It’s no secret that Michigan has a data center problem. Developments are emerging across the state, thanks to tax breaks spearheaded by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that exempted data center projects from the 6% sales tax from now until at least 2050. People on both sides of the aisle are angry for the same reasons. It seems as though the money data center developers possess provides unilateral power over local communities — often in rural or low-income areas.
The Saline data center is what some might consider a blueprint: the poster child of the artificial intelligence tech industry — OpenAI — proposes a data center development, the township resoundingly rejects it, then OpenAI sues the local officials, drowning them in legal fees they can’t afford until they have no option but to let the data center project begin.
The anger Michiganders are feeling is understandable. When I drove by the Saline Township data center, I felt it myself. It was just a few weeks after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Whitmer and a cabinet of upper-level AI executives posed together and broke ground on the project. The development’s doting nickname, “The Barn,” flashed mockingly on a temporary road sign…