State regulators are facing increasing pressure to slow down a $7 billion, 2.2-million-square-foot data center proposed for rural Saline Township, where residents and environmental groups warn the project would destroy wetlands, strain Michigan’s energy grid, and permanently reshape a farming community that opposes the development.
The project, dubbed “Project Stargate,” is backed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, OpenAI, Oracle, and developer Related Digital. If completed, it would be one of the largest data centers in the country and require as much electricity as nearly one million homes to power artificial intelligence and cloud-computing.
Supporters say the facility would bring investment and tax revenue, but critics argue the public still has not received clear explanations about its environmental toll and long-term costs.
Those concerns deepened this week as residents and environmental groups flagged major problems in the developer’s wetlands permit application to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). The filings, which cover culvert installations, stormwater outfalls, and the destruction of more than 10 acres of wetlands, contain incorrect information, vague mitigation plans, and incomplete site details, according to environmental advocates. The permit would also “temporarily impact” a stretch of a tributary of the Saline River and allow discharges from cooling systems that could contain glycol, raising fears about contamination of local waterways and habitat loss for threatened species such as the Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake, Indiana bat, and Mitchell’s Satyr butterfly, according to the Economic Development Responsibility Alliance of Michigan, a nonpartisan group focused on protecting land, water, and taxpayer rights.
Residents say the developer is downplaying the environmental risks. They point to a federal “red flag” from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over impacts to protected wetlands and note that Related Digital’s proposal to purchase mitigation bank credits would not replace any of the wetlands destroyed on-site.
Local resident Tim Bruneau said that “allowing the data center to proceed is a self-imposed environmental catastrophe,” expressing concerns that the developer’s promises are false and unenforceable.
“Related Digital paints a rosy picture of mitigation, but the reality is far more disruptive,” Bruneau said. “They want to dewater and eviscerate a sensitive ecosystem.
The scrutiny comes as the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) prepares to meet Thursday for a decision on whether DTE Energy can fast-track special power contracts needed to serve the 1.4-gigawatt facility. The timeline has drawn strong criticism. More than 5,000 public comments have been submitted to the commission, with the vast majority opposed, and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is urging the MPSC to treat the case as a contested proceeding, which is a lengthier process that would allow discovery, expert testimony, and public scrutiny of the deal.
“DTE continues to push for a rubber-stamp approval of a secret deal, but time and again, my office has contested their filings — and time after time, the utility has shown it is not a trustworthy partner, routinely filling cases with unjustified costs,” Nessel said in a statement earlier this month. “We must be able to scrutinize DTE’s ability to sell this massive amount of electricity without negatively impacting residents. No matter how DTE tries to explain it away, this case — involving hundreds of millions of dollars in costs just to connect the data center to DTE’s power grid — should be treated as contested like any other, and their customers have made it overwhelmingly clear that they too want full public hearings.”
Large portions of DTE’s proposed contracts are redacted, and regulators have yet to see full details about how the utility would serve the data center without raising rates for everyone else.
Despite the environmental risks, Whitmer celebrated the data center when it was announced on Oct. 30, saying it will create jobs.
“This transformational new Stargate OpenAI facility, built by Oracle and Related Digital, will create 2,500 good-paying union construction jobs, more than 450 permanent high-skill, high-paying jobs on site, and 1,500 more in the community while helping us lead the future of advanced manufacturing and technology,” Whitmer said at the time. “I’m grateful to these cutting-edge companies for betting on Michigan, building on our work to compete for and win big projects in next-generation industries from cars and clean energy to semiconductors and batteries.”
The rush is driven by the AI boom, which has prompted a nationwide surge in energy-eating data centers. Training and running advanced AI models requires enormous computing power, and tech companies are rushing to secure land, water, and electricity infrastructure.
Michigan has become a target for developers because of its comparatively low land costs and access to transmission lines, but each new project raises concerns about energy reliability, long-term costs, and environmental impacts.
Preliminary work has already begun at the site, but most construction will require building permits.
Kathryn Haushalter, whose farmhouse borders the proposed data center location off West Michigan Avenue, recently filed a motion in Washtenaw County Circuit Court to intervene in the case and overturn a consent judgment that allowed the project to proceed after the township initially denied rezoning. She alleges township officials violated the Open Meetings Act by privately voting to settle a lawsuit brought by Related Digital and landowners and by signing the consent judgment without a public vote.
Preliminary construction work has already caused frustrations as residents point to semitrailers on rural backroads, noise from backup alarms, and safety issues on Michigan Avenue, despite a court-ordered requirement that heavy equipment avoid unpaved roads.
The wetlands review by EGLE, which is scheduled for the same day as the MPSC meeting, is expected to draw a lot of attention. Environmental groups say the stakes are high because wetlands play a crucial role in flood control, water quality, and regional climate regulation. They argue the law requires developers to prove there are no feasible alternative sites and that the project serves the public interest.
Beth Foley, a regenerative farmer who lives two miles from the site, is concerned about long-term impacts.
“We operate our farm with the guiding mantra of a Native American proverb, ‘We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children,’” Foley said. “This project will have lasting impacts for generations to come. How can we possibly ask the next generation to clean up this mess?”