MON AM News: Dane County poised to join growing number of communities with data center moratoriums; MISO weighs in on competitive bidding claims

June 1, 2026

— If the Dane County Board of Supervisors this week OKs a moratorium on hyperscale data centers, the fast-growing county around Madison will become the latest member of a quickly growing cadre of Wisconsin communities seeking to hit pause on the developments.

The county’s zoning and land regulation committee unanimously passed the 18-month moratorium in a May 26 vote, with the full board set to consider the proposal this week.

Dane County Board Chair Patrick Miles said the moratorium would give an advisory committee set up in the fall time to complete research into the benefits and pitfalls of authorizing the developments for the more than two dozen communities under the county’s zoning authority.

More and more local governments across the state are moving to temporarily prohibit construction of the power-guzzling facilities, amid darkening public perception and growing skepticism of their purported benefits.

Madison, the town of Cassville, Westport in Dane County, Baldwin in St. Croix County and Manitowoc County have all passed moratoriums ranging from one to two years. Oneida and Dodge counties are also considering enacting temporary prohibitions.

Hyperscale data centers are under construction in Mount Pleasant, Port Washington and Beaver Dam.

Miles said Dane County’s advisory committee is “trying to be as agnostic as possible” on the debate over data centers’ value.

“We’re not going into this with any preconceived notions or opinion as to whether this kind of development should be allowed,” Miles said.

Public opinion surrounding data centers has shifted precipitously against them in recent months, as views sour on artificial intelligence and the trillion-dollar tech companies pushing it, and residents question the economic and environmental impacts of the projects.

Some 69% of adults in Wisconsin and nationwide say the costs of data centers outweigh the benefits, per Marquette Law School polling released in March and April, respectively.

In Wisconsin, residents have been spooked by a lack of transparency surrounding massive projects in places like Port Washington and Beaver Dam and the prospective threat the sprawling campuses pose to the farmland and water that have driven Wisconsin’s economy for more than a century.

In the town of Cassville, in western Grant County, residents mobilized this spring to give their town board village leaders more zoning controls, amid concerns they would be left out of the decision-making between county officials and the unidentified developers of a proposed $1 billion data center campus.

Town leaders ultimately voted unanimously in April to pass an ordinance banning data centers for two years from the 36 square miles bordering the Mississippi.

See the full story.

— The energy grid operator that covers Wisconsin argues utility and transmission companies are exaggerating delays associated with competitive bidding projects.

But Xcel Energy, one of the companies involved, says the “existing burdensome process is increasingly misaligned” with modern energy demands.

The Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, issued a recent filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission responding to a complaint from Xcel Energy and seven other companies. They claim that requiring competitive bidding for certain transmission projects in the MISO and Southwest Power Pool regions slows down development for 16 to 20 months on average.

“While it is true that competitive solicitation takes some time, MISO disagrees with the exaggerated length of the delay alleged in the Complaint as MISO’s actual experience differs from the alleged 16-20-month timeframe,” the grid operator wrote in the filing.

MISO also argues it’s not clear the impacts of competitive bidding for these transmission projects “are as dramatic as the Complainants allege,” noting they only make up a limited subset of all projects approved in the operator’s transmission expansion plan process.

In response to the filing, a spokesperson for Xcel Energy called for exploring a “limited regional approach” to accelerate infrastructure development more efficiently.

“MISO says the process works as designed. That is exactly the problem,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “A process designed for another era is now standing in the way of the transmission infrastructure needed to serve customers, attract investment, and keep power reliable and affordable.”

— SHINE Technologies in Janesville has been granted authorization to sell its Ilumira product in Europe, breaking into one of the world’s largest markets for its targeted cancer therapy.

The nuclear technology company on Friday announced the centralized marketing authorization approval for Europe, a key step for selling its non-carrier-added lutetium-177 product there.

SHINE makes Ilumira at its Janesville facility called Cassiopeia, one of the largest production sites of its kind in North America. Used alongside targeting molecules, the therapy targets cancer cells with precise radiation.

Michael Rossi, CEO of subsidiary SHINE SPECT LLC, says the approval “opens the door” for Ilumira to be used in developing radiological therapies on a larger scale, expanding access to nuclear medicine for cancer patients.

