Why I Oppose This Data Center

I tried to keep this brief, but I had to be thorough, so it ran a bit longer than I intended. A brief summary can be found near the bottom.

While I think a lot of great opposition information has been shared, here’s my perspective, as a Big Ten-trained economist whose degree capstone project was Cost-Benefit Analysis:

The first issue is weaved into and out of every facet of this: TRUST.

Only 2 people at the City know who is attempting to build this data center, and both signed NDAs well over a year ago. This issue was presented to residents as if it were a new development; in fact, 20 months have passed since this was first brought to the City’s attention. The proponent’s usual line is that it’s standard procedure to hide identities and use NDAs in these matters; that doesn’t make it more palatable. That lessens the City’s negotiating power (to obtain the maximum amount of benefit for the community). Just because this is the way these things are done doesn’t mean it’s a good way of doing things. Transparency builds trust, and there is no transparency being presented to the citizens.

Quarles and Brady, the law firm representing the LLC, the only face or name (other than “Balloonist LLC”, on which virtually no information can be found) residents have been able to put to the project, have attorney Douglas Buck leading the effort to secure a data center in Menomonie. Attorney Buck has received national recognition as the best real estate lawyer in America. Attorney Buck has successfully received tax incremental funding, or TIF, for data centers. A TIF is a public subsidy (your money, my money, our money) aimed at increasing industry. Studies have shown that, much more often than not, TIFs do not benefit communities. They benefit developers. It’s true that there is, at this time, no TIF being offered to Balloonist. But it is the job of their lawyer, the nation’s best lawyer in this field, to secure advantages for Balloonist at Menomonie’s expense.

Additional public subsidies are already offered to the developer. Wisconsin State Law exempts data centers from sales and use taxes forever. You know how sales tax in Wisconsin is 5.5%? Well, that’s not really true. State sales tax is 5%, and our local sales tax is the additional 0.5%. So every office chair, every construction material, every computer, EVERY tangible THING in this data center is tax-free — we aren’t getting our 0.5% locally, and our state isn’t receiving revenue, either.

Thanks to great journalism by McKenna Scherer at Volume One (here is a link to her story)(total side note, great free publication to find local events and keep up with local stories), the most plausible name for this project is Meta (they are Facebook, Instagram, etc.) Why are we subsidizing Mark Zuckerberg?

Centrally, this is an ECONOMIC issue.

City Council wants this for the revenue, and Balloonist is using “job creation” to sell this to the people. As mentioned, the tax revenue in the best case scenario is nowhere near what the tax revenue would be from a similar investment from a different, non-tax-advantaged industry - public subsidies by definition lower tax revenues. Mr Atkinson recently put out a document listing what he sees as the positives. Frustratingly, Mr Atkinson very clearly avoided the fact that there are, undoubtedly, negatives to this proposal. In that document, Mr Atkinson regurgitated Balloonist’s sales pitch:

“Over 200 jobs might be created!”

Data shows that most of the largest data centers don’t create 200 jobs. Believe it or not, this 320-acre behemoth doesn’t qualify as one of the “largest data centers.” Even if it did create that many jobs — which, again, it almost certainly won’t — that comes in at less than 2 jobs per 3 acres. From an industrial perspective, that is extraordinarily low. This land was previously earmarked by the City for future industrial expansion. It is my opinion that we would be better suited preserving this land for now, so that it is available for a different (better) industry to come into our city in the future. You may say “even if it’s only 100 jobs, that’s better than 0,” but what about the future manufacturing or retail company that would’ve used a fraction of that land to create 5 or 10 times as many jobs?

Mr Atkinson and Balloonist tell us up to a thousand construction workers may contribute to the economy in the short-term while living in Menomonie hotels. By my count today, and it was an admittedly low-effort one using TravelWeekly.com, Menomonie has about 450 hotel rooms. Even at double occupancy, that’s not enough beds. More importantly, what about the resulting impact? This is potentially a 7-year project - does Menomonie lose a youth hockey tournament (or 6) and all the resulting revenue for restaurants, shops, and youth sports because the hotels are full? There are several hotels in Menomonie because they get used. Necessarily, tourists will be prevented from coming to Menomonie if there is no lodging available. This is not 1,000 hotel guests or 0. This is often going to be one hotel guest at the expense of another, one source of revenue instead of another. Whatever revenue the City is projecting, they are not subtracting out the revenue this project will replace.

