Ypsilanti Township in Michigan is taking a six-month “study break” in its fight over a proposed data center backed by the University of Michigan and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Rather than banning the project, the Township Board unanimously approved a 180-day moratorium on “major electric utility infrastructure” needed to support new high-energy-demand facilities last week.According to a report by 404 Media, the moratorium is intended to give local authorities time to study the electrical infrastructure required for the proposed $1.2 billion data center, including its potential noise impact and effects on existing power customers. The move is the latest step in the Township’s ongoing dispute with the University of Michigan over the planned facility.
Ypsilanti Township puts data center infrastructure on hold
The University of Michigan announced last year that it was working with Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL), the US Department of Energy laboratory involved in nuclear weapons research, on a 220,000-square-foot hyperscale data center in Ypsilanti Township.The proposed facility will require new substations because of the amount of electricity needed to operate a data center of its size. The Township’s moratorium specifically covers the electrical infrastructure needed for high-energy-demand developments, including “hyper-scale data centers, mid-sized data centers, artificial intelligence computing facilities, and high-performance computational centers, industrial facilities, and other intensive electrical users.”The six-month pause asks local power authorities to use the period to examine the scale of the infrastructure and its impact on the surrounding area.Earlier this month, the University of Michigan selected a 144-acre site on Textile Road in Ypsilanti Township for the data center. In a statement announcing the location, the university said the facility would have the “capacity to change the world” and said it would not be a “high value target risk” during a war. The university also said the facility would not store hazardous nuclear material and would not be used for weapons production.LANL has previously confirmed that the data center will support nuclear weapons research. Ypsilanti Township Supervisor Brenda Stumbo told WEMU that selecting the site was a “travesty of justice” because, in her view, it did not address residents’ concerns about environmental effects.
Data center power infrastructure draws criticism
During the moratorium vote earlier this month, the Township Board displayed a stock photograph of an electrical substation behind its members. The image was used to illustrate the scale of the infrastructure expected to be built to support the proposed data center.“This picture’s really important to think about because U of M has been so crystal clear that they’ve been communicating to us abundantly — which is not true,” Township clerk Debbie Swanson said during the meeting. “That speaks to the lack of respect.”The Township Board has repeatedly raised concerns about communication from the University of Michigan as the data center plans have progressed. Local officials have also supported residents opposing the project.“We will fight to our very last breath,” Stumbo said during a Township Board meeting in June.The August moratorium follows an earlier decision by the Board in April to impose a 365-day moratorium on delivering water to data centers. The University of Michigan threatened legal action over that move and described it as “discriminatory.”The latest measure does not prohibit the proposed data center itself. Instead, it delays the electrical infrastructure needed to support new high-energy-demand facilities while the Township studies the potential effects of that infrastructure.