OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — The Oshkosh Common Council has voted to advance a pause on data center construction in the city, while residents in neighboring Omro are circulating a petition with the same goal. Both efforts center on protecting the region's water and natural resources.
The Oshkosh resolution directs city staff to prepare an official ordinance pausing data center construction, collaborate with other local governments on data center policy, and study the issue further. The council also passed an amendment to the resolution aimed at expanding regional cooperation on data center regulations.
The Oshkosh Common Council emphasized that there are no current plans for data centers to come into the city of Oshkosh, or Winnebago County for that matter.
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Council Member Alec Lefeber, who initiated the resolution, said water is at the heart of the concern.
"I think one of the potential areas for impact is water usage and water quality impacts, but what we're seeing so far is that there can be a lot of environmental issues, utility rate issues, air quality, noise," Lefeber said.
Anti-data center sentiment is growing across Winnebago County. An Omro petition to stop data centers has nearly 800 signatures, while Oshkosh has collected over 1,500.
Omro advocate Cameron Chapin said the situation mirrors conflicts people recognize in popular culture but struggle to confront in real life.
"When we watch our movies like FernGully, Pocahontas, and Avatar, we always see that when you're in your forest and you're in your natural environment, and then people come in and try to destroy it, we understand when it's a movie. Yet when it comes into real life, we seem to have a difficult time opening our eyes and seeing that," Chapin said.
Fellow Omro advocate Kayla Bloede said the petitions are meant to demonstrate the public's will to elected officials.
"It's not just something that's out there on the internet. This is very real. People have very real concerns about this, and we want to see our communities, our leaders and stuff, fight for our interests as well," Bloede said.
For more information on the data center petitions, you can visit this link for Oshkosh's and this link for Omro's.
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