Meta is building a $1 billion, 700,000-square-foot data center in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin — one of the largest private projects in Dodge County’s history.

The facility will require massive utility infrastructure upgrades, long-term energy consumption, and will reshape the local landscape for decades.

But most residents never got a say.

State and city officials have celebrated the project as a win for economic development, but local community members are raising real, valid concerns — from aquifer impact and water use modeling to the lack of public transparency in the siting and approval process. Many are asking: Why wasn’t the community more involved before the deal was announced?

Meta promises to use dry-cooling systems and restore 570 acres of prairie and wetlands, but residents still deserve full environmental modeling, public oversight of resource use, and ongoing transparency around water restoration and power demands. The company is not just building a warehouse — it’s constructing a critical piece of infrastructure that will require constant electricity and generate significant heat, noise, and land disturbance.

As data centers expand across the country to meet AI and cloud demands, towns like Beaver Dam are being asked to bear the environmental costs with no guarantees of long-term benefit. Wisconsin cannot afford to rubber-stamp these megaprojects without full public input, environmental review, and binding agreements with the people who live there.

We call on Governor Tony Evers, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, and Beaver Dam city officials to:

• Immediately pause approvals for the Meta data center
• Hold full public hearings on environmental and water use impacts
• Require a public, transparent environmental impact report
• Enforce binding community benefits and water restoration agreements.

Add your name to say: Beaver Dam residents deserve a voice before this $1 billion project becomes a $1 billion mistake.