Data center costs, accountability, among themes of Howell town hall meeting
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, and several state and local officials hosted a town hall in Howell on Monday to discuss what is fact and fiction when it comes to data center developments.
Cost, accountability and data breaches are among the concerns residents have voiced when it comes to data center proposals in communities across Michigan.
"What do you think would happen if someone intentionally try to disrupt or take this data center offline?" one resident asked the panel.
That person was among the Howell-area residents who came with questions for a panel of experts, local leaders and state representatives.
Data centers are a touchy topic for some in the Howell community. Many residents have been fighting companies wanting to build centers in their area, with one company recently withdrawing their plans for such a site in Howell Township.
And the AG said she hears the residents' concerns.
"It's really not well monitored at all. These companies are on the honor system," said Nessel.
With 70 data centers already in Michigan, the AG agrees with the principle behind data centers, but said the process of building them is flawed. Nessel said not all companies are transparent with the agreements. Some of those documents are heavily redacted.
One of her concerns is that if data centers being built go over budget, who will be held accountable for the bill?
"If this is going to mean that your rates are going to double, triple or quadruple in the next few years, you ought to know about it," said Nessel.
While these data centers aim to meet the needs of a vast, growing data consumption, the construction and equipping of data centers is said to bring construction jobs and other financial boosts to the communities they are sited in.
However, experts who spoke on the panel are concerned about impacts that can't be avoided, such as energy and water consumption.
Another recurring theme of the discussion was that legislation could be a way to prevent distrust of the major companies building data centers from the communities they are building in.
