As of Jan. 26, Microsoft has been approved to build 15 new data centers in Mt. Pleasant, WI. The village committee unanimously voted on Microsoft’s plans for the former Foxconn manufacturing complex. 

Shortly after, on Jan. 29, Quality Technology Services (QTS) pulled out of plans for construction outside Madison in DeForest, after pushback from local officials. 

On the state level, representatives are struggling to institute regulations and safeguards against rising emissions and energy costs, as tech giants like Microsoft and Meta continue to sink billions of dollars into data centers across the country. 

In Wisconsin, the legislative session is at its end, and adjournment is near. As they face the second year of the session, lawmakers are anxious to get proposals passed before the midterm. This has proven especially difficult for Wisconsin’s divided state government. 

Assembly Bill (AB) 840 is a bill which would have utility regulators ensure that customers of any service who choose to operate these data centers would not have to bear the costs of their construction. The bill also mandates a water recycling system to reduce consumption and to clean up the plot if the project is terminated. 

Spearheaded by Republican lawmakers, AB840 was rushed through assembly merely 11 days after it was introduced. It passed by a 53-44 majority vote on Jan. 20, and was split almost cleanly between party lines.

There are myriad concerns from homeowners and politicians in areas of potential data center campuses, but also many praises of job creation and other financial benefits. 

The proposal has been criticized on the left for lacking several critical components, and interest groups such as labor unions and the Wisconsin Sierra Club have lobbied against it. 

Labor unions have expressed concern over the absence of prevailing wage protections, and Democratic representative Darrin Madison said in a statement that “It provides no guarantees that the jobs created will be safe and well-compensated, much less union. Wisconsin badly needs those good-paying, safe, union-protected jobs.”

Another major disagreement stems from a provision in the bill which would limit the usage of renewable energies to on site constructions. This would mean a majority of the energy consumed would come from fossil fuels.

Republicans say this is because the amount of energy required to sustain a hyperscale data center will have to be transferred from elsewhere in the state or region. At a press conference, Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos explained, “this bill actually says that if you’re going to do renewable energy — and we would encourage them to do that — it has to be done on site. So it’ll require significantly less transmission, less disruption of the public, and hopefully less overall land as they have it around the region as opposed to just putting it right where that data center is going to go.”

The bill has ended up in the Republican-controlled Senate, and whether or not it will reach the governor’s desk remains to be seen. However, Democratic governor Tony Evers seems poised to shoot it down regardless. 

This battle emphasizes the deep divisions in regulatory discourse. Wisconsin Democrats have released a bill proposal of their own. The proposal would include tax breaks for centers which rely on at least 70% renewable energy, a number that republicans repudiate as unrealistic. 

As lawmakers continue to weigh spending against renewable energies, many see a pressing need to pass strong legislation. Absent a cohesive legal framework, companies invested in AI have been able to build data centers with near impunity, a source of discontent for clean energy advocates. 

Assembly representative and gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong has called for a statewide moratorium on the construction of new data centers until the state has enough research to ensure job creation and sustainability. Hong cites pushback against the creation of data centers in communities such as Caledonia as democratic resistance to an unresponsive legislature, stressing the need to put communities before profit.

“They’re holding their elected officials accountable. It is important that we respond, listen, and answer to what people are demanding around the state,” said Hong in a statement, adding, “There is not enough data on AI data centers. But what we do know is that in places like Illinois or Virginia, we’re seeing tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue essentially be given out as corporate subsidies and not invested back into communities.”

_{Featured image: Betty Cavicchia’28}