Pushback against Microsoft's proposed data center in rural West Michigan continues

The statewide movement against data centers continued Saturday in Allegan County, where Dorr Township residents encouraged others to say no to Microsoft's proposed development. They kept up the pressure against the plans with a meeting featuring lawmakers, industrial experts and residents, all of whom believe it would destroy the small farming community. Around 100 people came to the St. Mary’s Visitation Hall with one message. “We’re going to save Pure Michigan," Paula Caltrider said. "We’ll go to every town, we’ll go to every council, we’ll speak up.” The group "We the People," organized on Facebook, held the meeting to answer questions and discuss ways to stop artificial intelligence computing on their land. Expressing fears of increased water and power usage and a constant hum from its power generators, each speaker felt outside companies were taking advantage of the state’s natural resources. “They want our Great Lakes," Chris Potter said. "They want our water. They don’t care how they do it.” State Rep. Jim DeSana (R - MI- 29) and Rep. Joseph Fox (R - MI - 101) spoke about their opposition to data centers at the statehouse. Companies like Microsoft point to carbon sequestering and closed-loop water cooling systems as environmentally friendly solutions for their development. DeSana called these proposals a "scam,'" blaming the state government for passing a tax exemption on data center equipment in 2024. “Who's going to want to come by your house if you live within a half mile to a mile of a data center?" DeSana asked. "‘You know, I'm going to go up to the next township.’ It's going to affect your market value.” Two industrial hygienists were also called to the podium to share their thoughts about the health and environmental risks of data centers. They predict companies will abandon data centers in the years to come as they start to build them underground, and leave communities like Dorr Township with the costs of cleanup. "You should not have to sacrifice your home values, your health, your wealth, your ability to get clean potable water, to fight off the huge increase in utility bills you're going to deal with," Kristen Meghan Kelly said. News Channel 3 reached out to Microsoft about the data center earlier this month, with the company offering a brief statement saying construction timelines hadn’t been finalized yet. https://wwmt.com/news/local/save-pure-michigan-dorr-township-residents-hold-meeting-to-stop-data-center-microsoft-allegan-county-ai-artificial-intelligence-western-michigan _______________ Stay up to date with our social media: WWMT on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wwmtnews WWMT on Twitter: https://twitter.com/wwmtnews Subscribe to WWMT on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAYwomlsmN0DsPeeumEKFXg/?sub_confirmation=1 WWMT Daily News Digest: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-oNVYSgKM8IBYJOY5M-p37vKcILekLNz For more information, visit https://www.wwmt.com/ Have a news tip? Send it directly to us: Email us: desk@wwmt.com Call the Newsroom: 800.875.3333 WWMT is a MI based station and a CBS Television affiliate owned and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. is one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies in the country today. #WWMT #NEWSCHANNEL3 #Kalamazoo #Michigan #ColinRoose #DataCenters #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Microsoft #DorrTownship #RuralCommunity #environment