One Wisconsin City Beat Back a Data Center. Now Residents Are Helping Others Do the Same.

Residents of Menomonie, Wisconsin, successfully organized to block a secretive $1.6 billion data center proposal from Balloonist, LLC. Despite city officials, including the city administrator, signing non-disclosure agreements and an initial city council vote in early September 2025 to annex and rezone the land for the project, intense community opposition ultimately led Mayor Randy Knaack to halt the development agreement with Balloonist. The Menomonie victory has become a model for a broader, statewide movement in Wisconsin, where data center proposals are surging. Organizers, supported by groups like Healthy Climate Wisconsin, have launched the "Big Tech Unchecked Toolkit" to assist other communities in understanding data center impacts and strategies for opposition. Concerns raised include high water usage, increased electricity costs, noise, light, and air pollution, and few permanent jobs. Following the project's cancellation, the Menomonie City Council unanimously voted in January to implement additional regulations on data center projects. Furthermore, State Representative Clint Moses, representing Menomonie, introduced a bill to prohibit non-disclosure agreements for data center proposals statewide. Advocates, including Brittany Keyes of Healthy Climate Wisconsin, are actively pushing for a statewide "pause to protect" or moratorium on data center construction to allow for the development of comprehensive environmental and community safeguards. A statewide day of action at the capitol in February rallied support for this moratorium.