Here & Now

Wisconsin's Economy, Environment and Fight over Data Centers

Frederica Freyberg:
Franklin’s Marquette survey also shows that 78% of those polled think the costs of data centers outweigh the benefits. Across Wisconsin, communities are in battle over the growth of them, the size of data centers, the jobs, their impact on energy, and the economy. It’s all part of the debate tonight. Tonight “Here & Now” reporter Murv Seymour takes a deep look at the importance of data centers to voters and their potential impact on upcoming election strategies.

Murv Seymour:
Wisconsin faces a huge challenge.

Rich Barnhouse:
We need data in everything that we do, and it’s got to be stored and secured and accessible and managed in a reasonable and safe way.

Murv Seymour:
Parts of the Dairyland…

Jeff Lueck:
There are locations elsewhere in Wisconsin even that would be more appropriate.

Murv Seymour:
… morphing into Data-land with the growth of data centers across the state. Tech companies drawn to Wisconsin for its climate, water, land, infrastructure and available workforce. In its polling of Wisconsin voters about the most important issues, Marquette pollster Charles Franklin tells me data centers are barely on the radar for Democratic, Republican and independent voters, but becoming a flashpoint in the race for the governor with heated campaign ads.

TV announcer:
Data center David Crowley won’t roll back data center tax incentives.

David Crowley:
Hold data centers accountable and make them pay.

Charles Franklin:
What’s so striking is there’s just no pocket within the state of public opinion that’s really pro data centers. Inflation and the cost of living is at 42%. It’s been the top issue for at least four years now. Doesn’t seem to be going away at all. But data centers, in contrast, only 5% name data centers as most important. Running in an environment where so many people are opposed but don’t think it’s the most important issue, is a reason for candidates to sort of stay a little clear of that issue or express some opposition but maybe be a little vague. Opposition or fear of artificial intelligence turns out to be a pretty big contributor to opposition to data centers.

Rich Barnhouse:
We want Wisconsin to win. We want America to win.

Murv Seymour:
But there is a dedicated constituency in favor of them and the jobs they bring.

Rich Barnhouse:
And we’re willing to help anybody who wants to get started in these technologies.

Murv Seymour:
At Waukesha Community Technical College, President Rich Barnhouse tells me they proudly cultivate students and careers in AI technologies, which includes jobs in the booming data center arena.

Rich Barnhouse:
When I was meeting with a lot of companies who had 20 or fewer employees, which is the traditional, typical Wisconsin business, and they weren’t using the words artificial intelligence. But when I asked what they were looking for in an employee in the next few years, they were describing artificial intelligence without knowing they were describing it. This has just flourished. It got so big we had to go out and do a capital campaign, and we’re adding about 12,000 square feet of space.

Murv Seymour:
Large and small, a growing number of tech companies are lured to Wisconsin, spending billions to build data centers. One billion by Meta in Beaver Dam, 15 billion by Oracle in Port Washington and over 20 billion by Microsoft in Mount Pleasant. Altogether creating nearly 2,000 full-time jobs. Rob Marchant loves it. He travels the state, lobbying others to feel the same way. He says he doesn’t want Wisconsin to miss out on the growth of the industry.

Rob Marchant:
We’re a state that makes things. We build things and we solve problems. So we did that with heavy machinery manufacturing. We’re doing it now with advanced manufacturing, high technology, medical devices.

Murv Seymour:
Rob Marchant leads me to the small town of Winneconne, population 2500 and some change. Steps away from the town’s bright blue water tower sits Switchgear Power Systems, a 400-person company whose CEO estimates just over a third of its workers build components that support data centers in and outside of Wisconsin.

Rob Marchant:
So they’ve had a really large impact already on our economy.

Murv Seymour:
By his group’s estimate, a $13 billion impact in Wisconsin’s supply chain, workers at job sites and in education. When it comes to concerns over water and power use, Rob Marchant says this.

Rob Marchant:
These new data centers are paying their own way as far as power infrastructure goes and their power bills. And we have closed loop cooling, which again uses very little to no water depending on the size of the data center. They can fund schools. There’s property tax revenue. Does the community need snowplows? Does it need a library? Does it want stream restoration? It’s really kind of depends. But those benefits are real. And I hate to think of a community just saying no without exploring the possibilities, understanding the facts, and then making an informed choice.

Murv Seymour:
A few blocks from the heart of downtown Port Washington, also called “The port” around here, Jeff Lueck is part of the constituency against data centers.

Jeff Lueck:
I won’t stop pushing back until they’re stopped. Oh, the bumblebees are out, too.

Murv Seymour:
In between watering flowers, Jeff Lueck tells me he made his informed decision on data centers months ago, and he’s not ashamed to show it.

Jeff Lueck:
People don’t have time to put in on this kind of stuff, and I get that. It’s that important, and someone has to open their mouth. There may be some extra downtown traffic. There may be things in the grocery stores or the restaurants, but on weekends, you watch everybody move on out.

Murv Seymour:
The community’s opposition hasn’t been enough to stop the 24-hour construction of the massive 672-acre data center from being built about a mile away from Jeff’s home for the tech giant Oracle.

Jeff Lueck:
It don’t need to be any bigger than what it is here in Port.

Murv Seymour:
Today he and others continue to have concerns about the potential expansion of the data center, its impact on energy, water and the environment.

Jeff Lueck:
The trail was used a ton. I used that interurban trail myself at times, and there’s nowhere near the amount of people using it that there were using it. A couple of times with just the interurban trail, they’ve interrupted us with it.

Murv Seymour:
When you hear that does that mean they support you?

Jeff Lueck:
That’s our support. And I still get the beeps just standing in my yard.
Murv Seymour:
In communities all across Wisconsin, voters and politicians have some tough decisions to make about the future of data centers in the state.

Rob Marchant:
Good government follows a process, takes in information from all sides, evaluates it, and then makes a decision.

Rich Barnhouse:
We can do this community by community, industry by industry, or we can take a look at things collectively, holistically and say, how do we want to do this in our state.

Murv Seymour:
Doing what makes sense for Wisconsin and the people that live here. Reporting from Port Washington, Madison and Pewaukee. I’m Murv Seymour for “Here & Now.”