A northwestern Wisconsin county is the latest to adopt an AI data center moratorium. Polk County supervisors heard from residents prior to last week’s vote.
“This is a chance to just look at it and take a break. And we can say no to some of this. It’s not inevitable that it’s just going to keep going on and on and on. We have to say no at some point.”
“I don’t want to see you guys having to look at your neighbors, your grandchildren and your family and explain why the water is brown, why the bees are gone and our community has collapsed.”
“Put it over by Milwaukee or some place populated. Not here. We moved here because we wanted this. We looked for six years in Minnesota and Wisconsin. We finally found this place and bought it. We don’t want it in Polk County, but Burnett doesn’t want it. We don’t want it anywhere over here. We don’t need it.”
Supervisor Adam Jarchow was the sole vote against the 12-month moratorium.
“Every site selector, every employer, every utility, every working family thinking about where to build a future reads the headline that says Polk County just voted to ban an entire category of modern investment.”
“The same board will pass amendments to the zoning ordinance and those amendments will permit data centers as a conditional use in certain parts of Polk County. So if that’s the end game, why send a signal now that we’re closed for business?”
“The picture that we were painted here tonight and that people carry in their head are data centers pulling millions of gallons of water from our aquifers every single day. But that describes an older style of data center. The facilities being built today, including the large Microsoft campus in Racine County, Wisconsin in Mount Pleasant, use a closed loop chip level cooling system.”
Jarchow is a former Republican state legislator and an attorney who represents a data center developer in adjacent St. Croix County.
WRN’s Bob Hague reports:
Counties and communities across Wisconsin are increasingly turning to moratoriums as residents raise concerns over whether the tech developments are appropriate where they live.