A proposed $1 billion natural gas plant in Superior is dead after years of legal battles, but the Town of Paris in Kenosha County is moving in the opposite direction with two approved gas-fired power plants.

Dairyland Power Cooperative and South Shore Energy notified the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) that they are canceling the Nemadji Trail Energy Center, Wisconsin Public Radio reported Wednesday, Oct. 28. The project had been approved in 2020 to produce between 550 and 625 megawatts.

The cancellation underscores a geographic shift in Wisconsin's natural gas buildout. Two separate projects are now approved for the Town of Paris alone.

Two plants, one town

The PSC unanimously approved We Energies' 128-megawatt Paris RICE project in May 2025, according to a We Energies announcement. That plant carries an estimated construction cost of more than $270 million, according to WPR's coverage of the approval. The PSC issued a final decision on July 2, 2025, according to the commission's project page. The project features seven natural gas-fired reciprocating internal combustion engines (RICE) at the existing Lakeshore Capacity Improvement Project site.

Then on Oct. 16, state regulators approved a far larger project for the same town: Invenergy's Red Oak Ridge Energy Center, a roughly 1,200-megawatt plant. We Energies has applied to acquire that facility. The cost of acquiring and building it is about $1.77 billion, according to documents filed with state regulators, as WPR reported.

Together, the two Paris plants would generate more than 1,300 megawatts.

Residents pushed back

Paris Town Board Chair John Holloway said residents have been attending board meetings to share concerns about the Red Oak Ridge plant, WPR reported in July. The town already hosts a solar farm and a peaker power plant.

Paris resident Kaley Zalubowski said at a public hearing that she has a son with asthma and worries about health effects. She asked regulators not to ask residents "to sacrifice our health, our quality of life and our community for a project that benefits others while placing the burden on those who call this place home."

George Stoner, president of the Somers village board, took a different view. In written testimony to the PSC, Stoner said the proposed Red Oak Ridge site is partially within Somers' growth area and that the village would provide water services, WPR reported.

Data center demand drives buildout

Both Paris projects are tied to surging electricity demand. A PSC draft report found Wisconsin's electricity demand could increase by more than 40 percent by 2032, driven by data center expansion, WPR reported.

PSC Commissioner Kristy Nieto said We Energies faces "significant data center development" expected to add about 1,800 megawatts of needed capacity, according to WPR's May 2025 coverage. She said the Oak Creek and Paris gas projects would meet 1,228 megawatts of that demand.

Environmental groups opposed both approvals. Clean Wisconsin attorney Brett Korte said in a statement that We Energies was using the data center boom as an "excuse to cash-in" by building gas plants, WPR reported.

Northern project collapses

The Nemadji Trail plant in Superior faced legal challenges from Indigenous and environmental groups, local opposition and permitting delays. The city of Superior denied local approvals. Air, wetland and construction permits had expired, according to a filing by Minnesota Power Vice President of Public Policy Jennifer Cady.

No construction ever took place on the Superior site. Daniel McCourtney, manager of strategic environmental initiatives at Allete, Minnesota Power's parent company, filed the cancellation letter with the PSC.

Invenergy hopes to begin Red Oak Ridge construction by October 2026 and have the plant operational by June 30, 2030, according to the PSC.