One of the largest data center projects in the country is happening in Michigan, in the small farming community of Saline Township. Southwest of Ann Arbor, Saline Township is home to roughly 2,300 people.

Many of those residents did not want a data center. Their board voted against it, and their neighbors packed the meeting hall. Then the lawsuit came.

The companies are Oracle and OpenAI. Together, they are worth more than a trillion dollars. The township said it could not justify the fight, so it settled, and construction began.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer calls it the largest single investment in Michigan history.

It will use more electricity than an average nuclear reactor produces.

State lawmaker Morgan Foreman represents the district where it is being built. She says her constituents were not partners in this project; they were bystanders to it. She joined Robyn Vincent on The Metro to discuss how a small community of farmers and small-business owners ended up hosting one of the most consequential pieces of AI infrastructure in the country.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

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In town halls and public squares across Michigan, people are debating whether data centers should be part of their neighborhoods.

Some communities have hit pause on data center development — the massive server farms that power artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

The concerns are straightforward: these facilities can consume as much electricity as a large city. They often use millions of gallons of water a day, and critics say they deliver few permanent jobs for the enormous tax breaks they receive.

Now Detroit has entered the fray.

Last month, Detroit City Could voted 6-2 to ask Mayor Mary Sheffield to impose a two-year freeze on all new data center permits.

Detroit City Council Member Scott Benson is leading that effort. He has convened a working group of city planners, utility officials and environmental advocates with a December 31 deadline to develop zoning rules for data centers.

Benson joined Robyn Vincent on The Metro to discuss why he is pushing for a two-year pause and what Detroit needs to get right before data centers arrive.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro