Michigan utility blocks water access to $1.2 billion nuclear weapons data center

Community Votes to Deny Water to Nuclear Weapons Data Center

America's nuclear scientists plan to break ground on an AI data center next week, but the Township where it's being constructed just put a 365 day hold on providing it with water. Ypsilanti Township in Michigan is attempting to cut off the flow of water to a planned data center that would power a new generation of nuclear weapons research. On Wednesday, the Township's Board of Trustees voted to institute a 365 day moratorium on the delivery of water to hyperscale data centers so the township can study the impact of the building's massive water needs. The proposed data center in the Ypsilanti Township's Hydro Park has been a sore spot for the community since its proposal. The $1.2 billion 220,000 square foot facility would be used by Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) some 1,500 miles away for nuclear weapons research. In February, UofM's Steven Ceccio told the University of Michigan Record that the facility would consume 500,000 gallons of water per day and that the University planned to buy it from the Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority. (YCUA) The YCUA has spent the past month lobbying for a moratorium on providing water and sewer access to hyperscale data centers and "artificial intelligence computing facilities," according to notes on a presentation stored on the organization's website. The moratorium would include LANL's data center. The YCUA cited an American Water Works Association white paper about data center water demands and concluded it needed more time to investigate the matter. "Hyper-scale data centers, as well as other mid-sized data centers, artificial intelligence computing facilities, and high-performance computational centers are 'high-impact customers' for water and sewer utilities," YCUA said in its presentation. The moratorium places a 12-month stop on serving water to data centers while the YCUA conducts a long-term water supply analysis and looks into the environmental sustainability studies. "During the 12-month moratorium period, the Authority will refrain from executing any capacity reservation agreement." This is a delay tactic on the part of a Township that does not want to see the data center constructed. Many in the community have strong feelings about the use of parkland for a facility that researchers nuclear weapons. Beyond the moral and ethical concerns, some are worried about becoming targets in a war. Last month, Township attorney Douglas Winters told the Board of Trustees that building hosting the data center would make Ypsilanti Township a "high value target." He pointed to the recent bombing of Gulf Coast data centers by Iran as evidence. America is embarking on a new nuclear arms race and Ypsilanti Township is one small part of it. The Pentagon has called for US nuclear scientists to design new kinds of nuclear weapons and Trump's 2027 budget proposal almost doubled the money set aside to create new cores for nukes. UofM has repeatedly said that the data center would not "manufacture" nuclear weapons. "Los Alamos is tasked with nuclear stewardship -- not conducting live tests on weaponry, but instead using advanced computation to ensure the safety and reliability of our existing stockpile without the need for nuclear testing, especially as our stockpile ages. Computation provides an important tool for LANL to achieve this mission," UofM's Ceccio told the Record. But during a public open house about the data center, LANL deputy laboratory director Patrick Fitch confirmed it would be used for weapons research. "One of the two computers we're planning in our 55 megawatts (section) -- if this facility is built -- will be for what's called secret restricted data. So it'll be for the nuclear weapons program. Not exclusively, but it'll be able to do that work," Fitch told the Michigan Daily. During the Wednesday meeting of the Ypsilanti Township Board, attorney Winters gave a clear eyed summary of the Township's place in the new nuclear arms race. "This facility they're proposing in partnership with the UofM is the digital brain for everything that's going to take place in New Mexico. Make no mistake about it, you can rename, reframe, and repackage all you want. It is a high value target," Winters said. Even with the proposed water moratorium, the University and LANL plan to break ground on the data center on Monday. The University of Michigan did not return 404 Media's request for a comment.

Michigan Utility OKs 12-Month Ban on Supplying Water for Data Centers

Ypsilanti's water system is turning off the tap for data centers. The Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority, or YCUA, approved a 12-month moratorium on supplying water to the resource-hungry facilities Wednesday. Ypsilanti Township, the community where a $1.2-billion University of Michigan data center is planned, voted last week to request the move. The YCUA board's resolution bars the delivery or commitment of water and sewer services to hyperscale and mid-size data centers, artificial intelligence computing facilities, and high-performance computational centers, pending the completion of several environmental and water system studies. The YCUA supplies drinking water and sewer services to multiple communities in Washtenaw and Wayne counties. Ypsilanti Township Supervisor Brenda Stumbo and Ypsilanti Township Trustee Gloria Peterson are both YCUA commissioners. The utility's water and sewer capacity is limited, and the utility needs to be proactive about addressing data centers' water demands, Stumbo said Wednesday. "Two large data centers could take our capacity just like that," Stumbo said. Eliminating this capacity could prevent homes from being built or businesses from opening and creating jobs, she said. YCUA Executive Director Luke Blackburn told Planet Detroit in an email that the utility's wastewater treatment plant has an estimated excess capacity of 4 to 5 million gallons per day. YCUA's last wastewater master plan dates to 2018 and an updated study is needed, Blackburn added. A University of Michigan official previously told Planet Detroit its Ypsilanti Township data center project could use up to 500,000 gallons of water a day. The Ypsilanti Township board is opposed to U of M and Los Alamos National Laboratory's plan for a $1.2-billion facility in the community. Thor Equities' proposed $1-billion data center in Augusta Township is also within YCUA's service territory. MLive reported last year that the project could use 1 million gallons of water daily. U of M and Thor did not respond to requests for comment on the utility's moratorium. In an online statement, the university said its project, which it calls a "high-performance computing facility," will create 200 jobs and support public projects in medicine, climate science, energy, and national security. A Los Alamos official told The Michigan Daily in January that it would perform nuclear weapons research at the proposed facility. As a public university, U of M is exempt from local zoning requirements, meaning the project does not require township approval. Residents say moratorium will protect their communities Around 10 residents and Ypsilanti City Councilmember Me'Chelle King spoke in support of the moratorium at Wednesday's YCUA board meeting. Leah Mills-Chapman, a resident of Ypsilanti Township's West Willow neighborhood, said the moratorium would help advance racial and environmental justice in an area where people already deal with foul odors and pollution. The Ypsilanti Township board passed a resolution in August calling for U of M and Los Alamos to relocate the data center project from a site near the Huron River to a location near West Willow. According to MiEJScreen, Michigan's environmental justice screening tool, the West Willow neighborhood is in the 85th percentile, while areas to its north are in the 88th percentile. These scores indicate well above-average pollution exposure and sensitive populations. On March 31, the Ypsilanti Township board passed a resolution opposing the placement of U of M and Los Alamos' project anywhere in the township. This resolution called attention to Los Alamos' work on nuclear weapons research and referred to the facility as a "Tier 1" high value target for terrorists and foreign adversaries. Augusta Township resident Wendy Albers, who opposes Thor Equities' plans for a data center in her community, expressed support for the moratorium. The Augusta Township board approved rezoning land for the data center despite strong opposition from the community, she said. "There's no one really protecting us and this (moratorium) could be a step to allow our communities to also have time to do their due diligence." ___ This story was originally published by Planet Detroit and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.