After the Town of Carlton joined other communities across Wisconsin in rejecting proposals to build AI data centers, the Wisconsin State Assembly took up those concerns on the Capitol floor this week.
Wisconsin Watch recently chronicled Cloverleaf Infrastructure’s attempt to build an AI data center in the Town of Carlton, pairing the effort with the potential resurrection of the Kewaunee Power Station. Developers attempted to purchase nearby land to support the infrastructure needs of the nuclear plant and projects such as the AI data center, but many community members opposed the plans.
“The people in Carlton don’t want anything to do with that,” Town Chairman David Hardtke told Wisconsin Watch’s Miranda Dunlap last fall, reiterating that position more recently. “People in the Town of Carlton do not want the AI data center.”
The state’s tax incentives and cool climate make AI data center construction attractive to developers, particularly in communities near large bodies of water such as Carlton in Kewaunee County, Port Washington in Ozaukee County, and Greenleaf in Brown County.
State lawmakers, including Rep. Joel Kitchens, have taken notice, with the Assembly voting largely along party lines to advance a bill requiring AI data centers to operate under closed-loop cooling systems to limit water withdrawals from lakes and streams. The bill would also require the Public Service Commission to ensure customers do not see the costs reflected in their energy bills. Kitchens hopes the legislation will give communities more local control when determining whether AI data center construction is the right fit.
Opponents of the bill say it advanced too quickly and does not adequately protect ratepayers from potentially higher energy costs. Despite being turned away by Carlton and other communities, Cloverleaf Infrastructure remains hopeful it can build somewhere in northeast Wisconsin.
EnergySolutions has recently submitted filings to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to begin the process of bringing nuclear power back to the site after more than a decade, though construction is likely still years away.
