Wisconsin landowner faces seizure threat over $15B AI data center power lines

Tom Uttech, an 83-year-old landscape painter whose work has been displayed in museums across the country, received a letter from his utility company informing him that a massive 300-foot-tall transmission line would be built through his 52-acre property in Saukville, Wisconsin. The line is intended to deliver power to a $15 billion（約2.4兆円） AI data center campus set to be constructed on over 500 football fields of farmland in nearby Port Washington — part of the Trump administration's $500 billion（約80兆円） Stargate partnership with OpenAI and Oracle, announced by President Donald Trump as vital to supercharging the artificial intelligence revolution.

Uttech's land has been his life's work. Over nearly 40 years on the property, he has maintained and curated a sweeping prairie landscape, including rows of evergreens he planted by hand in 1988 that have grown into mature trees. The landscape serves as both the inspiration for his artwork and the foundation of his livelihood as a painter. He describes the prospect of the transmission line cutting through his property as devastating. "I couldn't believe it, and I still don't," he told ABC News correspondent Elizabeth Schulze. "They'd be putting power lines that are 300 or something feet tall, taller than apparently the Statue of Liberty."

Uttech's struggle reflects a broader pattern emerging across the United States as AI data centers proliferate. The country currently has more than 3,000 data centers, with 1,200 more under construction, according to Data Center Map. These facilities are extraordinarily energy-intensive; as Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard University, explained to ABC News, "A single sort of warehouse can use as much electricity as a large U.S. city. The amount of new infrastructure that has to be built to power that facility is unlike anything we've seen in generations." The expansion threatens residents with eminent domain seizures — the government's legal authority to seize private property for public use — while raising concerns about rising electricity costs. Goldman Sachs economists reported that electricity prices jumped 6.9% in 2025 — more than double the inflation rate of 2.9% — and expect data centers to account for about 40% of total power demand growth over the next five years.

Port Washington's Mayor Ted Neitzke has embraced the project as an economic windfall. "It's exciting because it's going to transform our community, it's going to create a tax base and jobs and secondary and tertiary workforce and opportunities that we have not even envisioned, and it's going to lead us into a real renaissance," he said, noting that the project would bring thousands of new jobs and that when financing solidifies, the data center operator "will pay the overwhelming majority of property taxes for the citizens of the city of Port Washington." The Data Center Coalition similarly touted the industry's "multi-billion-dollar investments across the nation, including Wisconsin," which would create "hundreds of thousands of high-wage jobs" and generate "significant local, state, and federal tax revenue that helps fund schools, transportation, public safety, tax relief for residents and small businesses."

Local opposition has intensified. Community groups led by Great Lakes Neighbors have organized protests, including a rally at the state capitol in early 2026. In December, multiple anti-data-center protesters were arrested at a city council meeting, and one protester, Christine LeJeune, was forcibly removed after chanting "Recall, recall, recall" at Mayor Neitzke. LeJeune told ABC News that she prepared a speech to deliver at the meeting but that the incident sent a message: "if you speak out, then this is what will happen to you." Neitzke, who faced a failed recall attempt over his support for the data center, defended law enforcement as "very kind" and "very cordial," while also revealing he had received voicemails threatening his family's safety in response to the arrests.

To address electricity cost concerns, both OpenAI and Oracle have made public commitments. OpenAI spokesperson Jamie Radice stated: "In Wisconsin, and across all of our U.S. Stargate sites, we are committed to paying our own way on energy so that our operations do not increase local electricity prices." Oracle went further in its statement, saying that in partnership with WE Energies, it would pay its own way on energy so "ratepayers' bills and electric grid reliability are never impacted by our data center," and pledged that 70% of the Port Washington campus's energy will come from zero-emission sources, including wind, solar, and batteries, adding about 2,000 MW of new zero-emission power to Wisconsin's grid, which "Oracle — not ratepayers — will fund."

The critical decision now rests with the American Transmission Company (ATC) and Wisconsin's Public Service Commission. ATC has proposed two routes: a "preferred route" and a "preferred alternative route" that follows existing transmission lines. An ATC representative told ABC News that the company considers "several factors such as cost to ratepayers, landowner impacts, environmental sensitivities, and engineering considerations" and that the preferred route "offers a lower cost to ratepayers and maximizes the use of existing corridors." Vantage, the data center operator, supports the alternative route and has stated it is "committed to being a good neighbor" and is "prioritizing investing in sustainable energy, minimizing local impact and partnering closely with the community."

Uttech is fighting back with legal help from the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, a conservative law firm. The firm wrote to ATC: "The use of eminent domain power must be the absolute last resort ... This is not such a case. We will do all we can to protect the Uttech family's private property rights." Deputy counsel Lucas Vebber argued that "Building the power lines on their land would cause irreparable damage to the natural beauty and wildlife the Uttech family has spent decades developing." Despite acknowledging that AI is a growing billion-dollar industry already in motion and unstoppable, Uttech remains resolute. "They brought the fight to me and I'm not going to just roll over," he told ABC News, vowing to fight "right to the end."

The Port Washington data center represents a collision between national ambitions to lead in artificial intelligence and the local costs of that expansion. The Trump administration has framed rapid AI infrastructure deployment as a national security imperative, with Trump himself stating in January that he would use emergency declarations to expedite construction. Yet this urgency translates directly into property seizures affecting individuals like Uttech, who has stewarded his Wisconsin property for nearly 40 years and built a career as a nationally exhibited landscape painter around its natural features.

The electricity cost issue cuts both ways. Goldman Sachs economists project data centers will drive about 40% of total power demand growth over the next five years, and 2025 saw electricity prices jump 6.9% — more than double the inflation rate. Local activists and residents fear ratepayers will absorb these increases. OpenAI and Oracle have countered with commitments to build renewable energy and cover their own costs, with Oracle pledging that 70% of Port Washington's energy will come from zero-emission sources and adding 2,000 MW of new zero-emission capacity to the grid. Yet the ultimate route decision rests with Wisconsin's Public Service Commission, which must weigh cost to ratepayers, landowner impacts, and environmental sensitivities. The tension is acute: Port Washington's mayor sees the project as transformative for the community, bringing thousands of jobs and much-needed tax revenue to a region he describes as desperate for investment, while residents and activists have organized protests and faced arrests at city council meetings.