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Milwaukee nonprofit sues Racine over data center info
Milwaukee Riverkeeper is suing the City of Racine, saying it ignored an open records request on projected water usage at Microsoft’s Mount Pleasant data center.
RACINE, Wis. - A Milwaukee nonprofit is suing the City of Racine, accusing officials of withholding information about how much water a planned Microsoft data center will use.
What we know:
Milwaukee Riverkeeper filed an open records request more than six months ago seeking projected water usage for the Mount Pleasant facility. The group says it still has not received a response to its February request.
"This is really a complaint just to get more information," said Cheryl Nenn of Milwaukee Riverkeeper. "The public deserves to know how much water these facilities are going to use and how that might impact their communities."
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Microsoft is transforming 1,900 acres of Mount Pleasant farmland into a new artificial intelligence data center. Such facilities use large amounts of water to cool systems. Water for the project will come from Lake Michigan by way of Racine.
"They failed to even acknowledge or even respond to our request for over 100 days," said Michael Greif of Midwest Environmental Advocates, which filed the lawsuit on Milwaukee Riverkeeper’s behalf.
"If we start taking out more than we’re putting back, we can draw down the resource," Nenn added.
Dig deeper:
"They definitely have a right to know and Wisconsin’s Open Records Law says that," Greif said.
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It’s a legal fight for information that one group said should not be confidential.
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"We want to make sure we’re going into this with eyes wide open," Nenn said.
A Racine spokesperson said the city’s legal department is reviewing the lawsuit and leaders cannot comment at this time.
The first phase of construction at the Microsoft data center is expected to be done this year.
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