Minnesota
In Minnesota, BlackRock Is Acquiring Vital Infrastructure
In a landmark case with national implications, Democratic Governor Tim Walz’s regulators have greenlit a private equity giant’s acquisition of one of the Midwest’s largest power companies.
Critics argue that the precedent-setting case opens the doors to a new wave of Wall Street behemoths buying up utilities across the country to cash in on skyrocketing electricity rates — and to drive those rates even higher. For over a year, BlackRock has been battling to take over Minnesota Power, a utility company that keeps the lights on for more than one hundred thousand customers in northern Minnesota. As the Lever uncovered in an August investigation, the private equity behemoth muscled support from labor unions and so-called clean energy groups in Minnesota this summer to help push through the deal, despite widespread opposition.
On October 3, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, whose members were all appointed by Walz, voted unanimously to approve the $6.2 billion deal, in which BlackRock will acquire Minnesota Power’s parent company, Allete, taking it private.
Proponents of the acquisition have argued that BlackRock will provide the electric company the capital it needs to prepare for the climate transition, although this summer, a Minnesota judge overseeing the case disputed those claims, finding conclusively that such a deal could spike rates and harm Minnesota Power’s customers, and cast doubt on the conflicts of interest behind the deal’s backers.
Advocates say Minnesota Power’s acquisition by a global private equity firm is the first deal of its kind, but it likely won’t be the last. In recent months, BlackRock has been gearing up to acquire power infrastructure all around the country, all through its infrastructure investment arm, Global Infrastructure Partners. The firm is seeking to profit from the enormous energy demands of the AI boom, which have spurred data center construction nationwide and in turn led to higher electric bills for regular consumers.
Just before the Minnesota vote, news broke that BlackRock was also in talks to purchase Aligned Data Centers, a company that owns nearly eighty data centers around the world. Last week, the Financial Times reported that BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners was nearing a deal to buy up AES, one of the nation’s biggest power plant companies.
Minnesota
Wildfire smoke from Canada and Minnesota pushes further into US, engulfing DC in eerie haze
NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of people in the Great Lakes, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states muddled through another day of unhealthy air from uncontrolled wildfires on Friday, as smoke enveloped the nation’s capital in a gloomy, eerie haze.
Air quality warnings were expected to remain in effect through Saturday across a wide swath of the U.S., but there’s potential for temporary relief with rains and storms forecast over a chunk of the affected region over the weekend.
The smoky conditions won’t be gone anytime soon, though, as fires burn unchecked across a remote region of Canada, cautioned Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service based in Maryland. Wildfires in a wilderness area in Minnesota are also contributing to the smoke.
“The source of the smoke is going to continue on for certainly a week, probably,” he said. “So in some form, there’s going to be smoke that gets transported from the fires downstream, and it’s just going to depend upon which way the wind’s blowing as to where the smoke is going to affect the most.”
On Friday, communities in Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois closest to the Canadian border and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota again registered some of the worst air quality in the world, according to IQAir, an air quality monitoring website.
Not far behind them was Washington, D.C., where the thick smoke created eerie scenes. The Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and other national landmarks could be seen enveloped in a thick, orange-hued haze in the morning.
“Wow that Canadian smoke haze is no joke,” Stewart Verdery, a former assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, wrote on X as he shared a panorama of D.C. at sunrise. “Almost nothing visible – no sun, no monuments, no Reagan Airport.”
Air in and around Washington was expected to go from bad to worse as the day progressed, reaching “very unhealthy” and potentially “hazardous” levels on the air quality index, regional officials said.
People, particularly those with heart or lung disease, older adults and children, were urged to limit or avoid going outside as much as possible until air quality improved.
There was also concern in the New York City area about how the foul air might impact the World Cup final match between soccer powerhouses Spain and Argentina at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday.
Oravec said winds will continue pushing the wildfire smoke east in the U.S., though conditions should be better on game day Sunday than on Saturday.
Just a day earlier, a thick haze tinged with orange and yellow darkened skies across several states and partly obscured Manhattan’s skyline.
Officials from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other Northeast states distributed free K95 face masks, canceled outdoor programming and opened libraries and other public buildings as cooling centers where people could get a respite from the sooty air.
As Friday progressed, air quality measures improved from “unhealthy” to “moderate” in some places in and around New York City.
A strong sun broke through a thin veil of smoke, and large chunks of clear blue sky were visible across much of the region by Friday afternoon.
Saturday brings a high chance of thunderstorms across much of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, which will help dampen the bad air.
How long the reprieve lasts depends on what happens hundreds of miles north, as some 100 wildfires burn without end in sight, largely in the Ontario area in Canada. In the U.S., officials have closed the Boundary Waters while battling multiple fires.
Long-term exposure to smoky conditions can complicate existing health problems and lead to chronic and deadly issues, including respiratory illness, cardiovascular and neurological diseases and premature death.
See how the bald eagle’s story shows its enduring symbolism
As the U.S. celebrates 250 years, the bald eagle endures as North America’s native sea eagle and national bird.
The common loon, Minnesota’s state bird, is more closely related to a penguin than a duck.
Despite loons predominantly living in the northern hemisphere and penguins mostly living in the southern hemisphere, researchers consider them to be genetic cousins. Taxonomic analyses placed them in an evolutionary cluster tracing back 40 million to 50 million years ago, along with herons and pelicans.
While loons and ducks share habitat on Minnesota lakes, they aren’t close relatives. Ducks are closer cousins to geese and swans.
After sharing a common ancestor, penguins and loons developed distinct characteristics. Loons can fly, but struggle to move on land; penguins can’t fly, but waddle on land. Penguins use flipper-like wings to swim; loons use webbed feet for underwater propulsion.
They have some similar features, however, including dense bones to help dive underwater and their tuxedo coloring.
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Fires in the past burned more frequently in western Canada, but recent years have seen that trend migrate eastward, with large fires now burning in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic provinces, Prof Chasmer said, leading to more noticeable smoke in densely populated cities like Toronto and New York.
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