At least 20 Data Centers are currently being proposed in Michigan and most communities are rejecting them, stemming from an overall mistrust in the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and the Whitmer administration, who spent billions of dollars in subsidies for megasites, battery factories, solar farms, and other manufacturing ventures, few of which have resulted in any jobs.
Sometime in the last few months, Michiganders have slowly been introduced to the latest MEDC “job creation” program: data center buildouts. I was able to identify at least 20 through a routine X post earlier this week and Michiganders are skeptical, to say the very least about the all-too-familiar MEDC playbook: Announce plans for hundreds of rural acres to be sold to a mystery company through a secret contract with the promise of “up to X” jobs. It feels all too familiar and we have questions.
Michigan’s data-center rush began with an announcement from Governor Whitmer about Oracle and Related Digital’s partnership to bring a 575-acre data center to rural Saline. Whitmer cited 2,500 construction jobs (temporary of course), 450 jobs, and 1,500 jobs “across the country.” Why would Michigan want to trade in farmland for potential (not promised) jobs, many of which won’t even be in Michigan? Because we don’t believe or trust that the MEDC and the Whitmer administration can really create jobs.
We were promised at least 7,400 jobs for a project in Mundy Township. The project never came to fruition and the $261 million deal with developers fell through. Prior to that, a controversial CCP-aligned battery factory near Big Rapids was quietly negotiated via NDAs and shady backroom deals. This project also fell through after purchases were made and the company is now in default of the $175 million incentive deal.
We have three empty “megasites” from this era that serve as a constant reminder of what was promised and never delivered on. Why would we want to take that chance again?
How much has already been spent on these boondoggles is hard to tally, but it’s only natural we see the pattern: Bribe corporations to come to our state, frame the announcement as an exciting surprise to unsuspecting communities, and then fight the angry communities with lawsuits until the companies back out, creating no jobs at the expense of Michigan taxpayers.
Michigan quietly passed a new perk for data centers in 2024, the Enterprise Data Center Sales and Use Tax Exemption. Under the legislation, data centers will not have to pay our 6% sales and use tax on materials used to build data centers. The law took effect earlier this year and there are already efforts underway to repeal it. Why should large corporations erase our farmland, against the will of local residents, and receive tax breaks for doing so?
Michiganders are tired of empty promises of jobs in exchange for taxpayer investments and special tax breaks. Get Lansing and the MEDC out of the way so we can build in our backyards again.
Anna Hoffman is a hockey mom of three living in Ann Arbor. Follow her on X @shoesonplease.
