I am encouraged by the legislative attention that the flurry of data center plans in Wisconsin is causing. Elements of both Republican and Democratic proposals have some merit.

I hope our state legislators can reach across the aisle and sincerely work together to produce a truly effective bill that not only grows Wisconsin’s economy but errors on the side of caution regarding protecting Wisconsin’s resources and natural environment.

What I don’t see is any specific requirement for on-site energy production besides that any renewable energy production serving the new facility needs to be done on site. This seems to be in response to outcry over solar fields replacing farm fields but doesn’t really address the added power demand.

Data center questions answered: Get free tickets to Journal Sentinel Feb. 23 event

These buildings have huge flat roof areas. Seems like a no-brainer, but why not require each data center to fill their roofs with PV panels? These companies have more than enough money to provide these and it will reduce the amount of supplemental power utilities will need to provide.

Russ Drewry, Milwaukee

**Letters: **Silence of our Congress, Senate Republicans is appalling

Big Tech companies should step up and fund 100% of their energy needs

Thank you to the Clean Economy Coalition of Wisconsin for speaking out on sustainability and affordability (“Environmentalists call for pause on data centers,” Jan. 26).

Big tech and the hyperscalers seem to think the national project for the late 2020’s is to build out AI capacity at record speed. The thing is, we already have a big project: stewarding the stable climate given us by God and nature, while preserving the gains of modern civilization. Their ambitions threaten to fly in the face of it.

Right now climate stewardship has two main lanes. First, clean and strengthen the grid with solar, wind and batteries, now the cheapest sources of new capacity. Second, convert our fossil vehicles and appliances to run on electricity. We needed to be growing the grid, cleanly, well before the AI craze.

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Big tech companies claim to care about climate change. And they have money. They need to step up and fund zero carbon energy and transmission to meet at least 100% of their needs, or step back and get out of the way.

Michael Arney, Wauwatosa

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Data center plan flurry deserves attention from legislators | Letters