The Metro: Who gets to say no to a data center in Michigan?
Michigan communities keep pausing data centers while a statewide bill stalls. Rep. Jennifer Wortz on power, farmland and local control.
At least 19 Michigan communities have paused new data centers. A statewide freeze has been stuck in committee since February.
At least 19 Michigan cities and townships have voted to pause new data centers — more than in any other state — and power is the common thread.
The data center going up south of Ann Arbor will use more electricity than a million homes, and it will never shut off. DTE says serving that single project raises the company’s demand by a quarter, while insisting customers won’t pay more or lose power — a claim the state attorney general has asked regulators to reexamine, and one that landed differently last week when storms left more than 450,000 homes in the dark for days.
Lansing hasn’t moved. A bipartisan bill that would freeze data center approvals statewide has sat in committee since February.
State Rep. Jennifer Wortz, a Republican from Quincy, is one of its sponsors. She represents Branch and Hillsdale counties along the Indiana border, where she and her husband run a chicken farm. She joined host Robyn Vincent on The Metro to talk about who gets to say no when a data center comes to town.
Hear the full conversation using the media player above.
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