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A Wisconsin city just made a historic push to say no to Big Tech\u2019s data center frenzy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Voters in the Milwaukee suburb of Port Washington just overwhelmingly passed a measure to limit the construction of future data centers unless the community gets a say.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Port Washington residents voted on the referendum<\/a> earlier this week, which made it to the ballot through a grassroots effort that required collecting signatures across the 12,000-person town. The backlash against Big Tech\u2019s AI plans was prompted by a controversial project in the area known as the Vantage Data Centers Lighthouse Campus, a sprawling $15 billion, 672-acre computing hub for OpenAI and Oracle.\u00a0<\/p>\n That construction is part of a $500 billion Trump-backed initiative known as \u201cStargate\u201d that will dot the country with infrastructure designed to power the artificial intelligence boom. Other Stargate sites include Shackelford County, Texas; Do\u00f1a Ana County, New Mexico; and Lordstown, Ohio. \u201cAI can only fulfill its promise if we build the compute to power it,\u201d OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in the Stargate announcement<\/a>. \u201cThat compute is the key to ensuring everyone can benefit from AI and to unlocking future breakthroughs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n While they weren\u2019t able to keep Stargate from coming to town, the Port Washington residents who organized the opposition to data centers are looking ahead. Last year, they formed the Great Lakes Neighbors United nonprofit to unite the community around concerns about Big Tech\u2019s interest in their small city.<\/p>\n \u201cTonight, democracy worked the way it\u2019s supposed to,\u201d the group\u2019s spokesperson, Christine Le Jeune, said<\/a> after the referendum succeeded. \u201cOver 1,000 residents signed the petition that put this measure on the ballot, and tonight, Port Washington voters spoke with one clear voice. The people deserve a seat at the table when their tax dollars are on the line.\u201d<\/p>\n The ordinance will force the city\u2019s government to seek approval from voters before offering tax breaks for development projects over $10 million. The voter-led effort will add some roadblocks to future data center development, but it won\u2019t halt construction of an enormous AI data center project that broke ground in December. Nearby Port Washington residents have already protested against the 24-hour noise<\/a> at the construction site in packed city council meetings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n