SALINE TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Residents in Saline Township packed a township board meeting Wednesday night to speak out against a proposed multi-billion-dollar AI data center.
Gov. Whitmer announced the project at the end of October, touting the new AI infrastructure site as the largest economic project in Michigan history. The project is backed by billionaire Stephen Ross, Oracle, and OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT.
While homeowners expressed their outrage at the development, township board members said they weren’t given a choice in the matter.
Township attorney Fred Lucas said after the board voted against rezoning the land to make way for the development back in September, they were sued by both the developers and landowners.
“I don’t know of a single member up there that was in favor of saying ‘Yeah, let’s get a data center,’” Lucas said. “The question was simply this: Of the outcomes that could occur in a litigation, what was the best possible outcome for the township?”
Instead of trying to fight the development in court, the township entered into a consent judgment with protections in place regulating noise, traffic, and water usage.
“Even had we won the lawsuit, there were potential outcomes that were potentially worse than what we’re looking at now,” Lucas said.
The facility will use a closed-loop water system that does not draw additional resources from the Great Lakes, and more than 700 acres of open space will be preserved for farmland, wetlands, and forest.
A Michigan Department of Transportation traffic study rated the project an “A,” indicating minimal effects on local traffic.
“We also built into the agreement protections in the form of monitoring wells to make sure the neighboring properties are not impacted by water usage,” Lucas said.
Developer Related Digital plans to invest an additional $14 million in local initiatives requested by the township board, including funding for fire departments, a community investment fund, and a farmland preservation trust.
The developer stated that they’ve been “engaged with this community” regarding the data center since the summer of 2024 and have presented at 10 public meetings.
In addition, Related Digital said they hosted two open houses, where community members had the opportunity to ask questions, and they conducted door-to-door campaigns at over 1,600 homes in Saline Township in September, to “gain feedback and correct misinformation.”
Nevertheless, homeowners say they’re outraged that the development is moving forward with minimal public input.
“Nobody trusts DTE around here anyway to begin with, and every data center that’s put in the country, they lie about their water usage,” said Josh Lebaron, whose home is near the project site.
Kathryn Haushalter has lived in her house for more than 13 years and says she felt blindsided to learn the data center was being built just feet from her home.
“Nobody’s here to protect us,” Haushalter told the board. “I am angry, and maybe you can’t do anything about it, but I am angry you didn’t fight harder.”
A veteran and mother of five, Haushalter said she and her husband worked to build their dream home and feel devastated that there isn’t more that residents can do to fight the development.
“If this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone,” Haushalter said. “A data center can just come into your quiet, rural area and bully their way in.”
DTE Energy is attempting to expedite the approval of its contracts to power the facility. Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a notice of intervention before the Michigan Public Service Commission, urging the commission to treat the requests as a contested case and conduct public hearings.
The commission will make the final decision. DTE Energy is pushing for a decision by Dec. 5.
If approved, construction would begin early next year.