Americans are angry about data centers. Politicians are feeling the pressure
SALINE TOWNSHIP, Michigan: From Michigan Avenue, Saline Township looks like any other farming community, with its corn and soybean fields, silos and grain elevators.
Just down the road, though, cranes reach above towering fences at the site of a $16 billion project – one that has turned this town of 2,400 people into the latest U.S. flashpoint over AI data centers.
Dubbed “The Barn” by its consortium of developers – Oracle, OpenAI, Related Digital, Blackstone and Walbridge – the Stargate data center is expected to stretch over 250 acres.
