By Jordyn Pair | jpair@mlive.com
Publication Date: 2025-11-21 03:35:00
SALINE TWP., MI – For some, it’s light pollution. For others, it is a poor use of farmland. For still others, it is the accelerated political process.
However, everyone agreed on one thing: the data center must disappear.
“A data center, especially one this large, is uniquely evil,” said Josh LeBaron, one of a few people leading a larger anti-Saline Township data center group backed by tech giants OpenAI and Oracle.
About 45 people from several southern Washtenaw County townships met Thursday evening, Nov. 20, in a barn in Saline Township to discuss strategies for the opposition’s path forward.
The 2.2 million square meter center, to be built on 575 hectares and developed by related companies, has drawn the ire of residents of the small agricultural community and surrounding areas.
“I think it’s a hard road, right?” said Jeff Rechten, one of the main residents who spoke Thursday. “But I think there is still a path to be taken.”
Right pointed to…
