Why EVA Is Calling for a Statewide Pause and Cumulative Impact Review
Across Wisconsin, communities are seeing a growing number of proposals involving data centers, power plants, transmission lines, substations, pipelines, battery storage, solar facilities, and other large-scale infrastructure.
Each project is typically reviewed on its own and approved or denied individually, but communities experience them together.
That’s why the Environmental Vigilance Alliance (EVA) is calling for a temporary statewide pause on new data center development and the energy infrastructure being proposed to support it until Wisconsin can complete a comprehensive cumulative impact review and establish adequate guardrails and ordinances that protect human health, our communities, and the environment.
What is cumulative impact?
Cumulative impacts are the combined effects of multiple projects over time.
One project may appear manageable.
Several projects across the same region can create entirely different environmental, economic, and community outcomes.
Questions that deserve statewide evaluation include:
How much farmland could be converted?
How much water could be required?
What are the combined air emissions?
How will electric demand change?
What wildlife habitat could be affected?
Which communities bear the greatest burden?
Are projects being planned strategically or simply reviewed one at a time?
These questions extend beyond any single permit application.
Why a pause?
A temporary pause is not intended to stop progress permanently.
Rather, it provides an opportunity to understand the full picture before irreversible decisions are made.
Many Wisconsin residents believe thoughtful planning today can prevent unintended consequences tomorrow.
What EVA supports
EVA supports:
Transparent decision-making
Independent scientific review
Meaningful public participation
Protection of agricultural land and natural resources
Responsible energy planning
Statewide cumulative impact assessment before continued large-scale expansion
Looking beyond one project
Foundry Ridge is one example of a much larger conversation unfolding across Wisconsin.
Our hope is not simply to respond to one proposal.
It is to help create a stronger process for evaluating all future projects in a way that protects both people and the places they call home.
We believe Wisconsin can support economic development while also ensuring that decisions are informed by comprehensive science, public participation, and long-term stewardship.
That conversation begins with slowing down long enough to see the whole landscape and creating a better plan BEFORE everything is built.