Council OKs permit for data center campus wells

The Vantage Data Centers Lighthouse Campus will be able to use three existing wells to provide water to the north end of its 672-acre site until city water is extended to the property, aldermen agreed Tuesday.

The Common Council voted 5-1, with Ald. Michael Beaster dissenting and Ald. Mike Gasper absent, to approve the permit with the caveat that Vantage be required to report how much well water it uses monthly.

The action came after a number of residents of the town and city of Port expressed concern about using groundwater for the data center.

“I am concerned Vantage’s use of groundwater will damage the water system my town neighbors and I depend on,” Catherine Gardner of the Town of Port said. “It’s not the 12,000 gallons a day Vantage says it plans to use that is concerning. What is concerning is Vantage’s consistent pattern of stretching the limits.

“I remain concerned their actual groundwater use will grow over time.”

She asked the Common Council to not only require Vantage to report its water use monthly but also make those numbers public and to “hold firm” if the company seeks to increase that limit.

“You brought this monster project into our community. Please demonstrate you have the ability to protect the public from its negative consequences,” Gardner said.

Dean Wiegert of the Town of Port concurred, saying that monthly reporting of the water use by Vantage is important. A Department of Natural Resources permit for the wells only requires an annual report listing monthly use, he noted.

“If we wait an entire year to find out what the monthly usage is, any infraction in monthly use won’t be identified until the end of the year,” he said. “Catching a problem early can prevent more problems.”

He also asked that the city establish firm penalties if Vantage exceeds the allowable use of groundwater.

City resident Amber Cheyne told the council she is concerned about water use even after the data center switches from the wells, noting city water comes from the lake and needs to be protected.

“If it is using Port’s water, it is lake water,” she said.

“Each and every one of you has the power to protect the water of Lake Michigan,”  city resident Julianne Wanderer told aldermen.

City Engineer Roger Strohm said the city will require monthly reports on water use.

“It’s very easy for us to get monthly readings,” he said, noting city crews will get those readings. “We’re going to make that a condition (of the permit).”

But, Strohm said, he isn’t sure whether those  records can be made public, adding he will seek a determination on that question from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, which regulates water utilities.

Water bills, he noted, aren’t typically public.

Strohm said the city requires permits for wells to ensure they aren’t connected to water mains, adding, “These wells are in compliance with that.”

Vantage sought a permit to use two of the existing wells on its property to service its “trailer city,” which is being used as offices for the companies building the data center campus, until municipal water service is extended to the north side of the property.

The water, Mayor Ted Neitzke said, will be used primarily for toilets and sinks. 

Once municipal water has been extended to Lake Drive, something expected to occur next year, Vantage will be required to stop using the wells.

A third well covered by the permit would be used by Lake Breeze Seeds and will be capped in 2027.

The DNR has approved a permit allowing four wells to be used — one has already been abandoned, officials have said — but the city also requires a municipal permit.

Spencer Myers, senior director of construction for Vantage, told the Board of Public Works last month that one of the wells Vantage is asking to use has drawn 6,000 gallons from November 2025 to June 30 and the other has drawn 2,421 gallons during that time.

The maximum daily draw would be 12,000 gallons, Myers said, something the company is “well under.”

The DNR permit allows 70 gallons per minute to be drawn from the three wells.