By Helen Coster and Valerie Volcovici
SALINE TOWNSHIP, Michigan, July 16 (Reuters) - From Michigan Avenue, Saline Township looks like any other farming community, with its corn and soybean fields, silos and grain elevators.
Just down the road, though, cranes reach above towering fences at the site of a $16 billion project — one that has turned this town of 2,400 people into the latest U.S. flashpoint over AI data centers.
Dubbed "The Barn" by its consortium of developers — Oracle, OpenAI, Related Digital,
Blackstone and Walbridge — the Stargate data center is expected to stretch over 250 acres.
Construction is moving ahead despite resistance from residents concerned about its impact on Saline’s water supply, its power grid and its rural character.
“Most people aren't interested in some massive development here,” said Tammie Bruneau, who has led local pushback. “They're interested in protecting the farmland.”
In this deeply polarized country, opposition to data centers is among the few issues that unite voters across ideological lines. Just a third of Americans approve of the pace of data-center construction, according to a June Reuters/Ipsos poll. Only 14% of respondents would support a data center being built in their community.
That tension is increasingly pronounced in Michigan, where at least 13 data centers are in various stages of planning — and communities in Saline and beyond are fighting back.
Developers withdrew a project in Washington Township after residents mobilized against it; in Augusta, petitioners stalled development and forced a public rezoning vote.
As backlash spreads, the fight over data centers is no longer confined to town councils, leaving politicians here and across the nation scrambling to keep up.
MICHIGAN DEMOCRATS GRAPPLE WITH AI ANGER
With Michigan’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate looming on August 4, in a race that will help determine the balance of power in Washington, candidates are weighing the benefits of AI development with mounting voter concerns.
For many Americans, resistance to data centers is inseparable from broader unease about the future of AI and corporate power.
"It seems like the big tech companies are kind of steamrolling the citizens,” said Jeff Samoray, 57, a Democrat who lives in Huntington Woods, outside Detroit.
In her bid for the Democratic nomination, Haley Stevens is running as a tech optimist, calling AI "a revolutionary technology."
In a debate last week she linked data center development to job creation, saying it will put Michigan “on the forefront of innovation and manufacturing” while calling on tech companies to pay their water and utility bills.
Stevens, who has served in the U.S. House since 2019, did not respond to a Reuters interview request.
Abdul El-Sayed, her progressive rival, unveiled a policy platform last month that would require AI companies to operate as public-benefit corporations with more government oversight.
He has stopped short of calling for a national moratorium on data-center construction – as others on the left flank of the Democratic Party have done — but told Reuters that local moratoriums might be needed.
“Too often local communities just don't have the capacity to withstand the pressure that huge corporations can put on them," he said in an interview. Ultimately, however, safeguards need to come from the federal government, he added.
Samoray thinks neither candidate is taking a strong enough stand.
“It's nice rhetoric, but I don't know if that stuff will really happen,” he said, characterizing the AI industry as "a runaway train."
Even the Trump administration, which has prioritized rapid AI development to compete with China, has taken note of shifting voter sentiment.
Reuters reported on July 13 that the White House is working with utility companies and data center developers on a voluntary pledge to protect taxpayers from footing the bill for AI expansion.
Politicians from both parties are "all over the map,” said Lisa Wozniak, president of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters.
'FORCED INTO THIS POSITION'
The fight in Saline illustrates both the depth of public opposition and the difficulty of finding policy solutions.
After months of contentious public meetings, the township board voted 4-1 in September to deny rezoning for the Stargate data center. Two days later, the developers and landowners sued the township.
Facing costly litigation, officials reached a consent judgment in October allowing construction to proceed.
The settlement provided some $14 million in community benefits, including farmland preservation and fire services, along with restrictions on water use and noise. Opponents have challenged the agreement in court.
Builders broke ground on June 1 with Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer and OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman in attendance.
The project will create more than 2,500 union construction jobs, 1,500 countywide jobs, more than 450 permanent jobs and billions in tax revenue, according to developers.
But local opposition remains strong.
"We really just didn't think it was fair that our board got forced into this position," said community activist Bruneau, who had never previously been involved in local politics.
She worries about groundwater contamination and electricity costs.
Bruneau is hardly alone, she said, with opposition crossing party lines: "We've met people from extreme right and left, and all the way in the middle.”
Beverly Kincaid, 56, a Republican who lives near the township, said data centers will be a central issue for her when she votes in November.
In Saline, she said, “big money pushed their way around.”
A spokesperson for data-center developer and investment company Related Digital said in an email that the company is "committed to responsible development," including "protecting Michigan’s water by using closed-loop, air cooling systems" and preserving "750 acres of farmlands, wetlands and woodlands."
In a statement, an Oracle spokesperson said the company will fund all of the energy and infrastructure needed for the data center, "ensuring no impact on local ratepayer bills or grid reliability."
Sandy Baruah, president of the Detroit Regional Chamber, said critics were missing the big picture: "For those of us who are involved in efforts to grow Michigan's economy, to create more jobs, it is truly puzzling.”
Laura Dennison sees both sides of the issue. The 42-year-old in Royal Oak worries about the agricultural impact of data centers. But researchers are also using AI to better understand her son’s rare medical condition.
"It doesn't matter if you're the person running for office or you're the person impacted by it," she said. "There’s so many unknowns."
(Reporting by Helen Coster in Saline Township, Michigan, and Valerie Volcovici in Washington; Editing by Jesse Mesner-Hage and Matthew Lewis)
