York Township residents sound alarm about proliferation of data centers in Washtenaw County

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A data center proposal in rural York Township is raising concerns over the number of large energy-guzzling projects under consideration in Washtenaw County and how this could affect the local power grid, raise electric costs, and harm residential drinking water wells.

A data center developer informally approached the township, Township Clerk Kayleigh Zupi told Planet Detroit. No application is submitted and no decisions have been made regarding such a project, she said.    

If an application is submitted, it would likely need to be reviewed by the township’s building and zoning departments, as well as its planning commission, before the township board could make a decision, the clerk said. 

The proposed site of York Township’s data center is roughly 6 miles from a potential $1 billion data center in Augusta Township; 10 miles from Oracle and Open AI’s $7 billion data center in Saline Township; and 8 miles from the University of Michigan and Los Alamos National Laboratory’s planned $1.2 billion Ypsilanti Township data center.

Township Supervisor Charles Tellas said during a May 13 board meeting that representatives for the developer Sansone Group discussed a possible 1 gigawatt data center on 200 acres of property owned by Toyota at the corner of Willis and Platt roads. It’s unclear whether the facility would use an air or water cooling method, Tellas said at the time.

Sansone Group did not reply to a request for comment on this story. 

Moratorium could give township time to prepare for data centers

At a Tuesday York Township board meeting, resident Jacob Brabbs urged board members to approach any data center proposal with caution.

“A potential moratorium is probably a good idea, just given the number of data centers in such close proximity,” he said. 

Howell Township recently passed a six-month moratorium, which could give the municipality time to develop regulations for future data centers.

Environmental advocates have expressed concern that data centers’ massive energy demands could trigger an “off ramp” in Michigan’s 2023 renewable energy law that allows utilities to keep fossil fuel generation online if there’s not enough capacity to meet demand.

Michigan passed state level tax breaks for data centers this year, but the projects can bring significant local tax benefits. For example, Howell Township’s proposed data center could increase tax revenue by a factor of six or seven, Township Assessor and Deputy Supervisor Brent Kilpela previously told Planet Detroit.

Zupi said it is not yet clear what potential tax benefits a data center could bring to York Township.

York Township residents question environmental, energy impacts of data centers

On Tuesday night, residents expressed concern that a large data center could potentially add to existing problems with power outages, raise their electric bills, and threaten water resources.

“(With) newer, closed loop systems that use less water, there is still water that is discharged with high mineral contents and chemicals, which absolutely can affect our watershed,” Brabbs said.

An October report in the The Guardian said toxic PFAS gas is used in some data center cooling systems, which could pose a risk if it’s leaked into the environment.

York Township resident Jacob Strong said a large facility’s water demands could threaten his well.

“I’m already on my second well at my house, so I’m worried that, with tapping into the water source 2 miles from my house, that it’s going to drain what I have left,” he said.

Resident Steve Gilzow is among those who said they already have problems with DTE Energy’s reliability in the area, adding that data centers in York Township and elsewhere could make it worse.

Saline resident Joel Maier urged board members to adopt a moratorium and act with transparency.

“I ask you to listen to residents, hold, and advertise appropriately, public meetings and make local policies that support the township’s well-being,” he said.

The use of nondisclosure agreements by elected officials in Howell Township frustrated some residents who said information had been withheld from them for months before developers tried to rush through a project.

Township Clerk Zupi said the York Township board would not enter into a nondisclosure agreement without a public vote on the matter.

“We are listening to our residents,” she said.

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