Overview
- Port Washington, Wisconsin, passed a first-in-the-nation referendum on Tuesday targeting data-center expansion, with local reports showing about a two-to-one margin in favor.
- The measure requires residents to approve any new tax incentives for large projects, and it does not block the proposed $15 billion OpenAI-Oracle-Vantage campus already planned in the city.
- Backers say the ballot tactic offers a template for other small towns to check Big Tech projects, while the Data Center Coalition warned the trend could weaken U.S. competitiveness and national security.
- The local move follows stalled efforts to set statewide rules in Wisconsin, where Gov. Tony Evers signaled he would veto a Republican data-center bill and other proposals failed to advance.
- Developers tout thousands of construction and permanent jobs from these facilities, but residents raise concerns about heavy power use, pollution, and local costs, and a POLITICO poll found roughly three in ten voters would oppose a data center near them.