Tom Tiffany for Governor yard sign. MWC photo by Mike Leischner
MARATHON, WI (WSAU-WAOW) – Congressman Tom Tiffany is touring the state on his Protecting Wisconsin Farmland Tour as part of his campaign for governor. Today, he stopped at a family-owned farm in Marathon surrounded by farmland that is right in the heart of three different wind farm proposals.
Tiffany addressed all types of things he considers threats to Wisconsin’s farmland: wind farms, solar fields, and data centers. His message was clear: farmland should stay farmland.
“When I become the next governor of Wisconsin, we are going to protect our farmland, we are going to protect our way of life. We are going to make sure that we keep this America’s dairy land, not America’s data land,” said Tom Tiffany, republican candidate for governor.
Marathon County has been approached with three different wind farm proposals, one by Alliant Energy. While that can bring a financial windfall for farmers willing to rent their land, it raises concerns for farmers who live nearby.
“We can have renewable energy projects. But when it goes in and competes with the farmers who need the land to produce our food, it really puts the farmers in a really big bind,” said Trine Spindler, Farmland First Organization.
Tiffany added that he would eliminate subsidies that use taxpayer dollars to pay for wind and solar projects. Unlike data centers, wind and solar projects are not under local control; they are regulated by the state’s Public Service Commission, something Tiffany says he would change if he were governor.
“I’m going to make sure that we have local control in regards to these issues. When these things are going to end up in someone’s back yard, they should have a say in whether it does or not,” said Tiffany.
On data centers, Tiffany said he would only allow them if: electricity rates don’t go up, there are no non-disclosure agreements, they are not built on farmland, and they involve no subsidies.
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