In context: Tech companies have been racing to build the infrastructure needed to power AI, and massive data centers are taking shape around the US as a result. But the facilities are huge consumers of electricity and water, and some nearby communities have started to feel the squeeze. Their construction also generates noise around the clock. Pushback, then, was probably inevitable.
Residents of Port Washington, Wisconsin, have done something no other community in the country has done with data centers: They've voted to put the brakes on future development in the region by approving a referendum. From now on, city officials require voter approval before handing out tax incentives worth more than $10 million to developers. And they've done so with a pretty decisive margin, too. About 66% of voters backed the plan, according to unofficial county results.
This whole thing started because of a planned $15 billion AI campus in the area from Vantage Data Centers, which is being built in partnership with OpenAI and Oracle. That project is tied to the Trump administration's "Stargate" initiative, a broad push to build out AI infrastructure across the country. The campus broke ground back in December and is set to receive around $458 million in tax benefits from the city, according to The Hill. Naturally, not everyone was thrilled about that.
Those concerns eventually led to the formation of a local nonprofit called Great Lakes Neighbors United, which organized the opposition and collected over 1,000 signatures to get the measure on the ballot. Their grievances ranged from noise pollution and freshwater use to rising energy costs.
US senators have also probed whether AI data centers are driving up electricity costs for millions of consumers. In fact, one study found that prices surged by as much as 267% over five years in areas near significant data center activity.
The referendum won't actually stop the Vantage project that's already underway – it's aimed at whatever comes next. There's also a legal challenge looming. The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce filed a lawsuit back in January, arguing that the measure violates state law, so this could get tied up in court pretty quickly.
That said, Port Washington isn't alone in pushing back, and it does set a precedent of sorts. Monterey Park, California, has a vote coming up in June on banning new data center construction entirely. Augusta Township in Michigan will decide in August whether to override a local ordinance that greenlit a similar project. And Janesville, Wisconsin, has its own vote scheduled for November.
The opposition isn't limited to local ballots, either. According to Data Center Watch, a tracking project from AI company 10a Labs, around 20 data center projects worth a combined $98 billion were blocked or delayed between March and June of last year alone.
Image credit: Financial Times