Tech companies are proposing new AI data centers in Wisconsin at a rapid pace, but details about their environmental impacts are scarce. How much energy and water will these projects use? How will those demands be met? Will residents’ energy bills go up to cover the costs?
Tune into our 2025 Doug La Follette Environmental Speakers Program event and hear insights from climate, energy, and water experts, plus a first-hand perspective from a community on the frontlines of the data center fight, as we try to answer these questions and make sense of how AI data centers could harm our communities and environment.
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Our Panelists:
Prescott Balch — Village of Caledonia Resident
Prescott is a retired technology executive who spent 38 years mostly in the financial services industry. His last 18 years were spent at Minneapolis-based US Bank managing the technology for their Payments line of business. As a technology insider, he brings a unique perspective to the issue of data centers in our communities.
Joel Brammeier — Alliance for the Great Lakes President & CEO
As Alliance for the Great Lakes President and CEO, Joel oversees all aspects of the organization. He leads a team of professionals across five locations, along with a base of more than 10,000 volunteers around the region dedicated to protecting clean water and building a sustainable future for the Great Lakes. Since joining the Alliance in 2001, Joel has become a leading voice on invasive species prevention and water protection across the Great Lakes region. He has testified before Congress and advises decision makers on critical Great Lakes issues. Joel has overseen the longest period of sustained growth in the organization’s history since he became President and CEO in 2010, doubling the size of its full-time staff and increasing assets to more than $10 million. Joel believes that the abundance of fresh water makes the Great Lakes region like nowhere else in the world, and that everyone in the region should benefit from our invaluable freshwater assets. He is committing to building a Great Lakes movement that fully reflects the people of our region, and can ensure the lakes are clean and safe for everyone who depends on them.
Chelsea Chandler — Clean Wisconsin Climate, Energy & Air Program Director
Chelsea directs the Climate, Energy & Air Program at Clean Wisconsin, where she advances strategies related to renewable energy and energy efficiency, building decarbonization and electrification, transmission, clean transportation, air pollution, and regenerative agriculture. At Clean Wisconsin, she has helped launch initiatives on natural climate solutions, clean buildings, and rural solar and wind energy. Chelsea has strong relationships with nonprofits, state agencies, farmers, and other key decision-makers and diverse stakeholders across the state. She is a respected thought leader, frequently contributing to advisory groups and currently serving on the steering committees of the Clean Economy Coalition of Wisconsin and the RE-AMP Network.
Tom Content — Citizens Utility Board Executive Director
Tom is the Executive Director of the Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin, the nonprofit, nonpartisan and independent consumer advocate for Wisconsin utility customers — homeowners, renters and small businesses across the state. Tom joined the Citizens Utility Board in 2017 after working for 30 years as a journalist, including 20 years tracking the Wisconsin energy and utilities sector while reporting in Milwaukee and Green Bay. In 2007, he won the National Press Foundation Stokes Award for top energy writing in the country for a series of articles in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Tom is currently vice president of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates and is serving on the Critical Consumer Issues Forum Advisory Committee, and the board of the Wisconsin Public Utility Institute and Customers First Coalition in Wisconsin.
Panel moderated by Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area
Dan Shafer is a journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. In 2024, he became the Political Editor of Civic Media. He’s written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Heartland Signal, Belt Magazine, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s won 23 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.