A proponent’s rebuttal would probably be, “A thousand person construction crew wouldn’t all be here all the time! A team of HVAC specialists will come and then leave, then drywallers, etc.”

Then why did the City present it as 1,000 “daily” workers living, working, and spending money here for 7 years?

One of the most curious parts of the City’s recently released FAQ touts the economic impact construction workers “and their families” will have on the city. My dad general contracted several commercial buildings throughout Wisconsin in his career; never once did me or my family stay in the hotel with him during the construction process. And if the data center workers do plan to have their families stay, how many hotel guests is that? 4,000? 6,000? A number far beyond what Menomonie hotels can handle (and no, the answer is decidedly not “build more hotels, then!”)

Also on that note, the developer and the city touting hotel rooms for construction workers all but guarantees this group’s suspicions that this will not be built using local labor. Combine that with the fact that many data centers employ at least some remote workers, I’d be shocked if a fraction of the jobs they are saying will go to Dunn County residents and taxpayers.

Literature from Wall Street Journal, NPR, Fox News, and scientific studies show data centers over promise and under deliver on jobs.

On EDUCATION:

This is direct from the City -

Q: How will the potential data center impact local schools and universities?

“Employees may enroll their children in the School District of Menomonie Area and pursue higher education at UW-Stout and the Chippewa Valley Technical College. Collaborate with educational institutions to enhance STEM programs.”

First, anyone in the world may pursue higher education at UW-Stout and CVTC.

Second, on collaborating to enhance STEM programs, I’m not sure if Mr Atkinson is directing this at those attending the school, in which case, he found most convoluted way possible to say “student,” or if he means the data center itself can collaborate, in which case why would Meta (or whoever this company turns out to be) willingly collaborate with the Chippewa Valley Technical College for the benefit of the school?

As I mentioned from the start, this is, above all, an issue of trust, and the City has rapidly lost ours.

On the ENVIRONMENT:

Fresh water is the most important natural resource. Quite literally, water sustains all life. Globally, access and availability of fresh water is already an enormous issue. As Wisconsinites, we don’t face this issue, but there will almost certainly be a mass migration to the Great Lakes states in the future (I acknowledge we’ll probably all be dead when it happens) because of water. I am not a father, but isn’t it a parent’s job to steward land and resources for our children?

Why is Wisconsin a target for data centers? Because we have water, and efforts to build canals to take water from the Great Lakes to other parts of the United States have, to this point, failed (but they have tried and continue to try).

Balloonist estimates using 75,000 gallons of water per day - nearly 30,000,000 gallons per year. The City is trying to defend that number by saying Balloonist would only be the 5th largest water user in Menomonie. Unlike a data center, the top 4 - Stout, 3M, Cardinal Glass, and ConAgra - produce tangible things of value (manufacturing of food and materials, higher education) and produce many more jobs than a data center would. Remember, it’s illegal to water your lawn 15 days a month in Menomonie. And this isn’t about your lawn, I do not care about your lawn. It’s about the fact that despite Wisconsin’s abundan

ce of freshwater, Menomonie’s water resources are already under immense strain. While it’s true Menomonie doesn’t get its water from the Great Lakes, we share the Mt Simon aquifer with our neighboring communities. When our wells run dry, we can be sure of one thing: we will bear that cost. Also, Balloonist’s water usage estimate, at this time, is just that - a non-binding estimate. Some data centers use hundreds of millions of gallons of water per year.

Data centers produce constant emissions into the air. Compounded with the new norm of near-constant summer wildfire smoke, Menomonie’s air quality will suffer more than it already has. Data centers’ bright lights - visible for miles in the dark, and never turned off - produce constant light pollution. I, for one, think it’s kind of nice to see the stars so vividly in my backyard. Data centers produce constant noise pollution, noises that will be heard for miles, noises that will never stop.

The City, at this time, has made no effort to produce an environmental impact analysis. Literature available from journalists and scientists shows that, generally speaking, data centers are environmental nightmares. It would be extremely surprising if this data center were any different, particularly a data center relatively close to an already-struggling major river. More of a hunter or fisher than a tree-hugger? Wildlife will be negatively impacted. I’m sorry I can’t elaborate on the extent of that, but that underscores the importance of an environmental impact study by expert scientists.

On ENERGY:

Data centers use incomprehensible amounts of energy. Shockingly, Mr Atkinson’s memo never once even used the word “energy.”

