Why Charlie Berens Is Taking On Wisconsin Data Centers

Wisconsin comedian Charlie Berens has joined a new nonprofit with a mission to fight large-scale data centers, and Illinois residents should pay attention.

Full disclosure, I'm an Illinois girl with a big soft spot for Wisconsin. I love spending time at my family's cabin up north. I love a good Wisconsin cheese curd and Spotted Cow beer, and I am a longtime fan of Wisconsin comedian Charlie Berens.

So when I saw that Berens is involved with a new Wisconsin nonprofit focused on a pretty serious issue, I definitely paid attention.

No, this isn't another "Midwest people make fun of each other" situation.

This time, it's about data centers and who gets to decide what happens in our communities.

Charlie Berens Joins Build Wisconsin Better

Charlie Berens recently announced (in the most Charlie way possible) that he is one of the people behind Build Wisconsin Better, a new organization focused on the growing number of large-scale, AI data centers being built in Wisconsin.

Build Wisconsin Better says its goal is to bring Wisconsinites together and help communities ask questions, get information and have a say before decisions about data-center development become permanent.

What's the Problem With Data Centers?

Here's where things get a little more serious, and I must admit I've been hiding my head in the sand a bit when it comes to data center issues.

Data centers are enormous facilities filled with computers and equipment that store and process data. They play a major role in the infrastructure behind things many of us use every day, including cloud services, streaming, online apps and artificial intelligence.

Enormous data centers use a ton of water, electricity, and land. There are also concerns about things like noise, generators, roads, and the major impact they can have on the communities that surround them.

To be very clear, not every data center is automatically bad.

They are necessary for the technological life we have become accustomed to. They generate jobs and additional tax revenue. But, the lack of public information available about some proposed data center projects is what many community members have a problem with. This is exactly what Build Wisconsin Better is trying to fight.

Why Should Illinois Care?

Those of us living in Illinois might hear "Wisconsin data centers" and think, Well, that's Wisconsin's problem.

Not necessarily.

Illinois is dealing with many of the exact same questions.

Illinois has become a major data center market, and legislation has been proposed in this state that addresses data center concerns including electricity prices, water use, and pollution.

If Wisconsin is going to become a battleground over transparency and who gets to decide the future of massive data facilities, I can't help but feel Illinois should join the fight too.