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Stargate AI data center project draws backlash in Michigan over water, power
The $16 billion Stargate project is planned to cover more than 250 acres, even as residents push back on local water supply and the power grid.
Saline Township, Michigan, has become a new flashpoint over AI data centers, as construction moves ahead on the $16 billion Stargate project despite organized local resistance. The development, dubbed “The Barn” by its consortium of Oracle, OpenAI, Related Digital, Blackstone, and Walbridge, is expected to span more than 250 acres.
Opponents say the project could strain Saline’s water supply, stress the local power grid, and alter the area’s rural character. Local pushback led by Tammie Bruneau centers on protecting farmland, and the resistance is spreading to other Michigan communities where planned data centers face obstacles like halted projects and rezoning votes.
The dispute is also increasingly entangled with politics as candidates weigh AI development against voter concerns in the run-up to Michigan’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on August 4. According to a June Reuters/Ipsos poll cited by Insurance Journal, only 3.0% of Americans approve of the pace of data center construction, and just 14% would support building a data center in their community.
Insurance Journal also notes that communities and politicians are facing widening public opposition nationwide, with residents expressing worries that large technology firms are moving ahead without enough regard for local impacts. Developers withdrew a project in Washington Township after residents mobilized, and in Augusta, petitioners stalled development and forced a public rezoning vote.