As massive, resource-hungry data centers that power AI models and cloud computing have proliferated across the U.S. and around the world, a growing number of people have expressed concern about their impact on electricity bills, air quality, water supplies, and rural landscapes.
This opposition has included local activists and elected officials in Michigan, who have spearheaded a campaign to push back against several large data-center projects in their rural communities.
“These are big corporations that are looking for the cheapest, quickest, least resistant places to build their data centers,” said Shannon Beeman, a Washtenaw County Commissioner, during a commission meeting in September 2025, according to Planet Detroit…