative session. Minnesota needs champions who will prioritize what’s best for Minnesotans and our Great Outdoors. We’ll continue to advocate for that approach.