"And for what? AI slop?" - The Saline Barn
Recently, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman visited the construction site of a $16 billion hyperscale data center in Saline Township on Monday. He was joined by executives from Oracle, Michigan Governor Whitmer, and barn-shaped soap dispensers (to connect with the local community of course...). He called it a "huge bet" on AI. "This could very well turn into the site where cancer gets cured," Altman said. A gigawatt of power drawn from a grid that still runs on fossil fuels, cooling systems pulling from watersheds that are already under pressure, built on farmland that used to absorb carbon. But sure, cancer.
The former township treasurer resigned the same month, in tears, after she and her colleagues received death threats from residents opposed to the project. The township stopped fighting the development after Related Digital sued after the township denied rezoning, and the township folded. Fighting it would have cost more than it was worth, the township clerk said. The settlement got them $12 million in community investments and 200 acres of preserved farmland. Community opposition spread statewide anyway, and the Michigan Public Service Commission fast-tracked DTE's contract to serve the facility in a process that blocked the Attorney General's office from scrutinizing whether ratepayers would see higher costs.
According to an MSU researcher who studies data centers and rural development, Michigan lacks the trades pipeline to fill large-scale construction demand, meaning many of those 2,500 promised union jobs will likely go to workers from out of state. The permanent workforce, once the facility is operating, is projected at 450 people. The facility will pay roughly $1.6 million annually to the township, even after a 12-year, 50% property tax abatement. The companies announced an additional $10 million for the Saline Recreation Center on Monday. The parks director said she was speechless.
In a quote obtained by The Detroit News, a 26-year-old barista on East Michigan Avenue said she thinks the jobs and water conservation promises are propaganda. "And for what? AI slop?" Saline Township will absorb the traffic, the noise, the farmland loss, the grid pressure, and the political blowback.