Data Center

The comments were made amid a legal battle between Lake Superior Academy, the school next to the mine in Dafter Township, and the mine's operators.

No new data center development proposals will be considered by the Lansing City Council until Jan. 25, 2027.

A few dozen data center opponents called on lawmakers to pause new project approvals during a rally in Lansing Tuesday evening. Many are concerned about data centers’ massive resource needs, and that Michiganders could be left to clean up if they become obsolete.

Russ McNamara delivers a round up of the day at the 2026 Mackinaw Policy Conference, where he interviewed Sen. Gary Peters, state Rep. Ranjeev Puri and attended a DTE press conference.

Meridian Township, east of Lansing, adopted a data center moratorium. Just a day earlier, Lowell Township, outside Grand Rapids, rejected one.

While communities across Michigan are banding together to try and halt data center development, one group says they want to bring them to the state in a sustainable way.

Some details about the data center proposed in Van Buren Township have been floating around for weeks. But the company pushing for it remained a mystery until Google put speculation to rest this week.

The front-runner for the democratic gubernatorial nomination says data centers should work with communities, and not "use our water or drive-up energy costs."

While Bay City hasn't had any proposals for data centers yet, the city commission wants to make sure they're prepared in the event a company send them a proposal.

If built, the center would only be about 20 miles from another proposed Microsoft data-processing facility. The company bought more than 200 acres of land near Dorr Township last year.