Data Centers Are Becoming a Political Problem

Lawmakers in Washington often insist data centers, which require thousands of acres and enormous amounts of energy, are a municipal issue. But residents organizing against their construction say candidates up and down the ballot will have to answer for their concerns — especially if those politicians are going to campaign on affordability.

“This absolutely plays into affordability,” said Christine Le Jeune, a founding organizer of Great Lakes Neighbors United in Wisconsin. “People are concerned about rapidly rising energy prices.”

Le Jeune’s group launched a petition to recall the mayor of Port Washington, a Wisconsin town on Lake Michigan where construction began last month on a $15 billion data center to service OpenAI and Oracle through the Stargate project backed by President Donald Trump.

The recall effort is one of the bolder actions in a wave of local protests against data centers sweeping Wisconsin and the country.

Le Jeune said Mayor Ted Neitzke failed to take up residents’ concerns that they will end up “on the hook” for data centers’ energy usage into consideration when he went ahead with the Stargate plans.

Neitzke did not respond to NOTUS’ request for comment.

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers feel insulated from the grassroots resistance threatening local elected officials.

“It’s going to be more a challenge in gubernatorial races and state races, because that’s where those decisions are made. We don’t have as much, in fact very little to do with it at a federal level,” Rep. Mark Pocan said.

That may not last long.

“The destruction of what they’re trying to do is going to be on the forefront of our minds as we listen to these politicians,” said Wisconsin retailer David Aversa.

In Ozaukee County, residents like Aversa are organizing against the construction of power lines by the American Transmission Company, which they said will raze woods and waterways on or near their properties, potentially devaluing their homes. The power lines would serve the Port Washington data center currently being built.

Aversa was offered up to $5,000 by ATC to appraise his land as the company plans power line construction, according to a NOTUS review of communications from the company.

Data centers are subject to local zoning and permitting laws, but that doesn’t mean federal lawmakers’ hands are tied.

What lawmakers plan to do around growing utility price concerns is less clear. Sen. Bernie Sanders proposed a national moratorium on data center construction last month, an idea that has failed to gain traction among Democrats.

Preventing data centers from raising energy prices has become something of a unifying issue for both parties and the president, who said in a Truth Social post last week that he does not want to see electricity bills rise as a result of the AI infrastructure. Last week, the Trump administration signed an agreement with 13 governors, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, to slow rising electricity prices in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest attributed to data centers.

Wisconsin lawmakers who spoke to NOTUS largely agreed that their constituents shouldn’t bear the costs of private companies’ energy use.

“Existing rate payers and commercial users should not have their rates go up as a result of someone that’s coming in using massive amounts of electricity,” said Rep. Tom Tiffany, the frontrunner in Wisconsin’s Republican primary for governor. “The data centers are going to have to answer the question, ‘How do we get enough energy to be able to run our operations yet not harm our neighbors?’”

Sen. Tammy Baldwin echoed Tiffany’s call for protecting ratepayers, though she said any moratorium on data centers must be considered by the state Legislature first.

“The developers of these need to have commitments to the local community that they won’t see, that they won’t have to shoulder the costs of the energy use and water use by these data centers,” Baldwin said.

Sen. Ron Johnson said data centers’ impact on the state’s electrical grid is a “very serious concern,” adding that he is unsure local officials have “really factored it in properly.”

When asked whether residents should take on the cost of data centers’ energy, Rep. Glenn Grothman, whose district includes Port Washington, hedged.

“It varies in different situations,” Grothman said.

Microsoft, which is building “the world’s most powerful AI datacenter” in Racine County, pledged last week that it will pay to ensure its developments do not raise electricity prices for people living nearby.

While the announcement is good news for one corner of Wisconsin, many across the state still worry that they will end up with the bill for the construction of data centers and related infrastructure.

The residents of Port Washington will reimburse Vantage Data Centers the development costs for its data center — plus 7% annual interest — from new property tax revenue generated by the development.

To some, cases like Port Washington’s are even more important than rising energy rates.

“The focus should be more on if they’re going to build something, they should have to pay for all the infrastructure costs related to it,” Pocan said. “That means power lines, that means a lot of other infrastructure.”

Pastor Patti Plough, who chairs the Protect Fredonia Coalition organizing against the ATC transmission lines, said the expansion of AI infrastructure can hit Wisconsinites where it hurts most.

“If you ruin their property, and ruin the value of their property, what really stands out more?” said Plough, whose home lies near a contingent route for the power lines. “The destruction of their property right? No one wants to pay more, but the destruction of your property and then more?”