Jack,
Friend,
Two big news items recently broke on data centers. Here's what they mean.
We finally know the price tag: $2 billion. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau confirmed that Wisconsin's 2023 data center sales tax exemption will cost us $1.5 billion in foregone revenue during construction, plus $369 million every year after. That money could be funding schools, roads, and child care, but instead it’s going instead to Microsoft, Meta, and Vantage.
The same day, the Public Service Commission unanimously ruled that Big Tech has to pay for the power plants running their own data centers. That's a meaningful protection, and it happened because thousands of Wisconsinites flooded the PSC with comments and refused to be quiet. The movement is working.
But we're not out of the woods. We Energies is still pushing a 9.2% rate hike over the next two years. New dirty energy is being built across this state — gas plants, generators — to power data centers, with the climate costs borne by all of us and the electricity going to none of us. That's why this race matters.
The most recent Marquette Law School Poll found 70% of Wisconsinites say data centers cost more than they're worth, and opposition has surged across party lines.
Even Tom Tiffany has jumped on the bandwagon, announcing this month that he'd end data center subsidies as governor. Yes, the same guy who's taken about $11,500 from the PAC tied to We Energies and voted to slash funding for the Citizens Utility Board, the ratepayer advocates who helped win Friday's ruling.
He didn't have a problem with corporate handouts before the polls moved. And let's be serious here: Once the cameras are off and his donors come calling, he'll change his mind right back. I've been leading on this issue since day one.
In January, I introduced CONTROL-ALT-DELETE, the most comprehensive AI data center policy plan in this race. I'm calling for a moratorium on new construction, an end to tax breaks for Big Tech, and public ownership of new energy infrastructure.
We have more AI policy in the works, and we'll be sharing later this week — watch this space for more!
In the meantime, chip in $5, $10, or whatever you can — it will encourage us to work faster :)
In solidarity,
Fran
