In Michigan - and across the country - data centers are triggering backlash.
These are the huge facilities that promise community investment and jobs but demand enormous amounts of electricity, water and, very often, state tax incentives.
What began as a race to lure tech dollars and economic development has morphed into broad political fights in communities across the state.
And interestingly, Republicans and Democrats in Michigan haven’t really staked out specific party-aligned stances. It’s not so much conservative versus liberal but competing notions of how to manage the growing need for electricity to power an AI future with concerns about how the centers will affect the environment and increase utility costs.
Much of the political class in Michigan is still figuring out how these massive facilities fit into the state’s economic future - that’s if they should fit at all.
On today’s It’s Just Politics why we’re suddenly hearing so much about data centers, the unsettled politics surrounding them, and what Michigan can learn from other states currently having this very same debate.
Ben Green, Assistant Professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan and David Chen, National Correspondent at The New York Times join this week’s podcast.
Dig deeper with links from the pod:
- David Chen’s recent article in The New York Times: ‘The New Price of Eggs.’ The Political Shocks of Data Centers and Electric Bills
- Ben Green’s research paper: What Happens When Data Centers Come to Town
- Data Centers: What you need to know by Planet Detroit
Want to get political updates from Zoe and Rick straight to your inbox? Sign up for the It's Just Politics newsletter!
