Port Washington Mayor Ted Neitzke said he isn’t at all surprised by new polling that suggests people in Wisconsin are more than ever opposed to data centers.

Despite promises by developers to pay their own way for the power and infrastructure they will need and the proven cooling technology that refutes claims that they will “drain Lake Michigan,” you can expect some people to never change their minds, Neitzke said.

Add to it that some of this development will be used for artificial intelligence, itself a subject of fear and misunderstanding, and it is little wonder politicians such as the City Council in Madison in January, state Democrat legislators last month and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, always, think it’s time to push the pause button.

The industry’s guarantees about electricity and water are really beside the point. People who are opposed to data centers and AI are people who are opposed to and fearful of progress, in the same way people opposed railroads, television and the internet, Neitzke, the former history teacher, told the Badger Institute.

Hasta la data, baby