Lawsuit Filed Over Power Use Records at $1B Wisconsin Data Center | Columbus Ohio Dump Trucks

Concerns over power use and an alleged lack of transparency at a $1-billion Meta data center in Wisconsin prompted a lawsuit by Midwest Environmental Advocates, an environmental law nonprofit based in Madison, Wis., that seeks release of public records.

The group filed suit Dec. 9 in Dane County Circuit Court to compel the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin to release records showing projected energy demand for Meta’s Beaver Dam data center campus, served by Alliant Energy.

Meta broke ground Nov. 12 on the 700,000-sq-ft campus and selected Mortenson as general contractor. 

The suit follows the commission's October denial of a records request for unredacted electrical load projections for the Beaver Dam campus and for another data center, the Lighthouse campus in Port Washington, being built by Open AI and Oracle. The commission released unredacted Port Washington records Nov. 17 showing We Energies requested interconnection for a 1.3-GW facility but denied the Beaver Dam request, citing trade secrets and the public interest.

According to the suit, the commission has approved a $191-million Dodge County Distribution Interconnection Project that is being developed and will be built by American Transmission Co., which owns and operates high-voltage transmission lines and substations in the region.

“It appears the PSC is unlawfully withholding this information because either Meta or a public utility is claiming the electricity demand for the data center is a trade secret,” said the environmental group's legal fellow Michael Greif in a news release. “The public deserves at least basic information about the data center’s massive energy needs.”

Energy use is a common concern surrounding data centers. CleanWisconsin, a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization, estimates powering just two hyperscale data centers could require more energy than all households in Wisconsin combined. Midwest Environmental Advocates says transparency is often hindered by nondisclosure agreements between tech companies and local governments, citing a Virginia study showing at least 80% of local governments involved with data center proposals had signed them.

In September, Midwest Environmental Advocates sued the city of Racine over withheld records related to Microsoft’s Mount Pleasant data center water use. Two days later, the city released the information, it said.

“This lawsuit is about making sure Wisconsin residents have access to the critical information they need to understand and evaluate the impacts of the fast-growing data center industry,” Greif said. "Keeping the public in the dark about data centers and the amount of water and energy they will use deprives Wisconsinites of the transparency they deserve.”

The commission declined to comment on the lawsuit. Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Annemarie Mannion is editor of ENR Midwest, which covers 11 states. She joined ENR in 2022 and reports from Chicago.