(The Center Square) – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has petitioned for a rehearing over a controversial data center that is currently being streamlined.
The $7 billion, 2.2-million-square-foot data center is an initiative of DTE Energy for OpenAI and Oracle. It would be in Saline Township – a small rural community in southeast Michigan.
OpenAI is the parent company of ChatGPT. If built, the “Project Stargate” center would help service artificial intelligence programs via OpenAI’s Stargate.
In December, despite public backlash, the Michigan Public Service Commission granted conditional ex parte approval for the project.
“I remain extremely disappointed with the commission’s decision to fast-track DTE’s secret data center contracts without holding a contested case hearing,” Nesse said. “Granting approval of these contracts ex parte serves only the interests of DTE and the billion-dollar businesses involved, like Oracle, OpenAI, and Related Companies, not the Michigan public the commission is meant to protect.”
The ex parte approval means that the utility request can be fast-tracked and decided directly by the commission without public hearings. This method, as opposed to a contested case, is generally used when the project is limited in scope and not expected to raise customer costs.
The commission gave DTE 30 days – ending Saturday – to sign off on its conditions. Those conditions included an amended renewable energy plan, a comparison of the required resources necessary for the company, etc.
The commission said in its approval that it found an “affordability benefit” with the plan, concluding that “the weight of the evidence and public interest considerations support approval of the special contracts.”
Nessel argued in her Petition for Rehearing that the commission must hold a contested case hearing on the project, which the commission previously declined to do. She is also seeking clarification on how the commission plans to enforce its conditions.
“As Michigan’s chief consumer advocate, it is my responsibility to ensure utility customers in this state are adequately protected, especially on a project so massive, so expensive, and so unprecedented,” Nessel said. “As my office continues to review all potential options to defend energy customers in our state, we must demand further clarity on what protections the Commission has put in place and continue to demand a full contested case concerning these still-secret contracts.”
Nessel is referring to the proposed contracts, which included hundreds of redacted lines.
This is just one of many data centers currently under consideration in Michigan, as previously reported on by The Center Square. Opponents of the centers are concerned about the long-term impacts on taxpayers and DTE’s ratepayers.
“Private developers and DTE Energy need to prove that everyday Michiganders won’t be forced to subsidize corporate investments in their energy bills, and projects like this won’t hinder or block our transition to the clean energy future that we’ve set together as a state,” said Nick Occhipinti, senior policy director for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters.
Other states, like Wisconsin, are facing similar issues with transparency around these data centers – which can have substantial impacts on consumers’ energy bills.
In the next ten years, data centers are expected to increase the average American’s energy bill from 25% to 70%, according to the Jack Kemp Foundation. Another analysis from Bloomberg News found a 267% increase in energy prices in communities located near data centers.
DTE currently provides electricity to about 2.3 million customers in southeast Michigan and natural gas to another 1.3 million.
