Data center opposition represents “fight to unite the working class”

By Jacob Wheeler and Jace Dunlap

Sun contributors

Story published concurrently in the White Pine Press—the student-run newspaper at Northwestern Michigan College (NMC)—and the Glen Arbor Sun in Leelanau County.

On Nov. 17, citizens packed a meeting at the Garfield Township Hall in Kalkaska County to oppose a proposed data center on Department of Natural Resources (DNR) land.

Seth Bernard, an accomplished Northern Michigan musician and activist, found himself high-fiving and hugging local conservatives with whom he had previously argued on Facebook about politics and cultural issues. Bernard, who lives near a pristine wetland—a few miles from the proposed site—found common ground with his Trump-supporting neighbors in their vehement opposition to data centers and mistrust of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

In their testimonies the standing-room-only crowd cited lack of transparency by local governments, skyrocketing utility bills, reduced water pressure, the specter of ground water contaminated with antifreeze, and fears of data centers invading pristine rural Michigan—a state whose groundwater volume equals that of one of the Great Lakes.

The data center would have encompassed 1,400 acres of public land. The project was ultimately stalled following vehement public disapproval.

Rocklocker, the company that proposed the data center, planned to build a power plant, as well as use carbon capture to reduce emissions. They argued that the project would bring millions in tax revenue and create jobs.

Bernard, a leader in rallying Kalkaskans to oppose the proposed data center, voiced concern at the hastily-called public meeting about the environmental impacts on the community that the center would cause. Bernard is co-founder of the organization Title Track, whose mission focuses on education and support for water, equity, and youth. Title Track produces a State of Water podcast and a Clean Water Campaign mini-documentary series.

“I think that it is kind of the sleeping giant that is going to become the central issue of the Michigan races in 2026 across the political spectrum,” said Bernard.

On Jan. 11 at a presentation to the Northwest Michigan Democratic Socialists of America chapter in Traverse City, he recapped how the Kalkaska community came together to oppose the data center. Bernard cited conservatives who homeschool their kids and don’t trust AI products being beta tested on their kids, and evangelicals who don’t trust big tech, “masquerading as a False God.”

Bernard offered a silver lining.

“This nightmare of a data center invasion presents a dream opportunity to organize. It cracks open a movement for working-class solidarity.”

He predicted that grassroots opposition to data centers could emerge as a central issue for political candidates in 2026.

“We’re fighting a culture war while big tech and establishment politicians fight a class war.”

Some concerns about data centers are about their impact on the environment. Data centers use large quantities of water for cooling. The servers within the data centers create heat as they are operated, which requires cooling. If the servers are not cooled, there is a risk that the servers will begin to malfunction. The University of Michigan (U-M) estimates that data centers use around 10 million gallons of water per year to cool their servers, which is enough water to fill 500 standard-sized swimming pools.

In addition to water usage, they also consume large amounts of energy. In the same report, U-M estimates that, “On average, a single data center can consume up to 2 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity, which is roughly the equivalent power consumption of a small town.” Because of the high energy consumption, data centers become a large contributor to carbon dioxide emissions.

Tiffani Wilke, an environmental science and meteorology professor at NMC, told a White Pine Press journalist about data centers’ usage of energy. Researchers have looked to find ways to make data centers less detrimental to their local environment, and a solution they could turn to is renewable energy.

If RockLocker wanted to avoid using the community’s energy and lower the carbon dioxide emissions connected to the center, Wilke said it would have to turn to options such as solar or wind power. Wilke doesn’t think that these would make a good fit for Kalkaska.

For them to implement solar, there would need to be a large open field where trees are not obstructing sunlight. To use the DNR land Rocklocker chose, they would have to remove large amounts of trees because the land around the parcel is obstructed. Wilke added that Kalkaska is often subject to extreme weather, especially in the winter, and it may not be a good place to put wind turbines, because if the wind is blowing too hard, then they may need to turn them off to reduce the risk of damage.

While the data center in Kalkaska was not approved, others around Michigan have been. Cities such as Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Detroit already have data centers established, and with recent trends, it is likely that the number of them will continue to grow.

Bernard closed his address to the Democratic Socialist chapter by saying that amidst the messiness associated with coming together to fight issues affecting your community, the pursuit also inspires hope.