Big Tech has come to town. Billion-dollar companies are in a race to build “hyperscale” data centers to fuel their push to power artificial intelligence and cloud computing technologies.

The rural residents that would live next to these projects are marshalling future resistance to them.

Southeast Michigan communities and their elected officials are grappling with the breakneck speed at which tech giants — the likes of OpenAI, Oracle and Meta — are attempting to push data center projects towards approval. But residents are pushing back by mobilizing opposition, packing local board meetings and urging local and state officials to do anything they can to stop - or at least slow down - the momentum.

One factor frustrating residents: the tech giants powering projects stay behind the scene

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