{"id":110953,"date":"2026-06-12T10:35:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T10:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/12\/minnesota-judge-blocks-threat-to-cut-power-to-prairies-edge-casino-in-win-for-clean-energy\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T10:35:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T10:35:22","slug":"minnesota-judge-blocks-threat-to-cut-power-to-prairies-edge-casino-in-win-for-clean-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/12\/minnesota-judge-blocks-threat-to-cut-power-to-prairies-edge-casino-in-win-for-clean-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota Judge Blocks Threat to Cut Power to Prairie&#8217;s Edge Casino in &#8216;Win for Clean Energy&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"post-content__sub-title\">\n        Posted on: June 11, 2026, 05:38h.\u00a0\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"post-content__sub-title\">\n        Last updated on: June 12, 2026, 04:23h.\n    <\/p>\n<div class=\"post-info-panel\">\n<div class=\"post-info-panel__author-holder js-open-close\">\n<div class=\"post-info-panel__author-logo\">\n                <img alt=\"Avatar photo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-50x50.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-100x100.png 2x\" class=\"avatar avatar-50 photo\" height=\"50\" width=\"50\" decoding=\"async\"\/>            <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Judge says utility cannot disconnect tribal casino over solar dispute<\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Prairie\u2019s Edge solar array expected to supply 30% of power<\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Ruling could affect tribal and rural renewable energy projects<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr\/>\n<p>A Minnesota state judge has ruled that a rural electric utility cannot pull the plug on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/minnesota-regulators-back-tribal-casino-in-outrageous-power-cut-threat\/\">Prairie\u2019s Edge<\/a> Casino Resort\u2019s power to punish its owner, the Upper Sioux Community, for building a solar panel system.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_358404\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-358404\" data-style=\"width: 858px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-post-thumbnail-858xAUTO wp-image-358404\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Prairies-Edge-858x503.jpg\" alt=\"Prairie's Edge Casino, Upper Sioux Community, solar energy, Minnesota utility dispute, tribal sovereignty\" width=\"858\" height=\"503\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Prairies-Edge-858x503.jpg 858w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Prairies-Edge-430x252.jpg 430w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Prairies-Edge.jpg 896w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 858px) 100vw, 858px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-358404\" class=\"text-description\">Prairie\u2019s Edge Casino Resort avoided a potential power shutoff after a judge sided with the Upper Sioux Community in a dispute over a multimillion-dollar solar project. That\u2019s great news for renewable energy, but for some reason all we can think of right now are 99c cheeseburgers. (Image: Prairie\u2019s Edge Casino)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Minnesota Valley Cooperative Light and Power Association, a small co-operative utility that serves parts of western Minnesota, claimed the tribe\u2019s solar array, at 2.5 megawatts, vastly exceeded the 40-kilowatt limit the utility allows. It threatened to cut off power to the casino if it turned the system on.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Duty to Serve<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The tribe built the multi-million-dollar system to lower electricity costs and advance its clean-energy goals. It estimates the array will supply about 30% of the casino\u2019s power needs. The system would not feed electricity back into the grid but would serve only the casino, meaning the utility\u2019s rules shouldn\u2019t apply, the tribe argued.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>The casino serves as the tribe\u2019s main economic engine, helping fund housing, healthcare, education and law enforcement services.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The tribe also asserted that it\u2019s a sovereign nation and, as such, is not subject to Minnesota\u2019s utility laws.<\/p>\n<p>Administrative Law Judge Joseph Meyer did not need to address that last point when he determined that Minnesota Valley\u2019s policies do not prohibit so-called \u201cbehind-the-meter\u201d generation systems that keep all electricity on-site rather than sending it back onto the grid.<\/p>\n<p>He concluded that disconnecting power to the casino over the solar project would violate the utility\u2019s obligation to provide service.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>\u2018No Patent on Electricity\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In June 2025, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission expressed outrage at the utility\u2019s position, warning that cutting power to a public facility, even a casino, could endanger people who rely on air conditioning or medical devices.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>One commissioner asked whether Minnesota Valley believed it had a \u201cpatent on electricity\u201d rather than a \u201cduty to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Hudson Kingston, legal director of Minnesota environmental advocacy group CURE, told Minnesota Public Radio July 10 that he welcomed the ruling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a very clear \u2013 very clear \u2013 decision that co-ops cannot have policies that limit behind-the-meter solar systems,\u201d Kingston said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s great news for other co-op members, great news for other tribal governments who are thinking about making really big solar investments, and it\u2019s great news for the continued evolution of the electrical grid towards cleaner sources of energy,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/minnesota-judge-blocks-threat-to-cut-power-to-prairies-edge-casino-in-win-for-clean-energy\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Posted on: June 11, 2026, 05:38h.\u00a0 Last updated on: June 12, 2026, 04:23h. Judge says utility cannot disconnect tribal casino over solar dispute Prairie\u2019s Edge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[158],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gambling"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}