Great Lakes Neighbors United

09/04/2026

Wisconsin is being overrun by AI data center proposals due to sales tax exemptions and other tax incentives, abundant affordable undeveloped land, small municipalities desperate for growth, and large investor owned utilities with the capital and desire to increase their shareholder returns.

The upper peninsula of Michigan can offer all of these incentives except for their weaker power grid and smaller utilities, which are not as equipped to deliver large quantities of power as WE Energies and Alliant Energy are. Which has largely kept the area out of the crosshairs of large data center development.

But they still have developers who would like to exploit their natural resources for the benefit of a powerful few. Consider the case of the Eben Ice Caves in a sparsely populated area of the UP between Marquette and Munising. Town board members are attempting to completely eliminate their zoning code to add a significant amount of private development and monetization to this beautiful natural attraction.

A public hearing is being held September 14. Join us in cheering for the public in the area.

https://share.google/I1mEixA5eUG7zqICE

https://www.miningjournal.net/news/front-page-news/2026/09/rock-river-township-to-potentially-repeal-zoning-ordinance/

MARQUETTE — The Rock River Township Planning Commission has scheduled a meeting at 7 p.m. on Sept. 14 at the Rock River Township Hall in Chatham to receive public comment on two actions proposed by the township board: rescinding Rock River Township’s rental ordinance, and rescinding the entire z...

09/01/2026

A sister project to the Port Washington AI surveillance data center being built for Oracle, OpenAI, and the federal Stargate project is being built in Saline Township, MI, about 50 miles from Detroit. The projected cost ranges in estimates from $16 billion to $43 billion.

Photos: Oracle and OpenAI's massive data center going up quickly in Saline Township See link below ⬇️

📸 David Guralnick, The Detroit News

08/27/2026

The AI data center project Cloverleaf Infrastructure sold to Port Washington included no environmental study, no traffic study, and $458 million in lost tax revenue for city residents.

Set aside for a moment the absurdity of contrasting the happiness of the public with that of a few elected officials who voted for the project. It's not a surprise that Cloverleaf continues to try to distance themselves from the tax incentives associated with the Port Washington project. In this case, for a proposal they're working on in Piedmont, Oklahoma.

08/24/2026

Last week, 4 Wisconsin counties passed data center moratoriums - Winnebago, Polk, Oneida, and Dodge. This is on top of all the township and municipal moratoriums that have been enacted. Dodge County includes Beaver Dam, where a 500 acre data center is already being built, which won't be affected by this.

We hope Wisconsin leaders are paying attention to all the actions localities are having to take to provide protections due to their inactions.

08/23/2026

Even Texas is hitting the brakes on data centers. Gov. Greg Abbott says the industry “basically dug their own grave.”

Texas has halted approvals for data centers seeking grid connections while the state reviews their enormous power demands.

Abbott says data centers must protect the grid, conserve water, respect communities and pay their own way.

Wisconsin needs to learn from other locations leading the way with Data Center before it’s too late.

Gov. Greg Abbott initially supported expanding AI data center infrastructure in Texas, but backlash from local residents caused him to change course.

08/07/2026

Here is a recent flyover of the Port Washington site provided by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Construction continues on Vantage Data Centers' AI campus built for...

08/07/2026

In this week's common council meeting in Beaver Dam, a resident shares the details reported on by Wisconsin Watch regarding the preliminary agreements that were in play in nearby Deforest.

Unlike in Beaver Dam and Port Washington, where enormous tax subsidies were given to corporations that didn't need them, Deforest and QTS were actually exploring ways to bring real financial benefits to the city. And it still wasn't enough to make the project worthwhile for the residents.

More details in the story below:

https://wisconsinwatch.org/2026/08/wisconsin-deforest-data-center-deal-guaranteed-tax-revenue-river-improvements-affordable-housing/

08/06/2026

UPDATE: The Judge did not rule on whether the case will proceed. He will either issue a written judgment in the coming weeks or he will rule during the next court hearing at 9:00am on September 4. Stay tuned for further updates!

If you are able, please attend the hearing at 8:30am in Room 228 tomorrow, August 7th, at the Ozaukee County Justice Center (1201 S Spring St, Port Washington, WI 53074):

Great Lakes Neighbors, Inc. v. City of Port Washington Joint Review Board et al. | Ozaukee County Case No. 2026CV000001

• What it is: GLNI's direct challenge to the $458 million tax incremental district created for the Vantage/Oracle data center.
• The argument: The TID violates state law because the project area is not blighted or zoned for industrial use, and because the city has not shown the project needed public subsidy to move forward.
• Status: Motion hearing set for August 7, 2026. The city has asked the court to dismiss the case outright, so this hearing will likely determine whether the lawsuit proceeds.
• Supporting record: An open-records request produced 555 city emails showing coordinated PR strategy run by 270 Strategies, invite-only community events designed to exclude opponents, and a Milwaukee 7 counter-messaging toolkit.
• What it means for Wisconsin: The TID case builds law on the use of public funds. Whatever the court says here is what every Wisconsin community inherits next time.

08/06/2026

UPDATE: The PSC has revoked the completeness determination for ATC’s application. This is the first-ever revocation by the PSC, in its entire 95-year history!

Thank you for your comments to the PSC Wisconsin! Over 2,500 were submitted!
You can watch the PSC hearing live on YouTube here, starting at 10:30am. Keep in mind that it may take a while before they get to item 14, which is the ATC power line application.
UPDATE! The PSC is taking a break and will reconvene at 11:50am to discuss item 14.

Open Meeting Agenda for Thursday, August 6, 2026, at 10:30 a.m.1....