The people of Saline Township and surrounding communities are saying loud and clear: we do not want this data center. But our voices are being ignored in favor of billion-dollar deals brokered behind closed doors.

OpenAI, Oracle, and Related Digital plan to build a 2.2-million-square-foot data center on rural farmland in Saline Township. This project, pushed forward with support from Governor Whitmer and DTE Energy, was approved only after the township faced legal threats from the developers—and without meaningful public input.

We were told this project would create jobs and preserve green space. But what we see is the destruction of active farmland, unprecedented strain on our energy grid, and a growing fear that Michigan’s most precious resources—our land, water, and community health—are being sacrificed for private profit.

DTE says this data center will demand 25% more energy than the entire current system. Even with promises not to raise rates, residents across the state are already seeing higher bills, rolling blackouts, and schoolchildren told to limit electricity use. And while developers claim “low water use,” residents know the real risks data centers pose—depleting aquifers, raising local temperatures, and polluting runoff.

We also know that similar projects in places like Howell, Michigan are being forced through despite overwhelming public opposition. Why are we using prime farmland for energy-intensive facilities that bring few permanent jobs and benefit massive corporations? Why not repurpose vacant industrial land? Why ignore local voices?

We call on the Michigan Public Service Commission, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and the Saline Township Board of Trustees to halt the OpenAI/Oracle data center project until a full, transparent environmental and community impact review is completed—one that includes binding input from local residents.

We urge Michigan leaders to stop sacrificing rural communities to unchecked tech expansion. Our power grid, farmland, and future deserve better. Saline Township should not become a testing ground for Big Tech’s ambitions at the expense of the people who call this place home.

Photo: Jacob Hamilton | MLive.com