Pass the Data Center Moratorium

Pass the Data Center Moratorium I am a voting constituent writing to compel your immediate support for House Bills 5594, 5595, and 5596 to enact a one-year moratorium on data center permits. The risks to our communities are simply too high, and Michigan families are fed up with being scammed by massive corporations. Big Tech promises economic growth, but they leave residents footing the bill. These hyperscale facilities demand staggering amounts of energy and water—equivalent to the needs of entire mid-sized cities—which threatens to skyrocket utility rates for everyday citizens. Worse, they jeopardize our hard-won climate goals by threatening to trigger fossil fuel "off-ramps" just to keep their servers cool. From Solon Township to Saline Township, from Lowell to Howell, residents are filling public meetings to voice their outrage. We are tired of backroom deals, rushed approvals, and corporate handouts that exploit our rural farmlands and local resources. A one-year pause until at least April 2027 is a necessary, common-sense safeguard. It grants our resource-constrained communities the time needed to draft protective ordinances and ensures that big corporations, not taxpayers, cover the infrastructural costs and damages. Please listen to your constituents, stand up to corporate bullying, and vote to pass this moratorium.

First sent on June 18 by People Who Value Science