LETTER: Stop building data centers until regulations are in place

To Ozaukee Press:

Over 230 U.S. organizations are calling for a moratorium on the construction of data centers. They cite the staggering consumption of energy and water, as well as the skyrocketing utility costs for homeowners and small businesses.

Large data centers in Mount Pleasant and Port Washington will consume as much electricity as every household in Wisconsin combined and then some.

Most of the AI centers use or plan to use fossil fuels, exasperating climate disasters like Milwaukee’s recent flooding.

Moreover, our very health is at risk from more air pollution. Data centers should be required to use green energy, which is now cheaper, uses virtually no water, and produces no heat or toxic air pollutants.

Utility bills are increasing and some utilities get a near-guaranteed 9.8% rate of return, so they and their shareholders will profit greatly, while the rest of us pay more.

Manufacturers tout the construction jobs created, but these are temporary jobs aiding companies that ultimately aim to eliminate future jobs. Manufacturers should instead build critically needed housing.

There is mounting fear of an AI bubble, and if it bursts, as many predict, we will be stuck with the bill. Wisconsin ratepayers already owe $1 billion on shuttered power plants and we can’t afford more. We need a data center moratorium until critically-needed regulations are in place.

Mariette Nowak

East Troy