Contact: Nora Naughton, nora.naughton@sierraclub.org, 248-345-1456
Lansing – The Michigan Public Service Commission bent to corporate and political pressure today and granted special approvals for DTE’s 1.4-gigawatt data center project in Saline Township. The Commission’s decision is dependent upon DTE agreeing to a long list of conditions, which attempt to bring more accountability to this rushed process of approval, but still fail to set a precedent for a transparent process for data center deals.
Environmental activists have been sounding the alarm on holes in DTE’s application for the data center since the proposal first came to light this fall, and demanded a public and transparent approval process when we pushed for a contested case hearing that would have brought this secretive deal out from behind closed doors. The Commission’s decision to circumvent the request for a contested case hearing – while seemingly agreeing with the premise that the public deserves more information about this deal – is both disappointing and confusing.
The decision represents a failure of transparency from the Commission, and comes after weeks of public pushback on DTE’s request for fast-track approvals on a massive data center to be operated by tech giants OpenAI and Oracle. Saline residents and concerned ratepayers from all over the state have spoken with one voice to make a simple demand: No Secret Deals.
A contested case hearing, which the MPSC denied in granting DTE’s ex-parte request, would have allowed concerned parties to conduct discovery, evaluate DTE’s application, and advocate for Michiganders who will be directly impacted by this project.
This is far from the end of this fight. As we seek to better understand the MPSC’s ruling, we will continue our fight to protect Michigan’s air, water, and land from the interests of greedy tech billionaires, and committed to defending our state from big tech polluters and protecting Michigan ratepayers from getting stuck with the bill.
“We needed the MPSC to stand with Michigan residents and say NO to DTE’s secret deals for Data Centers. It is sick that the MPSC has once again caved to corporate greed. Michigan voters are demanding transparency and accountability, and we desperately need regulators who will listen. Michiganders do not want Data Centers in our state, and we’ll keep fighting to protect our communities” said Andrea Pierce, Ypsilanti Twp resident and Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition policy director.
“While the Commission added new conditions that raise DTE’s financial exposure, the decision to proceed on an ex-parte basis still prioritizes corporate urgency over transparency and calls into question the Commission’s independence from corporate influence,” said Sierra Club organizer Bryan Smigielski. “With those conditions now attached, DTE, Related Digital, and Oracle will have to weigh whether they are willing to proceed under higher financial risk than the looser burdens they originally sought.”
“These data centers are a bad deal. They will continue to be a bad deal a month from now, 6 months from now, a year from now,” said Lauren Prebenda, Howell resident. “We aren’t going anywhere. Our minds will not be changed. And we will not forget the politicians who chose to take the side of corporate interests over the interests of their constituents and neighbors.”
“DTE, Related Digital, special interest groups and unscrupulous politicians are engaged in a nepotistic relationship to exploit the air, water and land of Saline Township and Michigan,” said Tim Bruneau, a Saline resident and activist with the Rural Michigan Defense Fund. “Since DTE has provided virtually zero transparency we can only conclude they are hiding something even more horrendous than what we already know.”