Dear Editor: Dane County is currently staring down a billion-dollar “gold rush” of massive AI data centers.
While the tax revenue is tempting during our budgetary challenges, the environmental price tag is staggering. Even Wisconsin’s own Charlie Berens recently broke from his trademark humor to warn that we are becoming a “dumping ground” for tech companies that view our freshwater as a cheap cooling resource.
We must keep checks and balances to ensure a win-win. While AI brings great advancements, a single large-scale data center can consume more electricity than 4 million homes — more than all the houses in Wisconsin combined. As utilities build new gas plants and transmission lines to feed these 24/7 power-hungry warehouses, it is residents like you and me who risk seeing our utility rates skyrocket to foot the bill…