Guardrails for Data Centers

No Data Center Methane Gas Plants

Power- and water-hungry data centers will use enormous and unprecedented amounts of energy. Instead of saying no to these proposed data centers, or fueling them with clean energy, our utilities are recruiting Big Tech to Wisconsin and asking permission to build new gas plants to make Wisconsinites to pay for them.

Join us in pushing back against new gas plants and advocating for transparency, strong regulations, and clean energy.  With energy bills already skyrocketing, Wisconsin already seeing the impacts of climate change, and threats of fossil fuels on Wisconsin’s water, we can not allow new gas plants in Wisconsin.

Some of the proposals include:

• Foundry Ridge Gas Plant in Darien- a 300mw gas plant proposed in southeast Wisconsin.  This plant and the Red Oak Ridge Plant (below) is facing scrutiny because of the health impacts. A report by the Climate Solutions for Health Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that these plants would lead to higher particulate matter and premature deaths. 
• Red Oak Ridge Gas Plant in Paris- This massive 1,100mw (that’s a big plant!) proposed gas plant in Paris, Wisconsin, where there is already a lot of gas infrastructure being built. Despite concerns about the plant, the Trump Administration is fast-tracking the approval. We have filed a lawsuit to stop this fast-tracking. 
• Calumet Gas Plant- Little is known about the plant, but Invenergy has begun making plans to build another 1,200mw gas plant in Calumet County. 

These proposals are in addition to the South Oak Creek and Paris Gas plants that are under construction in the southeastern part of the state. That’s almost 4GW--that’s enough electricity to power about 3 million average homes. To put that in context, Wisconsin only has 2.84 million homes. In addition to these new plants, 4 coal plants in Wisconsin (two that were scheduled to be shut down) are converting to gas. These gas plants are threatening our water, our health, and climate change in order to fuel data centers here in Wisconsin.

73% of Wisconsin’s annual water usage already goes to fossil fuel and nuclear plants. Foundry Ridge will use up to 55,152 gallons per day, and the Red Oak Ridge will use up to 335,000 gallons/day. Fresh clean water should be reserved as drinking water for all Wisconsinites and shouldn’t be used to operate new fossil fuel plants that will already be detrimental to our health and climate. 

Public hearings have been scheduled for the Foundry Ridge and Red Oak Ridge Gas Plants and the comment period for those gas plants is open. 

Upcoming Events: 

Learn More: Darien Open House

Thurs, July 9, 2026; 2-4:00 PM, Darien Senior Center

We will have a pop-up information session on July 9 in Darian. Stop by to learn about the concerns, ask questions, get help with writing comments, etc. Stop by anytime between 2 and 4 PM. We'll have information about data centers that are proposed nearby, the water impacts of data centers and the gas plants that fuel them, the health concerns, and more.

Button to RSVP

Learn More: Public Information Session in Paris

Button to RSVP

Join Us: Webinar and Prep Session

Monday, July 13, 2026; 6:00 PM

Join us as we go over the highlights of the proposal and the concerns, and help you prepare to testify at the hearings.

Button to RSVP

Learn More: Data centers and water use: Lunch and Learn

Tues July 14, 2026; 11:00 AM, online

Topics will include:
Data Centers and their use of water
The water use of the energy sources that power data centers
Actions you can take

Button to RSVP

Speak Out: Hearing on Foundry Ridge Plant in Darien, WI

Thursday, July 16, 2026; 2:00 and 6:00 PM, online and in-person

The Public Service Commission is seeking input on whether to give grants to build the gas plant. Attend online or in-person to testify.

Button to RSVP

Speak Out: Hearing on Red Oak Ridge Plant in Paris

Thursday, July 23, 2026; 2:00 and 6:00 PM, online and in-person

The Public Service Commission is seeking input on whether to give grants to build the gas plant. Attend online or in person to testify.

Button to RSVP

The Sierra Club, along with our partners at Healthy Climate Wisconsin, Midwest Environmental Advocates, and Wisconsin Green Fire, created this toolkit to help Wisconsinites understand what hyperscale data centers are, what impacts they have, and what local communities and concerned citizens can do to mitigate the worst impacts.

Download the toolkit, Big Tech Unchecked: A toolkit for community action here. 

The toolkit is 34 pages. Download individual sections of the toolkit here. 

The launch of the toolkit kicked off a series of webinars about the impacts of Data Centers and what you can do. Find the recordings here:

• Big Tech Unchecked: Join Healthy Climate Wisconsin, the Midwest Environmental Advocates, the Sierra Club-Wisconsin Chapter, and Wisconsin's GreenFire as we walk through the new toolkit: Hyperscale Data Centers in Wisconsin: Big Tech Unchecked, A toolkit for Community Action. 

• No Discounts for Data Centers: Data Centers should cover their costs. There are major decisions being made about whether or not they will have to. Tune in to learn more about data centers' hungry electricity needs -- and how it could cost us all if the Public Service Commission doesn't make the right decisions.

Why it Matters

Hyperscale data centers are exactly what they sound like: massive facilities built to handle enormous volumes of data. They support the growing demand for cloud computing, cryptocurrency, and, increasingly, artificial intelligence. These large-scale operations can house thousands of servers and require complex systems to manage power, data processing, and cooling. Because they operate continuously, hyperscale data centers rely on extensive energy infrastructure and backup generators to prevent downtime and ensure constant access to data.

Some hyperscale data centers are owned and operated by major tech companies like Meta (Facebook), Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. Others are developed by third-party companies that either sell entire facilities to clients or lease space within them to businesses that need large-scale data storage and computing power.

Electric utilities like We Energies and Alliant have been recruiting data centers because these massive facilities use huge amounts of electricity, allowing utilities to justify building new power plants and infrastructure—projects that boost utility profits. This dynamic creates a powerful push to bring in more data centers, even when the public may end up bearing the financial and environmental costs.

Currently, there are no guardrails for data centers, including clean energy requirements, protections for customers of the utilities that will be powering these massive energy users, or limits on water use. 

Here are some of the concerns around data centers:

• Data centers use a staggering amount of energy.   Just two data center proposals (Vantage data center in Port Washington and the Microsoft data center in Mt. Pleasant) would use as much energy as the entire state of Wisconsin. The Vantage data center would use more electricity than the city of Los Angeles. Using that much energy means Wisconsin utilities will have to 
   
• Data centers consume an enormous amount of water. Data centers use an enormous amount of water to keep their servers cool—often millions of gallons every single day for just one facility. As these centers multiply, their combined water demand can put real pressure on local rivers, lakes, and community water supplies.
   
• Wisconsinites could be left footing the bill. When a single, massive user like a data center comes online and consumes all the power a gas plant produces, or requires new transmission lines to serve it, all ratepayers share in the costs, even though only one customer reaps the benefit.
  Data centers can and should be built in ways that minimize these impacts.  Data centers should be powered by new, clean energy sources so that the growth of data centers doesn’t exacerbate the climate crisis. Finally, other states have processes in place to ensure that utility customers' bills do not increase once data centers arrive in an area and create a demand for a massive amount of energy.