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Michigan Data Centers: The Weekly Download
Posted
Kyle Davidson
States Newsroom graphic illustration
New Developments
A 12-month data center moratorium in Texas Township is set to take effect on July 5, MLive’s Aya Miller reports. The Kalamazoo County community joins neighboring Portage and Oshtemo Township in putting a pause on data center development, with the Texas Township Planning Commission expecting to use the period to evaluate the facilities’ impacts on farmland preservation, rural zoning, infrastructure capacity and other concerns such as noise and light pollution.
Updates
Oakland University’s Board of Trustees voted to move a data center project to the due diligence phase, which will include an environmental study near Lot 37, WXYZ’s Simon Shaykhet reports. University officials say the developer, Fairmount Properties, would be responsible for the construction and rental of the facility.
News of Note
William Lawrence, a political organizer and candidate for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, released his first campaign ad last week, featuring Lawrence at the site of a proposed data center in Mason saying “Tech billionaires want to turn this whole field into a massive data center that’ll jack up our energy bills and ruin our home values.” Lawrence, is slated to face former Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink and retired Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam in the Democratic primary on Aug. 4.
Data centers emerged as a central issue during a candidate forum for Ann Arbor Mayor hosted by the League of Women Voters of Washtenaw County, Dominic Apap and Glenn Hedin reported for The Michigan Daily. Sitting Mayor Christopher Taylor said he believes communities have a right to reject data centers, but did not pledge to support a moratorium, unlike his opponent, former state Rep. Yousef Rabhi, who did.
Concerns about data center development were also top of mind for candidates in Michigan’s 28th Senate District and 74th House District, held by the outgoing Sen. Sam Singh (D-East Lansing) and Rep. Kara Hope (D-Holt), MIRS News Editor Kyle Melinn writes in Lansing City Pulse.
Upon reviewing proposed data center regulations in the Michigan House of Representatives, Michigan Energy Michigan Jobs, a bipartisan coalition focused on clean energy and utility accountability says the policies need to be strengthened, saying key provisions of the bills lack an enforcement mechanisms, and that the package could do more to uphold the state’s clean energy standards, which require energy companies to provide 100% clean energy by 2040.
