Our elected politicians have forgotten rural Michigan and the importance of local control.
People move to the country to escape city life and industrialization for a more rural, peaceful, and quiet life. Our rural communities are resolute that the encroachment of such industrial solar, wind, and data center developments will not only destroy our agricultural heritage, but will also impose an unimaginable burden on our infrastructure, natural resources, and quality of life. The sprawling construction sites, incessant noise, and pollution associated with these projects will suffocate the very essence of what makes rural Michigan an attractive place to live and raise a family.
This is not a fight of cities versus rural, or new energy versus old. It’s a fight about whether rural communities have a say in what their communities will look like.
This struggle to keep our rural communities rural has been going on for a long time. It culminated with the passage of Public Acts 233 and 234 of 2023, which preempted local control in regard to mega industrial wind, solar, and battery storage developments. This legislation was introduced and passed in 30 days without local government input. The legislation was written by industry lobbyists who have bragged about it.
Over 70 townships have challenged the Michigan Public Service Commission Order of Oct. 10, 2024, in the Michigan Court of Appeals. The language of these two laws was poorly drafted with much ambiguity that will result in litigation for many years to figure out what it all means. This is not obstruction, but it should raise the flag that taking away local control is wrong. Industrial-scale projects should not be piled upon rural communities without restraint. Meanwhile, this legislation has slowed down Michigan’s renewable energy goals. It has fostered a high distrust of our politicians to the point that we don’t trust they have our best interests in mind.
Cohoctah and Conway townships have given conditional approval to a mega industrial solar development over 2,100 acres with solar panels on two square miles of farm land. DTE is planning to seek a similar size development in these two townships. Iosco Township is dealing with a conditional zoning request from DTE for a mega industrial solar development. Developers are considering sites in Marion Township. Now Howell Township is dealing with a mega data center rezoning by a third-party developer. Similar fights are occurring throughout rural Michigan. The mega industrialization of our farm land is generational and will result in loss of agricultural land and crops that serve our communities and small local farms.
In 2024, the Michigan Legislature passed Public Acts 181 and 207, giving data centers sales and use tax credits for data center equipment if certain requirements are met. These laws are not just reshaping land use, but are subsidizing and transforming our rural communities in ways that we did not envision. Questions need to be asked in Howell Township about whether this proposed developer intends to seek these tax credits? If so, where will the 90 percent of renewable power sources to power the data center come from? Will it come from Headland Solar development in Cohoctah and Conway townships? Will it come from DTE plans to site a mega solar development is those two townships, or from Iosco Township? Or, will the renewable power come from the south of the data center or other areas nearby? This is playing out as a local decision without state preemption, as it should.
Recently, two legislators have introduced House Bill 4085 to once again take away local control in regard to digital asset mining. Even the president of the United States is proposing an Executive Order to prevent states from regulating data centers.
All this preemption of local control must end. If renewable energy developers and data center developers want to live peacefully with their rural neighbors, they must start respecting the people affected by their development, and not force their developments upon them because they have the money and resources to do so. Local township officials know what’s best for their community. Let our local communities make these decisions, not state politicians or the federal government.
How do we fix these problems?
First, repeal PA 233 and 234. Reconsider whether it is wise to subsidize mega data centers with tax credits. Then the Legislature and governor need to form a committee made up of legislators, executive branch members, local communities, and developers to propose legislation that everyone can agree with while respecting local control. These requirements would address adequate setbacks, screening, noise levels, dark skies, wildlife, water infrastructure, and drainage. Critical would be density ratios that address cumulative impact caps so that no one community is overburdened or suffers disproportionate burden with these types of developments, unless the community chooses it. The state and developers will need to recognize smaller developments are more acceptable than mega facilities.
This is not a fight against energy or technology. We all need energy and we all need technology to enhance our lives. This is a fight for consent, scale, and a rural fit in our communities. This is a fight between a project that fits the land and complies with our master plans versus one that forces our farmland and our residents into a shape chosen elsewhere.
To our state leaders and legislators, the damage you do with overriding local control isn’t just physical, it is our trust that you’ll respect our rural communities.
The question is simple: Will the shape, feel, and the agricultural life of our rural communities be decided by who lives here, or imposed by those who do not? To Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and legislative leaders: The future of our state depends upon your courage to do the right thing by our rural communities. Are you up to that task?
Mark Fosdick
Cohoctah Township supervisor
