PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. — A petition opposing a coming data center project in Port Washington has garnered the support of hundreds.
The petition is titled "Stop the Port Washington Data Center," and it has gathered nearly 400 signatures as of Wednesday evening. It warns of the loss of homes and farmland, while putting a strain on the electrical grid.
"These plans must be squashed," the petition says.
Christine Reichert has lived in Port Washington for decades. She came to TMJ4's Let's Talk listening session in February to voice her concerns. TMJ4 followed up with her to get her reaction to similar concerns from neighbors.
"I don't want to go to Mars. I want to make it right on this planet," Reichert said. "A data center to me is not that direction."
City leaders, including Mayor Ted Neitzke, have previously spoken to TMJ4 regarding the project. They argue will bring jobs, increase property tax revenue and put the city on the map as a tech center.
"We're going to have technology centered in the North Shore of Milwaukee. That wasn't on anyone’s bingo card," Neitzke said in a February interview.
TMJ4 took those neighbors concerns to an expert. Dr. Mike Litman chairs the computer science department at nearby Concordia University Wisconsin, asking him what red flags residents should be watching out for in the coming months.
Watch: Petition garners hundreds of signatures opposing Port Washington data center
"It is probably going to bring more money and more technology to the area, which I can obviously see the positives of that," Litman said. "I think the most unpredictable part of this is the timing for upgrading the infrastructure. The last thing a resident wants is to have inconveniences with their electricity because some potentially cool thing is coming into existence, but it's not here yet."
TMJ4 reached out to the firm building the site, Cloverleaf infrastructure, as well as We Energies regarding the power grid. In a statement, a spokesperson for We Energies said the company is prepared to build the infrastructure needed without passing costs on to neighbors.
"We designed the rate to make sure no costs to serve these new customers will be subsidized by, or shifted to, other residential or business customers," a We Energies spokesperson said.
Earlier this year, the City of Port Washington agreed to annex about 1,900 acres of land from the town in order to prepare for the project. They are currently in the process of creating a new zoning designation to regulate the center. According to city agendas, they plan to host a public hearing on that issue next Tuesday.
As the project moves forward, We Energies is committed to adding energy capacity and infrastructure to serve this site, and to do so with significant use of sustainable power sources.
Just last week we submitted a proposal with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin for a new rate to accommodate expected significant growth of large customers in Wisconsin. Under this proposal, very large customers such as data centers will have access to reliable power to meet their needs. These large customers will directly pay for the power they consume, along with costs of the power generation plants and distribution facilities built to serve them.
We designed the rate to make sure no costs to serve these new customers will be subsidized by, or shifted to, other residential or business customers.
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