According to the latest Marquette poll, 78% of voters believe the costs of data centers outweigh the benefits. It’s a topic that enjoys rare bipartisan agreement: 94% of Democrats, 80% of independents, and 64% Republicans oppose. Last legislative session, Democrats and Republicans each introduced bills related to data centers. While there were some good elements included in the proposals, neither ultimately passed. And neither went far enough to really protect Wisconsin communities from the environmental and health harms that can occur without strong guardrails. We’re hearing a lot about data centers on the campaign trail, and we can expect that regardless of the election outcomes, regulating data centers will be a high priority for our new Governor and legislature next session.
Clean Wisconsin has been saying all along that we need a pause and a plan. We’re seeing partial pauses through local moratoria that have been passed in various communities across the state. While we’ve seen a patchwork of ideas emerge from state leaders, we still lack an official statewide plan, let alone action. In the meantime, we’ve been hard at work developing a robust policy framework, drawing from our multidisciplinary team’s collective expertise, collaborating with fellow advocates, and incorporating innovative ideas from across the country.
Without a comprehensive, statewide framework, many Wisconsin communities remain vulnerable. We don’t want to play a game of whack-a-mole, blocking a data center here or there, but having them ultimately go somewhere else that might not have negotiated strong protections. And even if a particular community wants to open its doors to a data center, we know another community who didn’t have a say could be harmed, for instance if a new methane gas plant is built to help power the data center. We need to ensure there are protections for every Wisconsin community – whether they’re being asked to host a new campus or breathe dirty air from a nearby fossil power plant. Data centers are sited and approved locally, but because they can cause statewide problems for our environment, we have to respond in kind, with a statewide solution. That’s why passing a comprehensive data center bill is so critical.
Here’s what a robust data center framework could look like:
Protect Wisconsin communities’ health, economy and agency
- Require transparency about data centers’ energy and water use. There should be regular reporting requirements, but also initial projections so communities have a sense of what they’re agreeing to before they have to decide yes or no. And we should be looking not just at direct water use on-site, but also the massive amounts of indirect water used to generate electricity from gas, coal, and nuclear power plants.
- Repeal the sales and use tax exemption. The richest companies in the world don’t need this money; Wisconsin communities do.
- Require that utilities file data center tariffs with the Public Service Commission to make sure data centers are paying 100% of energy costs and not passing any on to Wisconsin families and businesses.
- Similarly, require data centers to pay the full cost of new water infrastructure.
- Require data centers pay into statewide funds to support efficiency and renewable energy, and mitigate harms to those who have been negatively impacted.
- Support data centers entering into community benefits agreements with local host communities, and provide meaningful support to communities so they can engage more fairly in the negotiating process.
- In emergency grid situations that lead to blackouts, cut off data centers before homes and businesses.
Reduce resource needs, and ensure any new energy is clean energy
- Require that data centers be designed to maximize energy and water efficiency, reducing strain on our energy and water systems.
- Require that all new data centers are powered with 100% clean energy. It’s imperative that we stop the gas buildout and coal retirement delays that are currently powering these new energy gluttons.
- Require that data centers bring some of their own clean energy.
- Require data centers to employ demand response programs to reduce their energy needs.
- Require that backup generation at data centers use clean energy sources like batteries or meet EPA Tier 4 emissions standards.
Wisconsin doesn’t need data centers; data centers need Wisconsin. If tech companies want to build and operate data centers in Wisconsin, they need to be good neighbors. That means doing no harm and bringing real benefits. Unfortunately, that’s not what we’ve seen so far. It’s time we use our leverage, come together as a state, and dictate the terms. Clean Wisconsin will be working hard to make this vision a reality, for the good of our communities and environment.
