If I had to opine on whether data centers are good or bad thing, I’d have to register a guarded maybe. Perhaps they will be a net positive and bring jobs and tax revenue as promised. They might end up depleting freshwater and drive energy costs even higher.
Worries like that are driving pushback in places like Port Washington, where the city council approved a development agreement and tax incentives for a $15 billion data center campus, and Caledonia, where opposition caused Microsoft to halt plans for a facility in that community. A speaker was arrested at a Port Washington council meeting Dec. 2 and coordinated protests took place across seven Wisconsin cities Dec. 1 and 2.
Data centers are large warehouses that house computers and networking equipment for AI and other large scale data processing operations. Wisconsin is relatively late to the debate because we don’t have as many facilities as other states, 47 here as opposed to 667 in Virginia, and they’ve only recently become a matter of contention as the physical size and number of projects has ballooned.
I have more questions than answers. And finding independent information on complex issues such as water usage and utility infrastructure isn’t easy. There are protestors holding signs and corporations bankrolling TV commercials while public opinion is still crystalizing on the topic.
A question on the October Marquette University Law School poll found Wisconsin voters see data centers as having more costs than benefits to communities where centers are proposed or are being constructed. Fifty-five percent said the costs outweigh the benefits, while 44% said the benefits are higher than the costs.
What was revealing is that in purple Wisconsin, stances couldn’t be predicted by politics.
“People always ask me what surprises you about the poll. Boy, this one surprises me, because there was no partisan difference,” said poll director Charles Franklin.
He said the question on data centers was a relatively late addition to the Wisconsin poll, based on the headlines about Microsoft pulling of Caledonia, while continuing work on its $7 billion complex in Mount Pleasant. He plans to ask about data centers again when the Marquette poll wades into Wisconsin issues again in February.
Franklin, who has charted public opinion in Wisconsin for decades, noted that the issue has largely been a local one. That started to change in 2023 when lawmakers approved tax exemptions that were used by Microsoft to develop its Mount Pleasant center on land originally part of the Foxconn project that never fully materialized.
Share your feedback in our Wisconsin data center survey
The Journal Sentinel is seeking your feedback on the issue in a survey. Please tell us where you stand and what questions you’d like us to find answers to. We’re also looking for feedback as we plan a town hall event on data centers early next year. And you can also share your opinion on the topic as well using this form:
Jim Fitzhenry is the Ideas Lab Editor/Director of Community Engagement for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Reach him at jfitzhen@gannett.com or 920-993-7154.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Protests over Port Washington data center signal new fears | Opinion
Reporting by James N. Fitzhenry, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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