Braving the frigid cold, protesters chanting “no data center” waved signs outside South Lyon East High School last night.
Inside, hundreds of people filled the school’s auditorium for an informational public meeting on a planned data center in Lyon Township, about 30 miles west of Detroit.
Data centers house the equipment needed to run demanding computational tasks, like those that power artificial intelligence.
The project in Lyon Township has conditional approval, but has drawn sharp opposition within the community.
Jeff Bladen, head of energy at Verrus, the company that wants to build the data center, said the community’s fears are unfounded. “Verrus was set up about two and a half years ago to design data centers that are cleaner, that are more energy efficient, that are quieter, that are safer,” he said.
Bladen added the data center’s design will use significantly less water than other data centers.
But critics remain unconvinced.
Opponents said they have serious concerns about the facility's potential impact on their community, from property values to demands on water and electricity.
“Our organization is clear. We do not want this data center in our community,” said Sarah Williamson, spokesperson for No Data Center Lyon Township.
When asked about the timetable for the project, Bladen would only say that it will move forward with “the speed of the community.”
One issue that remains unsolved is noise. The township is requiring more information about potential sounds and vibrations coming from the data center.
The Lyon Township project is just one of several data center projects being promoted in communities across Michigan.
Concerns about the potential impact of the projects on the local community and about how data centers will be used has led many communities to rally against them. Some local governments are putting moratoria in place to block future data center projects. Other projects have been shelved in the face of public opposition.