“Combined with the isotope manufacturing and distribution operation we run for North American hospitals and imaging centers, SHINE now serves both sides of nuclear medicine,” Rossi said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the company also recently announced it’s been chosen for “advanced negotiations” with the U.S. Department of Energy to convert surplus plutonium into fuel for advanced nuclear reactors. This material, originally produced for nuclear weapons, is being made available to industry partners for conversion through a DOE Office of Nuclear Energy program.

SHINE says it is one of few businesses selected for negotiations under the program. Its approach would involve chemically processing the plutonium to recover a material called americium for radioisotope applications, while purifying remaining plutonium to be combined with uranium into reactor fuel.

Greg Piefer, CEO of SHINE, says fuel access is among the greatest hurdles for the advanced nuclear reactor industry, noting the challenge involves chemistry and infrastructure as well as policy.

“We’ve spent more than a decade building the capabilities needed to handle complex nuclear materials — recycling used fuel, recovering isotopes, doing the kind of separations work this program calls for,” he said in a statement.

See the releases on the EU authorization and the DOE negotiations.

— Wisconsin banks had $74.5 billion in total assets at the end of the first quarter, marking an increase from $70.8 billion at the same point last year.

The state Department of Financial Institutions says the latest figures signal “sound financial performance” for state-chartered banks in Wisconsin.

Over the same period, net loans rose by nearly $3 billion to reach $54.2 billion, while net operating income rose from $185 million to $238.3 million. And the return on average assets ratio also improved from 1.05% to 1.27%, DFI says.

“The earnings and capital positions of Wisconsin’s state-chartered banks continue to strengthen, which helps protect against rising past due levels and potential future credit risk,” DFI Division of Banking Administrator Kim Swissdorf said in the release.

Meanwhile, state-chartered credit unions had $72.4 billion in total assets at the end of March, an increase of $2 billion from the end of 2025. Outstanding loans at these credit unions increased by about $549.2 million, while shares and deposits rose by $1.9 billion, bringing down the loan-to-share ratio from 91.32% to 89.36%.

DFI notes their ratio of delinquent loans to total loans declined from 0.77% at the end of 2025 to 0.64% most recently.

Troy Kaja, deputy director for the DFI Office of Credit Unions, notes delinquency is continuing a downward trend while loan growth remains positive.

“Our state’s credit unions have experienced strong earnings and even stronger asset growth during the first quarter of 2026, which led to a slight decrease in the capital ratio,” Kaja noted.

See the releases for banks and credit unions.

— Credentialed occupational therapists in seven other states can now get approval to practice in Wisconsin under a licensure compact, which “drastically expands” the state’s available workforce for this field.

That’s according to Dan Hereth, secretary of the state Department of Safety and Professional Services, which on Friday announced Wisconsin has begun offering compact privileges for occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants.

Under the compact, these professionals in Wisconsin can also obtain privileges to practice in those seven other states.

Hereth says joining the multi-state agreement will improve access to telehealth in the state, streamline cross-border practice for these health professionals and boost recruitment and retention efforts.

“The goal of compacts is to improve access to services, particularly in rural and underserved communities,” he said in a statement.

Wisconsin’s entrance into the compact stems from 2021 Wisconsin Act 123, which was signed into law in February 2022. The state was the 10th to join the agreement, reaching the “pivotal” benchmark needed for states to formally implement the compact, according to DSPS.

Currently, states offering compact privileges include Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Tennessee. But the agency notes more than two dozen other states are “in various stages” of moving forward on entering the compact.

See the release.

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— Clarevia Ventures founding partner John Neis has been named chair-elect for the board of the National Venture Capital Association, the investment firm announced.

The Madison-based firm, which was formerly called Venture Investors Health Fund before rebranding last month, touted Neis’ appointment in a recent LinkedIn post. Neis will take over as chair in one year, after first joining the association’s board in 2023.

“I am incredibly honored to have the opportunity to serve in this role,” Neis said in a comment on the post, noting he’s looking forward to working with its current leadership to advance the group’s priorities.

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