More than 200 people attended Wednesday’s meeting organized by Livingston County Residents for Responsible Development, most of them struggling to understand the data center proposal and concerned about the dizzying pace of the rezoning proposal the Howell Township Board will vote on Monday that could clear the way for it.
The board recently passed a 6-month moratorium on future data center projects that does not affect the current proposal. Stop the Data Centers – Livingston County assembled a panel of experts to provide clear and factual information regarding financial, environmental and community concerns on the data center development.
If approved, the data center project will be the largest development in Livingston County history. It will encompass over a thousand acres of farmland, and the $1 billion initial capital investment will immediately make it the county’s largest taxpayer; it would also open the door for similar projects down the road. While proponents point to the financial benefits of the development, opponents cite concerns about rising electricity costs, the strain on the area’s water supply, as well as light and sound pollution.
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The world is in a current “AI bubble,” said Prescott Balch, developer of the U.S. Department of Treasury’s electronic tax payment system, who explained that the current market of data centers is at about $350 billion, with current proposed data centers at $2.5 trillion.
So, is AI a high-tech fad? “The only thing that’s been true of technology for the last 50 years is it changes all the time,” Balch said.
Gwen Klenke, a program coordinator for FracTracker Alliance, started the conversation with bringing up how data centers used to use less energy, and how the increase in energy required has come from the use of AI.
The Howell Township data center proposal plans to tap into the current DTE grid, compared to other places that are funding nuclear power plants for power. The Howell Township data center, if approved, will also require diesel-powered backup generators.
Klenke noted that in the case of a lot of data centers, the grid does not supply enough power, and backup generators can start to run constantly.
“Technically, there are rules for how long industrial backup generators can run,” Klenke said. “It varies, it can be 50 hours consecutively, depending on the situation, but there is this blanket emergency designation, and if that designation is set by regulators, then backup generators are allowed to operate 24/7.”
Since July, DTE has been looking to add more power as it self-reported that it does not have enough. There are six data centers either already running or proposed within the DTE grid. There has already been a huge spike in demand for electricity, which could continue to increase with all the proposed data centers.
Dr. Ben Green, a University of Michigan assistant professor and author of “What Happens When Data Centers Come to Town,” addressed concerns around water usage.
Within the data center, the servers and other electronic aspects are working quickly to keep up with AI demand and generating a lot of heat. The most effective way for data centers to cool the systems is by using water.
Currently, data center companies are not sharing any information on how much electricity or water they are using and if it’s a responsible amount.
Green also spoke about tax breaks that Michigan received last year that are leading to all the data center proposals. One of the justifications for the data centers was how many jobs they would bring, but he said that is not the case.
“Data centers don’t really require employees,” Green said. “Often, they’ll have maybe 25 employees for a large data center.”
Community members took time to ask follow up questions regarding new ideas that can be presented to change the current proposal. There is still frustration regarding what they say are one-sided conversation with the Howell Township Board.
The local event coordinators reminded the attendees that the local elected officials are learning, too, and that they are not getting a lot of these answers from DTE, either.
“I know it can feel sometimes like they’re on the opposite side and they have all the answers, but they’re learning all this stuff at the same time that we are, and they’re probably asking a lot of the same questions we are,” said Lauren Ashley, one of the organizers of Stop the Data Centers – Livingston County. “This is designed in a way to not get answers.”
Both the Howell Township Planning Commission and Livingston County Planning Commission recently recommended that the Howell Township Board deny the rezoning. The Howell Township Board will vote on the rezoning at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 8, at the Howell High School Rod Bushey Auditorium, 1200 W. Grand River Ave. in Howell.
