The Ypsilanti Township Board of Trustees approved a resolution Wednesday that could prevent the University of Michigan from drawing the 500,000 gallons of water needed to operate the $1.25 billion data center it plans to construct in partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The data center has been met with opposition from township residents and members of the University community due to concerns over its potential negative impacts on the electrical grid and environment, as well as its confirmed use in the development of nuclear weapons.
The University is exempt from local zoning laws under Michigan’s Constitution, meaning it could still build its data center even if the township were to pass a moratorium on building data centers. However, the township could obstruct the project by passing a moratorium on providing water to data centers, which they need to cool servers.
The board passed a resolution requesting the Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority place a water moratorium on hyperscale and mid-size data centers, as well as artificial intelligence computing facilities and “high-performance computational centers,” the University’s preferred term for the facility. YCUA must approve the moratorium for it to take effect.
During Wednesday’s board meeting, Township Supervisor Brenda Stumbo, who also serves on YCUA’s Board of Commissioners, said she believes YCUA will approve the moratorium.
“The biggest investments we have are our homes, our businesses, the places we live,” Stumbo said. “For them to harm us with the location of these data centers, harm our environment without any studies, not one — YCUA will study it. I believe they will do it right, because YCUA does do things right.”
This resolution is only the latest action from a township harboring increasing opposition to the University’s plans. On March 31, the board approved a resolution formally objecting to the construction of the University’s data center anywhere in the township. Before this resolution, the township had requested the University construct the data center at the American Center for Mobility instead of a Textile Road parcel recently purchased by the University, which is adjacent to the Huron River and an affordable housing development.
In an email to The Michigan Daily, Paul Corliss, University assistant vice president for public affairs and internal communications, wrote the University disapproves of the township’s increasing opposition.
“The Township’s sudden change in support has been both confusing and disappointing,” Corliss wrote. “It is particularly troubling that this shift has been accompanied by a sensational narrative around national security that is not supported by facts.”
In their March 31 resolution opposing the development, local officials said the data center’s planned role in the development of nuclear weapons could make Ypsilanti a potential military target in the event of future conflict.
Stumbo said she believes the University’s proposed data center — and others being constructed around Michigan — are different from existing data centers.
“What we thought was a data center years ago was a (information technology) network system that wasn’t massive; it just held your company’s, your township government’s information,” Stumbo said. “It just sat there; it was updated; it was protected. But what’s going on now is so much different than what we knew to be a data center. It’s powerful; it could be good, I guess, for some. I don’t know anyone who supports data centers. I have not met them yet.”
Corliss wrote the University wishes to engage with the township in good faith.
“We remain committed to engaging transparently and in good faith with elected officials,” Corliss wrote. “However, recent actions suggest that approach is not being reciprocated. This latest effort to block the use of existing surplus water capacity only adds to our disappointment.”
Township officials have previously complained about a lack of transparency from the University, and do not think it engaged in good faith during the development.
During the meeting, Ypsilanti Township Clerk Debbie Swanson thanked local community members for relaying their concerns about the data center to their elected officials.
“I want to say thank you to all the residents and the people who have been coming to meetings consistently,” Swanson said. “We appreciate the work you’ve been doing and we see you. We see you on social media; we see you in emails that are sent; we hear you; we know that this is scary, really, for all of us in our community.”
The moratorium will be addressed during the next meeting of the YCUA Board of Commissioners, which is scheduled for Wednesday, April 22.
Daily News Editor Glenn Hedin can be reached at heglenn@umich.edu.
