Tony Clark, executive director of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, right, speaks Oct. 14, 2026, in Fargo on a panel discussing data centers. Also pictured are, from left, Robert Mayo, research specialist at North Dakota State University, Paul Matthys, president and CEO of Cass County Electric, and agriculture commissioner Doug Goehring. (Photo by Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)
FARGO (North Dakota Monitor) – There’s no way of stopping the development of data centers and artificial intelligence, a North Dakota State University researcher said Wednesday, adding that attempts to slow development would only push it to other areas.
“It’s important to understand that AI is coming. These data centers will be built. There is nothing that can be done to stop it,” Robert Mayo, a research specialist at NDSU’s Challey Institute of Global Innovation and Growth. “All we can do is, through good public policy, choose how it develops and where it develops.”
Mayo noted that local governments and large governments, like the state of New York, have implemented moratoriums as people question the impact of data centers.
“All that does is move it to another county, another state, or another country,” Mayo said.
Mayo was part of a panel discussion of data centers organized by the Challey Institute, titled “Powering the AI Economy: Data Centers and North Dakota’s Future.”
Paul Matthys, president and CEO of Cass County Electric Cooperative, said there are many investors eager to put money into data center projects.
“There’s a tremendous amount of venture capital that’s available,” Matthys said. But those investors are also eager for a return on that investment.
“It’s partially what’s pushing the speed in the market,” Matthys said.
He said Cass County Electric, which will supply power to the Applied Digital data center at Harwood, is content to take its time to ensure its existing customers don’t face higher utility bills or diminished service because of data centers.
“The cooperatives are going to move at our speed, and we’re going to be slow and methodical and do this right,” Matthys said.
The data center at Harwood, north of Fargo, will use as much power as all of the co-op’s other customers combined, he said. But with Applied Digital paying for a new substation and power line upgrades, that benefits existing customers, he said.
He said bringing new power generation to eastern North Dakota is important for serving existing customers, and that new power is not just for data centers.
Minnkota Power Cooperative, which supplies power to Cass County Electric and 10 other co-ops, plans to add a power plant north of Mapleton, using natural gas from the planned Bakken East Pipeline. The pipeline will send natural gas from McKenzie County in the northwest to eastern North Dakota.
Tony Clark, executive director of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissions and a former member of the North Dakota Public Service Commission, commented on data center public policy in North Dakota.
He said North Dakota and other Midwest states typically regulate utilities that generate power, transmit the power and bill customers. He said in the northeast United States and in Texas, those different functions have been broken up among multiple companies, making it harder to regulate. He said that has led to data centers driving up utility bills for some customers in those areas.
Clark said governments typically have authority over data center zoning, such as setting acceptable noise levels and setback distances from buildings and homes. The state has the ability to regulate utility rates from for-profit power providers, while the reliability of the electrical grid falls to regional or national entities.
Doug Goehring, North Dakota agriculture commissioner, noted that the state’s Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Water Resources play a part in regulating industry and power generation.
Moderator Rob Port of Forum Communications asked Goehring if North Dakota had the right policy tools in place for data centers.
“I think there’s always an opportunity to tweak things, and when it comes to water management in the state, I think we could definitely, probably do more,” Goehring said.
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