Van Buren Township's Planning Commission voted 5-1 on October 14 to approve the final site plan and switching-station plan for the proposed Google Project Cannoli campus. The local site-plan approval is a material entitlement milestone; it does not itself establish that all remaining permits are complete or that the campus is operating.
Why it matters
The decision moves a roughly 1-GW proposed Michigan campus beyond the local final-site-plan gate, while construction timing, environmental compliance, and utility implementation remain separate questions.
Watch next
Remaining state and local permits · construction start · DTE/ITC interconnection work · conditions and neighborhood commitments
In a unanimous October 20 decision, the Ohio Supreme Court held that Lordstown was not required to complete site-plan review for Bristolville 25 Developer's proposed four-building data-center complex because the developer had not completed the preliminary steps required for a zoning permit before the village moratorium took effect.
Why it matters
The ruling is a concrete Ohio precedent on when a local data-center pause can stop an incomplete application, while remaining fact-specific to Lordstown's process and record.
Watch next
Underlying permitting steps · Lordstown moratorium expiry or replacement · developer response or future application
AWS held an October 15 open house on a proposed 18-building computing campus on roughly 600 acres in Madison and St. Clair townships near Trenton. The site remains proposed: AWS has not bought the land, Trenton withdrew its annexation petition, and the company said next steps depend in part on the November 3 vote.
Why it matters
The community meeting added project detail to one of southwest Ohio's larger proposed campuses without converting it into an approved development.
Watch next
November 3 Issue 17 result · any renewed annexation petition · township zoning actions · land-control and formal applications
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission approved Cause 46436 on October 14, a capacity-transfer and affiliate-transfer framework between NIPSCO and NIPSCO Generation. Contemporary reporting identifies the arrangement as part of NIPSCO's data-center power strategy; the approval is regulatory approval of the framework, not construction approval for a specific data-center campus.
Why it matters
The decision advances a power-supply structure intended to isolate large-load generation arrangements from standard retail customers, a key execution issue for northern Indiana data-center demand.
Watch next
Contract implementation · generation and transmission filings · customer-cost protections · any associated project-specific construction permits
At an October 16 special Planning Commission hearing, Bloomington took public testimony on draft data-center rules and continued the hearing to November 16 rather than adopting a recommendation. The draft remains proposed; the Commission is expected to deliberate before any City Council final action.
Why it matters
The process will set the next local entitlement framework as Bloomington's temporary pause on larger data centers approaches expiration.
Watch next
November 16 continued hearing · Planning Commission recommendation · November 23 City Council consideration · moratorium expiry
A settlement announced October 19 requires the Wisconsin DNR to conduct a statewide strategic analysis of anticipated AI-data-center and supporting-infrastructure impacts. The agreement resolves litigation over DNR permits for the proposed Lighthouse campus in Port Washington; those existing permits remain valid and the settlement does not create a permitting pause.
Why it matters
The statewide analysis creates a new environmental-review track for Wisconsin's buildout while leaving already-issued Lighthouse permits in place.
Watch next
DNR scope, comment process, and hearings · analysis deadline · Lighthouse transmission and construction records · future permitting response
Madison staff presented a proposed data-center zoning framework to the Sustainable Madison Committee on October 19. The framework would define size tiers, restrict large facilities to industrial areas, and not allow hyperscale facilities over 100,000 square feet; it is staff guidance under review, not enacted zoning.
Why it matters
The proposed framework would materially narrow siting options in the state's capital if advanced through later public review and Common Council action.
Watch next
October 21 Business and Economic Resources Committee discussion · October 27 public meeting · formal ordinance drafting · Common Council action
At the October 19 Hermantown City Council meeting, Google said it would no longer seek abatement for its proposed data-center project and outlined a decommissioning agreement. The campus remains proposed and still requires its special-use-permit and related local decisions.
Why it matters
Removing the abatement changes the local fiscal package for a prominent Minnesota proposal while leaving the central entitlement and environmental questions unresolved.
Watch next
Special-use-permit recommendation · October 26 Council action · development-agreement terms · well and decommissioning safeguards
Governor Josh Shapiro filed an October 15 petition to intervene in a Pennsylvania PUC proceeding challenging PPL Electric Utilities' rate structure, seeking protections against data-center-related cost shifting and reliability risk. The filing is an intervention request, not a final PUC decision or a new rate rule.
Why it matters
The intervention elevates large-load cost allocation in a utility territory with rapidly growing data-center demand and could influence the terms developers face.
Watch next
PUC intervention ruling · Office of Consumer Advocate case schedule · PPL rate-design evidence · any settlement or commission order
Forward Township received the developer's resubmission for the proposed Misty Hollow Energy & Data Campus on October 15, including revised preliminary land-development and stormwater materials. The plans remain under review; the resubmission is neither a township approval nor construction authorization.
Why it matters
The amended filing restarts a substantive local-review phase for a paired energy-and-data proposal in Butler County and puts the adequacy of stormwater and engineering responses at the next gate.
Watch next
Township engineer review · rescheduled Planning Commission meeting · Board of Supervisors action before the statutory review deadline · agency comments
The Town of Newport's Planning Board held the October 15 installment of its scheduled public listening sessions on what role, if any, data centers and commercial crypto mining should have locally. The town's moratorium remains in place; no final zoning rule was adopted through the listening session.
Why it matters
The public-input process is an early but useful signal of how a central New York locality may translate its existing pause into future siting standards.
Watch next
November and December listening sessions · draft zoning language · Planning Board recommendation · Town Board action before moratorium expiry