Environmental group sues City of Racine for public records on water use at Microsoft Data Center
RACINE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A local environmental group is suing the City of Racine, accusing officials of withholding information on how much water will be used to supply Microsoft’s massive data center in Mount Pleasant.
Midwest Environmental Advocates filed the lawsuit on Monday, Sept.15, on behalf of Milwaukee Riverkeeper in Racine County Circuit Court.
"These are huge facilities, and they use very large amounts of electricity and water and it's important for the public to be able to have that information," said Michael Greif, a legal fellow with Midwest Environmental Advocates.
The group says they filed a public records request back in February, asking how much water is projected to be used for the data center and says they still haven't heard back despite following up with the city multiple times.
"The reason they sought that information is because these hyperscale data centers often use large amounts of water for their cooling," said Greif.
After six months of no response to the public records request from the city, the Midwest Environmental Advocates filed a lawsuit against the City of Racine, saying they aren't responding to the request that could reveal big impacts for residents.
"If they're going to see their electricity bill go up or their water bill go up, that's something they should be able to assess before this large data center comes into their community," said Greif.
Greif says the request asked for a single record seeking how much water the facility will be using on an annual basis, something that he says should have only taken days to provide.
"The Attorney General has said that for simple requests, ten days is a reasonable amount of time to respond and this request I would argue is simple," said Greif.
The group says water for the data center will come from Lake Michigan and be supplied by the Racine Water Utility under an agreement with the Village of Mount Pleasant. Milwaukee Riverkeeper says residents should know the full environmental and financial impact.
"That water can have impacts on the local environment and on ratepayers of the local water utility," said Greif.
CBS 58 reached out to the Racine City Attorney's Office regarding this lawsuit but hasn't heard back yet.