Overflow crowd tells Lansing lawmakers: Stop secrecy around data centers

Michigan residents spoke out against data center development across the state on Wednesday at a House subcommittee hearing
The event drew an overflow crowd and follows several sessions on the large-scale commercial computing centers
Michigan set tax breaks to draw more to the state, but residents said the process is secretive and ignores their concerns

An overflow crowd of residents called for tighter regulations of hyperscale data centers during a Wednesday public hearing in Lansing about the projects that are proposed on farmland statewide.

The hearing before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Corporate Subsidies and State Investments drew so many speakers that organizers doubled the budgeted time to three hours, said co-chair Steve Carra, R-Three Rivers.

Of the 160 residents who signed up to speak, only two said they supported the operations, he said. Some who did speak said Michigan needs to do a better job evaluating overall impacts on water supplies and the environment.

“Michigan’s current review process evaluates water power and land use largely on a project-by-project basis,” Rose Johnson said. “At this scale, these impacts are interconnected and should be evaluated as a collective demand on our resources.”

The hearing comes as large-scale projects rush into the state, a year after lawmakers agreed to exempt hyperscale data centers from sales and use taxes. Developers have floated proposals in upwards of 15 Michigan communities, securing at least one approval so far.

Related:

At least 10% of Bridge Michigan readers have identified data centers as a top issue in Bridge Listens, an unscientific survey about what Michiganders want 2026 Michigan candidates to address.

Johnson and others voiced concerns about non-disclosure deals that allow negotiations for some of the centers to occur without public scrutiny.

Tammy Bruneau of Saline Township, where Related Digital is building a “Stargate” data center for OpenAI and tech giant Oracle on 575 acres, said the “odds were stacked against us.”

“My community of roughly 2,300 residents, mostly generational farm families, found itself standing against billion-dollar corporations and powerful political interests without the money, lawyers or influence we needed to defend ourselves,” she said.

“Decisions were already in motion before land was purchased, before the rezoning application was filed,” she said. “Before residents were ever informed, permits were ready and environmental protections were treated as an afterthought.”

Wendy Albers lives near Milan in Augusta Township, where residents will vote in August to approve rezoning of more than 500 acres of land for a proposed data center.

“Michigan residents overwhelmingly do not want hyperscale data centers in their communities,” Albers told the lawmaker panel.

“We are tired of the secret deals, the redacted contracts, the NDAs, the tax breaks.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer remains bullish on data center growth in Michigan, with the support of utility and business leaders.

“If we don’t do them here, they’ll be done elsewhere, and they’ll be done less smart, with lower wages in a way that abuses the natural resources and jacks up energy prices,” Whitmer said in early April at the Michigan Chronicle’s Pancakes and Politics event in Detroit.

“That’s not good for anybody,” she added. “My whole philosophy on this has been, let’s be a model. Let’s show how it can be done.”

Jim Holcomb, president of the Michigan Chamber, on Wednesday said he agrees.

“Data centers are no longer optional infrastructure – they’re foundational to how modern economies grow, thrive and compete,” Holcomb said in a statement following the subcommittee hearing.

Supporters, including Consumers Energy senior vice president Lauren Snyder, said Michigan already has strong rules in place to ensure “the costs of new large-scale energy users are not passed on to customers.”

Whitmer has said that the state’s tax breaks for the hyperscale centers accompany requirements such as using municipal water and 90% clean energy while guaranteeing that residential utility customers do not subsidize power costs.

However, bipartisan lawmakers are proposing legislation to further draw lines of accountability. Among proposals are bills to set moratoriums to allow additional research; limit non-disclosure agreement use among elected officials; and create a so-called “life cycle” security bonding to aid communities if the data center eventually closes.

Among those proposing legislation to regulate data centers is Rep. Jennifer Wortz, R-Quincy, who spoke Wednesday about the loss of state farmland.

The green energy mandate cost 30,000 farm acres in Branch County, she said, due to solar arrays. Michigan’s 90% clean energy rule will prompt more of that, she said.

“It’s important to understand that data centers will only drive more of a loss of farm ground in rural communities across Michigan,” Wortz said.

The state data center subsidy comes after Michigan already has realized limited results from exchanging public money for jobs, Wortz said. Bridge Michigan investigations have shown that just a fraction of promised jobs were realized during Whitmer’s administration; many also were low-paying.

The bills could be a long shot, given how Whitmer and House Majority Leader Matt Hall have said they don’t support a moratorium.