- Over 200 people attended a meeting in Lyon Township to hear panelists discuss the risks of a new data center.
- Experts raised concerns about the significant energy and water consumption required by large-scale data centers.
- Panelists warned that data centers offer few long-term jobs and pose a risk of becoming obsolete.
- The 1.8 million-square-foot data center is a permitted use for the area, according to township officials.
LYON TWP. – More than 200 people attended a Jan. 15 meeting where four panelists warned of the dangers of the hyperscale data centers proliferating across the country, including a 1.8 million square-foot facility approved for the township.
Prescott Balch, a former U.S. Bank executive and “expert in large-scale software infrastructure,” traveled from Wisconsin to speak at the information session, which was organized by the group “No Data Centers in Lyon Township.”
“I am a tech professional who made a great living writing software,” Balch said. “I believe we need (data centers), but in the right place. The vast majority of officials think they are doing the best thing long-term for the community. I think they are overlooking the risks.”…