University of Michigan data center project raising environmental concerns

A data center project led by the University of Michigan and Los Alamos National Laboratory is stirring controversy among locals who are concerned about the potential effects of the facility.

WEMU reported last week that residents are concerned that the data center, which is estimated to cost $1.2 billion, won’t be required to pay property taxes, because it’s run by the university, and that it could contaminate the nearby Huron River.

In a statement, Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition Policy Director Andrea Pierce laid out her concerns: “The plan is to use the water from the lake, and they use it to cool down their servers and their machines. From what I’ve been reading, they put it back in the lake a lot of times, not as much because it burns off from the heat. But it’s not clean all the time.”

The university responded by saying that it will not draw water from the river or discharge into the river. Rather, the university said, all cooling water will be purchased from water utilities, and discharge will also be handled by water utilities.

Dozens of residents showed up at a civic center in Ypsilanti Township last month to protest the facility, which they said they feared would raise electricity rates and contaminate the Huron River.

The university plans to use the data center for AI research.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer approved tax breaks for large data centers at the end of last year.