As a response to Maria Stuart’s article on Nov. 1.
The proposed data center in Howell Township has been a big concern for many Livingston County residents in recent weeks, including me.
Residents have raised questions about the project as I have been out campaigning for the Democratic nomination for the 22nd state Senate seat. As a scientist and a longtime county resident, I reached out to people familiar with the data center project in Saline Township to learn what I could so I could develop an informed position.
Based on what I was able to learn, I have decided to oppose the proposal for Howell Township. Here’s why:
• The cost to upgrade the electrical power grid feeding the proposed data center will be costly. Residents of the area should not be asked to pay for any of this, since they’ll derive no benefits from it. (Indeed, they’ll be the ones most likely to be bothered by the 24/7 hum that the data center will emit.)
• The center’s demand for electricity will result in rising electricity costs for county residents.
• As currently designed, the data center would withdraw large amounts of water from the aquifer beneath it, which also supplies nearby neighbors’ wells. Even if the water is recycled, it will be warmer when it goes back into the aquifer, creating an environment in which more bacteria may grow.
Unless the agreement with the local government requires that the data center’s operator: (1) bears the full costs of an upgraded connection to the power grid; (2) increase the distance between the facility and the neighbors; and (3) find another way of cooling the servers without using the water from the aquifer, then no reasonable person should support the project moving ahead.
Rob Hower
Green Oak Township
