ANN HARBOR, Mich. (WNDU) – The data center conversation continues across the country, including Michigan.<\/p>\n
This week, there were big breakthroughs in the Oracle and OpenAI data center near Ann Arbor. More people said they want this data center rush to slow down.<\/p>\n
In the Midwest, Illinois leads the way with 228 operating data centers, Ohio has 209, Indiana has 122, Michigan has 75, and Wisconsin has 53 data centers.<\/p>\n
Governor celebrates groundbreaking<\/p>\n
On Monday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer stood next to CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman at a $16 bill data center groundbreaking in Saline Township, near Ann Arbor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Barn will be one of the most advanced AI infrastructure projects in the United States and brings tens of billions of dollars to the state of Michigan,\u201d Whitmer said.<\/p>\n
Whitmer has been promoting data centers for its positive economic impact for years.<\/p>\n
Senator proposes pause<\/p>\n
Michigan Sen. Jim Runestad is proposing a year-long moratorium on all data center projects in the state.<\/p>\n
When asked if she would pause data center development in the state, Whitmer said no; however, she welcomes more strict rules.<\/p>\n
Local officials seek community input<\/p>\n
Similar sentiments to Runestad have been expressed across Michiana.<\/p>\n
In Benton Harbor, Mayor Pro Tem Shaquille Turner is backing his statement and wants more time to listen to residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can you say you want me to vote for you, but you don\u2019t listen to me? You don\u2019t come back down to my level, and you won\u2019t moan with me. You won\u2019t suffer with me. You have now reached the statue: You have forgotten about me. And I think that\u2019s where the frustration comes in on our leadership side. Even local. From local back up to the governor\u2019s office, to the White House,\u201d Turner said.<\/p>\n
Last month, Benton Harbor Mayor Marcus Muhammad said there is no room for a data center in the city, but he\u2019s interested in supplying water for a nearby project.<\/p>\n
A common cry across the country from residents has been asking for town halls, informational meetings and not a rush to break ground on more data centers.<\/p>\n
Stay up to date on local news with WNDU<\/a> on-air and online. Be sure to download the 16 News Now App<\/a> and follow our YouTube<\/a> page as we continue to bring you the latest news coverage.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 WNDU. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANN HARBOR, Mich. (WNDU) – The data center conversation continues across the country, including Michigan. This week, there…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[36422,36425,39,36423,771,157,36424,20838,2256],"class_list":["post-64303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-openai","tag-ann-harbor","tag-benton-harbor","tag-data-centers","tag-data-centers-in-michigan","tag-michigan","tag-openai","tag-oracle-and-openai-data-center","tag-saline-township","tag-wndu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}