Michigan gubernatorial candidates clash over data centers ahead of midterm election

As more large-scale data centers are proposed across Southeast Michigan, communities are already deciding how to regulate them.

With less than a month until Election Day, the conversation surrounding how much control should stay local is now part of the race for governor. Both candidates, Congressman John James and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, addressed the question during Tuesday night's debate.

"When I say no new data centers until there's a plan to protect our communities, that it must be local control. We must protect our water, prevent pollution, make sure that we're preventing electricity bills from going up, and prioritizing blighted and brown fields over productive green farmland. That means this will be led by the locals, not by Lansing," James said on Tuesday.

CBS News Detroit contacted communities across the region to see what that local control looks like.

Washington Township has a moratorium after a developer withdrew its proposal.

Wixom has also imposed a moratorium and adopted new zoning rules, and Ypsilanti Township says it strongly opposes a proposed project between the University of Michigan and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

"I've been very clear about where I stand, as the candidate for governor, on this stage, to protect citizens and local communities from data centers and to put guardrails in place that protect our water from use and abuse that will ensure data centers are covering the cost of the energy they use," said Benson.

Detroit is still writing its rules, with city planning staff saying its current zoning ordinance does not specifically address data centers, even though at least six are already operating.

For now, the rules can depend on where a project is proposed, and the question remains whether local control or statewide mandates can change it.