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Data Centers: How Michigan Can Invest in the Future Responsibly

From powering artificial intelligence to storing the information and content we access online every day, data centers are now key pieces of infrastructure in the modern digital world. As Big Tech companies look to expand their data footprint, Michigan has quickly emerged as a competitive destination for massive new data facilities. 

Data centers – especially “hyperscale” data centers – can require enormous amounts of electricity and water, placing significant new demands on our energy grid and local utilities. By 2030, data centers are projected to consume up to 8% of all electricity in the United States, while many use millions of gallons of water per day. 

Without responsible protections, data center expansion could lock Michigan into decades of expensive fossil fuel infrastructure, strain water resources, impact local health and community life, and leave ratepayers holding the bill for costly utility upgrades. Michigan LCV believes data center investment can be a part of our clean energy future – but they must be developed in a way that benefits communities, ratepayers, and our natural resources.

Michigan LCV supports data center development that: 

  • Protects ratepayers from increased energy costs

  • Safeguards water resources and green space

  • Accelerates clean energy development and improves the grid

  • Ensures local benefit, transparency, and accountability

  • Puts people and communities first 

If big tech companies want hyperscale data centers in Michigan, they should compensate communities and pay for the infrastructure that makes their business possible – not rely on the public to subsidize their every move. 

 

The risks of unchecked data center growth

Michigan’s push to attract data center investment comes with serious risks without responsible guardrails in place.

Higher costs for ratepayers 

We cannot allow increased data center demand to justify: 

  • New methane gas plants
  • Delayed coal plant retirement
  • Expensive grid expansion 

Without strong protections, Michigan families and businesses could end up paying for infrastructure built to serve a handful of corporations. 

Massive energy and water strain

Hyperscale data centers:

  • Require continuous, around-the-clock power, putting stress on existing utility systems
  • Can drain millions of gallons of water daily – from ground or surface water 
  • Dirty, dangerous, and noisy diesel generator backup 

Limited community benefit

Despite enormous resource use and generous tax incentives at multiple levels of government, most data centers:

  • Create few long-term jobs
  • Produce limited local economic benefit
  • Risk shifting public funds to private profit 

Left unregulated, Michigan could end up paying to host facilities that provide little return to the communities that bear their impacts. 

The Opportunity: Michigan can be a national leader 

Michigan has a critical choice. We can allow rushed development at the behest of tech giants that increases pollution, costs, and energy burden, OR become a leading state for sustainable, community-centered data infrastructure. 

At Michigan LCV, we see a path toward implementing state policies that:

  • Require data center developers – not ratepayers – to pay the costs for new energy and water infrastructure

  • Build energy systems based on actual public need, not corporate speculation

  • Prioritize renewable energy, battery storage, and grid modernization

  • Strengthen transparency, water stewardship, and accountability 

  • Deliver measurable benefits to local communities

With responsible policies, we can turn data centers into community assets, not liabilities. 

What does this look like?

A responsible data center should:

Power its operations responsibly

  • Prioritize renewable energy sources, as well as battery storage and demand-response systems 
  • Protect local communities from strain on the grid 

Use water responsibly 

  • Connect to existing municipal water systems with available capacity 
  • Fully disclose water use
  • Adhere to strict efficiency and wastewater standards
  • Avoid siting that threatens aquifers, private wells, and sensitive ecosystems

Pay its own way

  • Cover the full cost of any new grid or infrastructure upgrades
  • Ensure energy, water, and tax burdens are not shifted onto local residents
  • Avoid loopholes and special abatements that leave communities subsidizing operations

Support local communities

  • Choose sites with existing industrial infrastructure or brownfields 
  • Prioritize communication and transparency with local residents and leaders
  • Commit to workforce development, climate resiliency investments, local contracting, and infrastructure investment

Meet environmental and labor standards

  • Achieve Energy Star, LEED, or equivalent certification
  • Ensure fair labor standards, prevailing wages, and safe working conditions
  • Consult with Tribal Nations where development may affect cultural or water resources 

Tell the MPSC: Make Big Tech Show Their Work

DTE Energy and Big Tech companies are pressuring the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) to rush through the approval process for a massive new 1.4-gigawatt data center in Saline Township, basically asking for Michigan’s regulatory body to rubber-stamp the project without public input or oversight. 

While Michigan should not completely say no to data center development, we must put in place sensible guardrails to protect our energy rates, water resources, and local communities. The Saline data center project is being pushed forward on an accelerated timeline with little public notice, limited transparency, and minimal opportunity for independent review. 

A development of this size could reshape Michigan’s energy system for decades. The public deserves to see the details before any contract is approved. The MPSC must: 

  • Fully analyze the project’s impact on ratepayers, the power grid, and Michigan’s clean energy goals
  • Require disclosure of key studies, cost analyses, and contracts
  • Ensure Michigan families and small businesses aren’t forced to subsidize corporate profits
  • Make room for meaningful, accessible public participation
  • Ensure the project does not impact local water resources and the environment 

Michigan can be a national leader, showing the country how we can invest in data center development responsibly – but only if we get this right. 

Add your name to our petition urging the MPSC to require a full, transparent review with real public engagement before moving forward → 

The Bottom Line

Data centers are coming to Michigan – the question is whether we will allow them to drain our resources and increase our energy costs, or ensure they help build a clean, modern, affordable energy economy that benefits everyone. 

Michigan LCV is working to make sure ratepayers are protected, communities are heard, water is safeguarded, clean energy is expanded, and corporate investments create real public value. 

Together, we can show the country what responsible data center development looks like 

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