Data center news: Saline residents blast Oracle data center construction

Saline, Michigan residents are voicing strong opposition to the construction of a large data center project by Oracle and OpenAI. Local residents are complaining about heavy gravel truck traffic, noise, dust, and potential damage to recently repaved streets. Saline Mayor Brian Marl said the city has met with construction contractor Walbridge and pledged additional traffic enforcement. The opposition comes as a new national survey finds Americans are holding increasingly negative views of data centers overall. The Pew Research Center poll of over 8,500 adults found that more respondents say data centers harm the environment, raise home energy costs, and hurt quality of life for nearby residents than say the opposite. Younger adults and Democrats tend to have the most negative views on data centers. Experts from the University of Michigan have urged Michigan local governments to proactively update zoning ordinances to manage data center development, rather than reacting to individual proposals. The Michigan Public Service Commission also faced scrutiny at a recent meeting, where a Saline resident criticized the agency's handling of the approved $7 billion Oracle data center project. Data center development nationwide is slowing as the power grid struggles to keep up, forcing developers to focus on existing projects rather than new construction.