University of Michigan's Los Alamos data-centre plan draws backlash in Ypsilanti
The University of Michigan and Los Alamos National Laboratory plan a 1.2 billion dollar hyperscale data centre in Ypsilanti Township. Residents at a public meeting objected to the lack of consultation and raised concerns about weapons research, electricity bills, water use and noise. University officials cited cancer care, power-grid work, drug discovery and sustainable computing as intended uses, and said the proposed facility would be much smaller than commercial hyperscale sites.
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The Ypsilanti plan met the public
The University of Michigan and Los Alamos National Laboratory want to build a 1.2 billion dollar hyperscale data centre in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan. Los Alamos is the United States nuclear-weapons laboratory based in New Mexico. A Wednesday evening open house brought the university's proposal before people living near the planned site. The Michigan Daily reported that residents gathered to voice concerns about the data-centre development. In 404 Media's account, jeers and shouted objections repeatedly interrupted the university officials who were presenting the plan.[1], [2]
Residents challenged consultation and resource use
Residents said they had not been consulted while the proposal was being developed and argued that the university had dismissed the community throughout the process. Their objections centred on two kinds of concern. Some feared that the partnership with Los Alamos would make the facility serve nuclear-weapons research. Participants also raised the effect on electricity bills, the amount of water the centre would use and the noise it could create. Those points gave the local opposition concrete grounds in the energy, water and living conditions around the proposed computing site, as well as in its research purpose.[1]
The university listed civilian research goals
University of Michigan faculty director Patricia Hurn read a prepared statement while the objections continued. The university's intended uses included cancer care, work on the power grid, drug discovery and more sustainable computing. Lead engineer Steven Ceccio said the proposed facility would be far smaller in scale and scope than commercial data centres. That response did not remove the disagreement at the centre of the meeting. University officials described research infrastructure, while residents continued to object both to the project's purpose and to how the decision had been presented to them, including how the local burdens would be shared.[1]
