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Ypsilanti Township bans new electrical infrastructure to block University of Michigan nuclear weapons data center
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Ypsilanti Township imposed a six-month moratorium on new electrical infrastructure, blocking the substation needed for a $1.25 billion, 220,000-square-foot University of Michigan hyperscale data center built for nuclear weapons research with Los Alamos National Laboratory.
This is a novel local opposition tactic, targeting utility infrastructure rather than the data center directly, which other communities could replicate against large compute facilities. The University has threatened to sue, calling the action discriminatory, and federal precedent suggests projects deemed crucial may override local bans.
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Ypsilanti Township imposed a six-month ban on new electrical infrastructure to study noise pollution and impacts on existing customers, blocking the substation the data center requires.
The township previously enacted a one-year moratorium on water connections for hyperscale data centers; the University of Michigan project was estimated to need 500,000 gallons per day.
The University of Michigan proceeded with groundbreaking and threatened litigation, calling the township's actions discriminatory.
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