By Allison Peck
Listen to the full interview on our Kubota Podcast
Lincoln County Commissioner Micaela Wuehler will bring the perspective of rural Nebraska and a county already working through data center regulations to Governor Jim Pillen's newly created Data Center Task Force.
Pillen announced the appointment of 17 task force members on Aug. 19. The group, authorized through Executive Order 26-17 and overseen by the Nebraska Department of Water, Environment and Energy, will evaluate the potential impact of data centers on the state's water resources, power grid and local infrastructure.
The task force will also work to ensure counties have the tools, zoning guidelines and policy frameworks needed to manage future data center development.
Pillen said the group's work will be critical as Nebraska considers future development.
“Data centers are a booming industry, yet we need to protect our most valuable resources,” Pillen said in announcing the appointments. “Together, they will ensure that we are making solid decisions when it comes to balancing data center development with the continued preservation of our land, electricity and water.”
For Wuehler, the appointment follows months of work on the issue in Lincoln County.
And, as she puts it, she may be partly responsible for starting the local conversation.
“I will take full responsibility for that,” Wuehler said during an interview with Eagle Media.
Wuehler and Lincoln County Planning Director Judy Clark were serving on a Nebraska Association of County Officials land use committee when the group began discussing data centers.
“I did not know much about data centers,” Wuehler said. “The data center conversation went on for over four hours, and we could have talked another four hours.”
When she returned to Lincoln County, Wuehler brought the issue up during commissioner committee reports. She later suggested a six-month moratorium on data center development, or a pause until the county had additional time to develop regulations.
The moratorium ultimately failed on a 3-2 vote, with Wuehler and Commissioner Jerry Weems voting in favor.
Wuehler said she never viewed a moratorium as an attempt to permanently close the door on data center development.
“In my opinion, a moratorium is not closing the door on a project,” she said. “It is the county doing their due diligence.”
Despite the vote, Wuehler said work on data center regulations continued.
She and Commissioner Chris Bruns, who voted against the moratorium, have both been involved in the county's work on the issue.
“I would be more concerned about us as a board if we agreed on everything all the time,” Wuehler said. “It's healthy for us to have different perspectives, different ideas and great conversation.”
Lincoln County is scheduled to hold a public hearing Monday on proposed data center regulations. Wuehler said the county has gone from having limited language addressing data centers to developing several pages of proposed regulations, with more changes possible as officials continue receiving public input.
She said the work done in Lincoln County has already attracted attention beyond the county.
“Some counties were kind of like us and had a paragraph or a page,” Wuehler said. “Other counties had nothing at all. So we are setting the standard.”
Wuehler said Lincoln County's draft regulations have been shared with other counties in Nebraska and have also drawn interest from officials outside the state.
That local experience could provide a unique perspective on the statewide task force.
The 17-member group includes leaders from Nebraska's energy, utility, infrastructure, construction, business and water sectors. Wuehler and Sarpy County Commissioner Angi Burmeister are the task force's two county commissioner representatives.
Other members include the CEOs or leaders of Nebraska's major public power organizations, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Tenaska, Kiewit Infrastructure Group and the Greater Omaha Chamber, along with representatives from natural resources districts and the Nebraska Public Service Commission.
When Wuehler first saw the list of appointees, she joked, “One of these things is not like the others.”
But she said she believes her experience with land use, planning and zoning — along with Lincoln County's ongoing work on data center regulations — gives her an important perspective to bring to the table.
The Governor's office asked the Nebraska Association of County Officials for county representation on the task force. NACO Executive Director John Cannon recommended Wuehler and Burmeister.
Wuehler said one of the most significant concerns she sees is water.
Lincoln County has been under water restrictions since the early 2000s, something she said gives the area a different perspective than parts of the state where those restrictions may not exist.
“My concern for agriculture is always first and foremost,” Wuehler said. “I understand the irrigators being extremely concerned because what we are learning about data centers is they use a lot of water, a lot of electricity, a lot of land for these hyperscale models.”
Those concerns closely mirror the mission outlined by Pillen when creating the task force, which will focus on the impacts future data center development could have on Nebraska's water, electricity and infrastructure.
Wuehler said she is not taking an anti-data-center position and believes projects should be considered individually.
“I've told everyone all along, I'm not to a place yet where I am pro or con on data centers,” she said. “I don't have enough information.”
She said her research has shown that data centers vary significantly in size and operation, ranging from relatively small facilities to massive hyperscale developments.
For Wuehler, the focus is ensuring communities understand what they are considering and have regulations in place before an application arrives.
“We don't know what we don't know,” she said, describing many of the concerns surrounding the industry.
Wuehler said she is not concerned about being one of only two county commissioners on the task force.
“I have a pretty strong voice,” she said. “I do my work. I feel like I will bring as much to the table as anybody else around it.”
She said representation for western and rural Nebraska is important as the state considers the future of data center development.
“If not me, who?”
The task force is expected to hold its first meeting in September, although Wuehler said she had not yet received official notice of the date. She said she plans to keep Lincoln County residents informed about the conversations taking place and wants community members to continue sharing their questions, concerns and ideas with her.
What started as a conversation Wuehler brought back from a statewide land use committee has now grown into a discussion happening at the state level.
Asked whether she ever expected her initial mention of data centers during a Lincoln County commissioners meeting to eventually lead to an appointment on the Governor's task force, Wuehler laughed off the idea.
“No, I certainly did not.”