FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan
December 19, 2025
Contact: Denzel McCampbell, (313) 400-0298, denzel@progressmichigan.org
MPSC Data Center Fiasco Adds to Record of Failure to Protect
Harmful data center approved, placating billionaires at expense of working communities
LANSING, Mich. – On Thursday as many across the state geared up to celebrate holiday and end of year events, the Michigan Public Service Commission delivered a huge lump of coal to our state by allowing an objectively harmful data center to be foisted on the community of Saline in Washtenaw County. Commissioners took the side of tech billionaires and failed in their duty to protect working Michiganders. The following statement is from Denzel McCampbell, Progress Michigan managing director:
“Once again, the Michigan Public Service Commission has made a rushed decision at the end of the year with devastating consequences for the very people they are supposed to be protecting. This time, it has inexplicably saddled the folks in Saline with an energy vampire, a data center to make billionaires wealthier. Communities around Michigan have risen up voicing nearly unanimous public opinion against being stuck with data centers. Those opinions are based on the documented harms of data centers and the lived experiences of families living near them whose water and energy bills skyrocket even as water and energy are rationed to feed the data centers. This couldn’t have come at a worse time as we’re facing federal moves to eliminate the guardrails we need to ensure AI facilities won’t threaten our livelihoods.
“As Big Tech and DTE Energy continue to try to silence the will of the people, we need our regulators and elected officials to stand with us, not kneel to corporate campaign cash.”
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