Energy utilities are known as natural monopolies - since it’s extraordinarily expensive to build new energy infrastructure, almost anywhere you go, 1-2 energy companies control the local energy market, including price-setting. A single data center can use as much energy as 80,000 households (US Department of Energy). THIS MEANS MENOMONIE HAS TO EXPAND ITS ENERGY PRODUCTION SIGNIFICANTLY. Here’s the thing about utilities - the reason we are able to have fiber optic internet routed to our house without paying for the construction, the reason it costs relatively little to have power brought to your lot, or your new home, is because we all share the costs of constructing and expanding utilities. If you see a power company building a new substation for a new development by your house, just know, you are helping pay for it. (yes, utilities are socialist. this isn’t a political theory discussion, you decide for yourself if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, it is simply a fact that they are). And while Xcel stated at the city meeting on August 4th that residents wouldn’t see significant increases in their power bills if the data center is built, UTILITY COMPANIES LIE. Don’t believe me? Check out this fantastic March 2025 article from Eliza Martin and Ari Pekoe of Harvard’s Environmental Energy & Law Program.

Or, if you want to listen to them discuss it in layman’s terms, see here.

They also touch on the growing trend for data centers to enter “secret contracts” with power companies to receive discounted rates at the expense of everyone else in an area (you and me).

So, there are 3 possible outcomes:

One, Balloonist, the energy buyer, eats all of the costs of expanding power in Menomonie. Given their negotiating team is among the best in the world at obtaining incentives and benefits for their client, this seems extremely unlikely.

Two, Xcel eats all of the cost. If you can show me one instance anywhere ever of a seller paying entirely for something for other people’s benefit, I’ll entertain this as a possibility. Until then, I’ll say with certainty, this isn’t going to happen.

Three, we share the costs of increasing power supply to meet Balloonist’s demand. Balloonist pays for some of it, Xcel pays for some (very little) of it, we pay for some of it. This seems to be the most likely, given that’s how all energy utilities have historically funded energy grid expansion.

That means Xcel lied. There’s that trust issue, again.

On LOCAL POLITICS:

Mayor Randy Knaack stated he thinks this is a bad idea for Menomonie. That the Mayor sat with Balloonist and heard them out and opposes this project says a lot to me. He went on record and agreed its economic impact is being overstated; that its environmental and energy impact will be enormous; and that neither the City or Balloonist are being transparent enough. He also stated he believes Menomonie needs the services of high-powered outside attorneys to negotiate with Balloonist, which at this time, the City does not have.

The Mayor does not at this time have the ability to stop this.

If we get 6 “No” votes from City Council, this is dead in the water.

If we get 4 or 5 “No” votes from City Council, the Mayor can veto City Council, and this is dead in the water.

If we get 3 or fewer “No” votes, townships can cooperatively lobby the County to step in and stop this. This seems like a long shot, so let’s not let it get that far.

If you live inside the City of Menomonie, PLEASE contact your city councilperson. A map of the city can be found here so you can determine who your councilperson is, if you do not know. Contact information for your city councilperson can be found here.

If you live outside the City of Menomonie but inside Dunn County, contact your town board. All of the Dunn County Township & Village contact info can be found here. I can give you a link. If you live outside of Dunn County, but in the general area, Balloonist is coming for your water, too. If you are on well water, your water table will be impacted. When your well runs dry, you will not be compensated. Call, email, protest, but most importantly, be alert in your own community for potential data centers. They want to be in Wisconsin, it’s only a matter of time before they come knocking at your town.

{Too long, didn’t read?

The economic argument for a data center is the central argument in favor of a data center.

It doesn't hold up. Tax advantages exist in Wisconsin for data centers, which prevent us from realizing the full benefits of this investment. Invariably in data center construction, cities add additional incentives, further taking benefits away from communities.

Claims by Balloonist and the City regarding jobs numbers and the local impact of these jobs range from questionable to probably false.

Our City has not conducted an environmental impact study, so we know there will be negative environmental consequences, from land to water to air to wildlife, but we don't know how bad.

And while energy consumption in Menomonie will increase drastically, Xcel claims our energy bills won’t be significantly impacted by this. A recent study investigating who pays for increased energy production for data centers shows 1) utility companies lie 2) data centers and utility companies are increasingly entering into secret contracts to keep costs low for data centers at the expense of citizens.}