No more power plants in poor neighborhoods

Residents of Lansing, Michigan, are expressing strong opposition to a proposed data center project by the UK start-up Deep Green, asserting it is more accurately described as a power plant due to its reliance on fuel cell technology from Bloom Energy. The community is particularly concerned about the project's planned location at 220 S. Larch Street, an area identified as having low tree equity and historical socio-economic disadvantage. The article highlights that the community only recently learned about the fuel cell technology, which is intended to produce energy, and points to Bloom Energy's record of environmental violations. Despite resident concerns regarding the absence of an environmental impact study, the Lansing City Council is reportedly set to vote on the project's future. Panel representatives from Deep Green, the Lansing Board of Water & Light (BWL), the city council, and the city planning commission have been accused of downplaying the project's potential environmental and health impacts on the nearby residential areas. The Deep Green application faced a temporary halt due to procedural inconsistencies, but opponents argue this was merely a temporary fix to a more profound issue of environmental injustice. Sheila Marie Contreras, a local university professor, advocates for the city council to deny the sale of the property to Deep Green and reject any associated industrial zoning change requests, urging a new era for Lansing guided by environmental justice and equity.