Wisconsin communities are increasingly asking a question: What should we actually do about data centers?
For some bureaucrats, the answer is a moratorium. For example, Dane County just adopted an 18-month pause on all data center development. Not long after, La Crosse County and the city of Superior followed suit. But a moratorium is not a decision. It is the deliberate avoidance of one.
Narrative Driving a False Choice
Polling shows two-thirds of Wisconsinites are unsure whether a data center can bring value to a community. That uncertainty is understandable, but it is also an invitation for bad-faith actors to feed into that doubt with fear rather than facts.
The emerging narrative frames this as a false choice: either you welcome data centers uncritically, or you impose a moratorium to protect your community.
The honest answer is more demanding. Data centers present real tradeoffs, and governing well means evaluating them not avoiding them.
Objections raised by good-faith critics deserve engagement. Here are the most common concerns, and what the evidence shows:
Noise. This is a legitimate quality-of-life concern, but it is also manageable. Sound mitigation methods are well-established. Zoning, setbacks, and construction standards can address this directly.
Land Use. How a project acquires land matters just as much as where it ends up. If projects rely on secrecy and unfair taking of land through eminent domain, it’s not a surprise that local opposition springs up quickly. A Wisconsin artist is currently fighting exactly that in Ozaukee County, where WILL is challenging a utility’s attempt to take private land solely for data center infrastructure.
Deciding where a large business is located matters enormously, and data centers can avoid problems by responsibly siting in areas with existing utility hookups. An example of this is the Colossus data center in Tennessee which retrofitted an abandoned factory. Communities, through local review, can also help guide major developments to protect individual’s property rights.
Water Use. This concern, while certainly important, is being addressed by innovation. Take for example, the Microsoft Mount Pleasant Fairwater data center which will feature a new cooling system which dramatically decreases the amount of on-site water use. A traditional large data center could use up to 100 million gallons of water annually.
Unfortunately, certain groups are appealing to people’s emotions on this concern rather than actual data. The Fairwater data center is projected to use approximately 8.4 million gallons of water per year. Meanwhile, a single 18-hole golf course in Wisconsin uses between 25 and 35 million gallons annually for irrigation. Water use is not irrelevant, but the conversation does deserve context.
Energy Use. The data here is genuinely mixed. Some analysts suggest data centers drive up local electricity prices; others point to states like North Dakota where increased data center demand was associated with falling prices. The electric grid is expensive to build, but once it’s in place, adding a new customer can make the system more affordable for everyone as long as there is enough available capacity to serve them without building new infrastructure..
What’s not debatable is that energy prices have been rising long before data centers entered the scene. With good leadership, the demand data centers bring to the energy conversation may actually open the door to reforms that benefit all ratepayers.
Construction Employment. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has estimated that construction of a data center can lead to up to 1,500+ jobs over multiple years.
Permanent Jobs. Data centers create smaller numbers of long-term jobs, but it should be noted that these are often high-skill, high paying jobs. In addition, the existence of a data center does have an economic affect as there is a greater need for business-to-business transactions such as supply chain, security, and HVAC maintenance.
Property Tax Revenue. Data centers often become the largest taxpayer in its area. For example, the Microsoft data center campus in Racine County will result in almost $20 million annually in property tax collections.
National Security. The bigger picture cannot be overstated. The United States is competing with other countries—especially China—to develop the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence. The country that leads in AI is likely to have major advantages in economic growth, military capabilities, and technological innovation.
The Bottom Line: Leadership Means Doing the Hard Thing
Data centers are not an unconditional good or bad. No development is. Every project, whether it’s a new hospital, a factory, shopping center, subdivision, or even a data center involves tradeoffs.
Good elected officials will work through the pros and cons of policy decisions.
Dane County’s moratorium will, in time, look less like prudence and more like paralysis. Communities getting this right will engage directly with the facts, structure clear review processes, hold developers accountable to specific standards, and make actual decisions.
The alternative to a moratorium is not blind approval, but informed governance. The government closest to the people serves the people best, especially since they have both the responsibility and the tools to get this right.
Dane County chose to punt. Others do not have to.
