Did Team Whitmer Help Push Through the Controversial Saline Data Center?

State environmental officials and consultants coordinated behind the scenes to fast-track a controversial AI Data Center in Saline weeks before it was publicly announced.

The introduction came straight from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s cabinet, according to internal emails obtained through Freedom of Information Act Request.

In an email on Oct. 15, 2025, Whitmer’s Chief Operating Officer, Tricia Foster, emailed Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) Director Phillip Roos urging them to meet “as soon as practical” about the large Michigan project now “coming to fruition.”

Within hours, Related executive Jonathan Furman was directly scheduling time with the agency’s director, and Roos readily made himself available for same-day and next-day meetings for a project still navigating environmental permitting.

The next day, lawyer and lobbyist Patrick Harrington of MHSA, LLC, acting on behalf of Related, formally notified EGLE that Project Mitten would soon submit a revised wetland permit application incorporating expanded wetland boundaries identified through recent field surveys.

In the same message, Harrington requested weekly coordination calls with regulators, framing them as necessary to maintain “clear, defensible data” and ensure timely permit approval.

In a separate email, forwarding Harrington’s suggestions, EGLE’s Permitting Ombudsman Elizabeth Browne states her frustration that EGLE’s suggestions have been “overridden or ignored,” highlighting the ongoing tension between EGLE and Related’s consultants.

Despite the permitting process and wetland application being incomplete, Whitmer issued a press release just two weeks later on Oct. 30 announcing plans to build the data center in partnership with OpenAI and Related.

It wasn’t until Nov. 17, 2025, that the U.S. Interior Department sent a letter to Related, acknowledging their Wetland Application and stating that their “Endangered Species Requirements were not yet complete” and referenced incomplete permits.

In a December email, EGLE once again reached out to Related officials, reminding them not to grade the property outside of wetlands and mentioned that “complaints were anticipated.”

The months leading up to the email from Whitmer’s office indicate tension between EGLE officials and consultants for the project. Consultants for the construction company said it was on a “super-fast track” while EGLE officials relayed their questions about wetlands, grading, and the process itself.

In August 2025, Patrick Harrington provided EGLE regulators with a detailed status update on multiple permits needed to keep the project on schedule, emphasizing the urgency of securing approval for a temporary stream crossing so site work could begin by Oct. 1.

EGLE’s Kyle Alexander responded by cautioning that key materials—including a formal site plan and additional wetland delineation—had not yet been submitted and stressed that unresolved wetland impacts needed to be addressed.

Harrington acknowledged these concerns and explicitly stated that any grading work in unregulated areas would proceed “at our own risk,” highlighting the developer’s willingness to move forward before final permitting decisions were made.

The project has been rife with community pushback and ongoing litigation. Subsequently, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a lawsuit challenging DTE’s role in the approval process. Community members are also involved in ongoing litigation citing a violation of Michigan’s Open Meeting’s Act after a settlement between Saline Township and Related Digital.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, currently running for governor, is married to Ryan Friedrichs, vice president of Related Companies.

Did she use her connections and influence to fast track the controversial project in Saline through the governor’s office? We may never know for sure, but the emails highlight a lack of transparency she claims to be running on.