How a small Wisconsin city scuttled a secretive $1.6bn datacenter project
Residents of Menomonie mounted a successful protest against a huge campus proposed by Meta – and community resistance to the AI boom is growing In the spring of 2025, Sydney Brennan was riding high. The 22-year-old was finishing college and was a newly elected councilwoman in Menomonie, a city of about 17,000 in the lush plains of north-western Wisconsin. Weeks into the new job, she was invited…
In the spring of 2025, Sydney Brennan, a 22-year-old councilwoman in Menomonie, Wisconsin, was tasked with considering a $1.6 billion AI hyperscale datacenter project proposed by an undisclosed large technology company. The site, situated on a 320-acre plot, would have consumed an estimated 75,000 gallons of water daily, making it the most significant development in the city's 150-year history.
During a meeting with consultants, Brennan expressed concerns about datacenters and the company's secretive nature. She learned that the developer was Balloonist LLC, a Delaware-based shell company, and that only a few individuals, including city officials, knew the identity of its parent corporation.
Brennan questioned the consultants about water usage, noise pollution, and the strain on the city's electrical grid. The consultants offered assurances of buffer zones, grid upgrades, and the project's commitment to becoming "water positive" by 2030. The city council was informed about the pre-development agreement between Menomonie and Balloonist in March 2025, a month after Brennan's election.
Wisconsin law permits closed sessions for discussions involving competitive or bargaining reasons, which the city utilized to negotiate the agreement without public disclosure. The city approved a resolution allowing Balloonist to define "warehousing" in the city's code, paving the way for the datacenter project. Despite community opposition, the project progressed, with the city putting out a press release about it in July 2025.
The final decision to proceed with the datacenter was made despite Brennan's reservations and the growing public backlash.
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