Township Fights Nuclear Weapons Data Center By Passing a Moratorium on Electrical Infrastructure

Ypsilanti Township in Michigan passed a six-month moratorium on major electric utility infrastructure on Tuesday night to delay the $1.2 billion data center backed by the University of Michigan and Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL). The moratorium, unanimously approved on August 18, aims to study noise pollution and effects on existing customers, while Township Supervisor Brenda Stumbo criticized the University's lack of communication and respect.

Ypsilanti Township in Michigan passed a six month moratorium on “major electric utility infrastructure” on Tuesday night. The moratorium is a delaying tactic, the latest in the Township’s long fight to stop the construction of a $1.2 billion data center https://www.404media.co/a-small-town-is-fighting-a-1-2-billion-ai-datacenter-for-americas-nuclear-weapon-scientists/ that’s backed by the University of Michigan and the Pentagon’s nuclear war scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratories LANL . Last year, the university announced it was partnering with LANL on the construction of a massive 220,000 square foot hyperscale data center in Ypsilanti Township and residents have been fighting it ever since. During a meeting of the Township Board on August 18, the council unanimously passed a resolution that will delay the construction of new electrical infrastructure for 180 days. Do you know anything else about this story? Is your town fighting a data center? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at +1 347 762-9212 or send me an email at matthew@404media.co. Data centers need a lot of energy https://www.404media.co/data-centers-power-energy-grid-epa-clean-air-act/ , and Michigan’s power authority will have to build new substations in the Township to power the proposed facility. The moratorium asked the local power authorities to use the six month delay to study noise pollution and how the new infrastructure would affect existing customers. The moratorium is narrowly focused on “the nature and scale of electrical infrastructure necessary to serve new high-energy-demand land uses ... including infrastructure associated, but not limited to hyper-scale data centers, mid-sized data centers, artificial intelligence computing facilities, and high-performance computational centers, industrial facilities, and other intensive electrical users.” Earlier this month, the University of Michigan announced it had settled on a specific plot of land in Ypsilanti Township — a 144-acre plot on Textile Road https://record.umich.edu/articles/university-of-michigan-selects-textile-road-as-preferred-site-for-landmark-research-computing-center/?ref=404media.co . In a , the University said the data center would have the “capacity to change the world” and insisted it would not be a “high value target risk” in a war, that it would not store any hazardous nuclear material, and was not a weapons production facility. LANL https://record.umich.edu/articles/university-of-michigan-selects-textile-road-as-preferred-site-for-landmark-research-computing-center/?ref=404media.co press release about the decision that the data center will be used for nuclear weapons research. Ypsilanti Township Supervisor Brenda Stumbo https://www.michigandaily.com/news/news-briefs/los-alamos-confirms-umich-data-center-to-be-used-for-nuclear-weapons-research/?ref=404media.co previously confirmed that the selection of the site was a “travesty of justice” because it ignores constituents’ concerns about environmental impact. https://www.wemu.org/wemu-news/2026-08-11/u-m-selects-preferred-location-for-los-alamos-facility-site?ref=404media.co told WEMU news During the August 18 moratorium vote, the Board projected a large stock photograph of an electric substation behind its members. The photo was meant to remind people of the size of the incoming infrastructure and the lack of communication from the university about it. “This picture’s really important to think about because U of M has been so crystal clear that they’ve been communicating to us abundantly — which is not true,” Strumbo said during the meeting. “That speaks to the lack of respect.” Ypsilanti Township's data center fight is unique in that its board of local leaders are united with the community in opposition to the project. Township Board members have repeatedly spoken about the University's lack of respect and lack of communication. “We will fight to our very last breath,” Strumbo said during a Board meeting in June https://www.404media.co/we-will-fight-to-our-very-last-breath-township-leaders-vow-to-fight-nuclear-ai-data-center/ . In April, the Board voted to institute a 365 moratorium on . The University threatened legal action in response and called the move “discriminatory.” https://www.404media.co/community-votes-to-deny-water-to-nuclear-weapons-data-center/ delivering water to data centers The University of Michigan declined to comment on this story.