Plan for data center power lines sparks fears

People flocked to the Holiday Inn Express and Suites in Port Washington Tuesday during two open houses hosted by American Transmission Co. to express concerns about a sweeping project to install new electrical lines that will bring power to a proposed data center complex on Port Washington’s far north side.

ATC had looked at six potential routes to bring power to the data center campus earlier this year and narrowed the list of preferred routes to two, but recently said changes were being made to the project to accommodate “additional electrical demand needed to support the proposed load growth in Port Washington.”

The new proposal is expanded in its scope, according to a letter sent to property owners, and now encompasses work in parts of Calumet, Fond du Lac, Sheboygan, Ozaukee and Washington counties.

  Kristin Pierce, a senior external communications specialist with ATC, said the company is looking at a north and south  route to bring power to the area, each of which has two alternative pathways.

The company sent out notices of the routes to 2,300 property owners who could be impacted by the project, she said, seeking input so ATC can narrow the choice of routes before seeking approval for the project from the Wisconsin Public Service Commission.

ATC plans to apply for the approval this fall, Pierce said, and expects a decision on the routes from the PSC sometime next year.

Residents at Tuesday’s sessions expressed a wide variety of concerns about the project, everything from the potential loss of property value to environmental concerns, from safety issues to the impact on the health of neighbors, both human and animal.

And, inevitably, their concerns also centered around the data center campus itself.

“I don’t believe in data centers,” Kazzandria Duralia of Deerfield Road in the Town of Saukville said. “I’m not big on screens.”

Duralia said she’s upset about the impact on health and the nature centers that surround her neighborhood, as well as the potential impact on property values.

“I’m very upset about this,” she said. “It can be very dangerous. The sound it’s going to put out, the sparks. It’s a huge eyesore. It will have a huge impact on our health. It’s going to ruin all the birds’ habitats. I don’t see any good coming of this.”

Her neighbor Amanda Warmenhoven noted that the neighborhood is surrounded by natural areas and expressed concern that numerous trees would be cut down to make way for the power lines.

And, she said, the neighborhood is filled with children who will be impacted by the power lines.

The women said they are also concerned because, unlike some people, they didn’t receive notice of the open houses from ATC even though they live near one of the proposed routes for the transmission lines.

Carl Utecht, who lives on Meadowlark Road in Fredonia, said he believes the better alternative for ATC would be to improve the current electrical lines.

“I don’t really agree with this,” he said. “To me, you could upgrade the existing equipment. If they do that, they may have enough capacity.”

He said more thought should have been put into the siting of the power lines before the data center proposal got this far.

“It’s like putting the data center in without any forethought,” he said, adding he plans to write to Gov. Tony Evers and State Rep. Rob Brooks, R-Saukville, about the matter.

Dan and Peggy Brown, who live in an 1850s log house on Meadowlark Road, said the lines would have a major impact on the community.

“We bought where we bought because it’s a rural property,” Mr. Brown said. “I know it has to go somewhere. But I really don’t want to look at it.”

His wife said they were able to get the answers to many questions they had, but added, “Did they really look at all the people impacted? I understand we have technology, but this is going to have a huge impact on a lot of people.”

“This is what we can do,” Mr. Brown said. “Use our voice.”

Eric Albrecht of Cedarburg said, “I feel bad for a lot of folks here who were blind-sided by this. It’s inevitable. Who is going to be able to change the location of a data center?”