PRESS RELEASE FROM INGHAM COUNTY

Mason, Michigan – On November 19, 2025 the Ingham County Environmental Affairs Commission passed a resolution urging the Lansing Board of Water and Light (BWL), the City of Lansing, and all other relevant local government and electric utility entities serving residents of Ingham County to develop a comprehensive regulatory framework for proposed data centers and conduct projects related to data centers in a highly transparent manner. The EAC also requested that the Ingham County Board of Commissioners consider endorsing their resolution, and have asked it to be brought before county commissioners at the December 1 meeting of the County’s Human Services Committee.

Data centers are specialized facilities that house the computing and networking systems needed to

run applications and to store, process, and manage large amounts of data. The demand to develop new data centers has been rapidly increasing amidst the wide-scale growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI), becoming increasingly more common nationwide and in the State of Michigan. Members of the Environmental Affairs Commission have expressed concerns regarding the environmental, economic, and community impacts of these facilities.

According to the resolution approved by the commission, large-scale data centers typically require tremendous amounts of water and energy to sustain, straining local utilities and potentially impacting residents’ utility bills; creating noise and heat pollution, and other nuisances that negatively affect surrounding neighborhoods. The resolution goes on to state that due to the environmental, economic, and social costs that are often associated with data centers, regulation of data centers should be carefully considered and include acceptable zoning districts, restrictions on distance from residential or other sensitive uses such as schools or transit stations, compatibility with surrounding uses, noise limitations, screening of cooling equipment, disclosure on anticipated energy and water use, plans for job creation, community outreach requirements, as well as other requirements designed to both gain understanding of possible impacts of the projects and to mitigate them.

This action from the Environmental Affairs Commission comes as a result of recently proposed data center projects in and surrounding the Mid-Michigan region. Specifically, commissioners expressed concerns regarding the proposed development of a 24-megawatt (MW) data center with developer Deep Green in the BWL service territory.

Regarding the Deep Green project, Ingham County Commissioner and Chair of the County’s Environmental Affairs Commission, Chris Trubac stated “I have concerns about how electric bills could be increased by this project. Without safeguards like those being required for data centers within the territories of larger utilities like Consumers Energy, BWL customers could see their bills go up.”

The Environmental Affairs Commission specifically urged BWL, the City of Lansing, and all other relevant local government and electric utility entities serving residents of Ingham County to share detailed plans demonstrating the methods by which data center projects’ load demands will be met without increasing costs for other customers or triggering additional fossil fuel generation that could undermine local and state-wide clean energy goals, specifically identifying and making publicly available pertinent information including:

• The source of electricity for all data center projects and whether they align with Michigan’s renewable and clean energy standards.
• How much water the proposed facility is anticipated to use daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly and how the proposed facility will mitigate impacts on water quality and availability for nearby residents.
• How the utility in question plans to safeguard existing customers from rate hikes or stranded asset costs if a data center project scales down or leaves.
• What minimum contract length, billing guarantees, or exit fees will ensure local residents are not left paying for infrastructure built to serve any single large user; and
• What measures will be in place to ensure fair cost allocation, environmental compliance, and community benefits.

The Environmental Affairs Commission acknowledged that they share the City of Lansing’s interest in responsible economic growth, but believe such growth must be pursued with transparency, equity, and in alignment with long-term sustainability goals. Commissioner Trubac further stated, “I recognize data centers can support growth in our communities and bring new job opportunities to our people, and I want to make sure everyone’s voice is heard as we plan for a bright future together. Good planning takes time, and it’s important that we get this right.”

COUNTY OF INGHAM, P.O. Box 319 Mason, Michigan 48854  (517) 676-7206  Fax: (517) 676-7306    www.ingham.org