Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and the Michigan Environmental Council hosted a roundtable to discuss DTE Energy’s request for expedited approval of two special contracts related to a planned 1.4-gigawatt data center in Saline Township. The event brought together state Senator Jeff Irwin, state Representative Morgan Foreman, officials from the Department of Attorney General, and representatives from several advocacy groups.
DTE has submitted an ex parte application to the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), seeking approval without formal hearings or standard regulatory oversight. The infrastructure costs associated with servicing the data center are expected to reach several hundred million dollars.
Attorney General Nessel expressed concern about the lack of public scrutiny: “DTE expects to spend half a billion dollars to service this new data center, making unverified promises that no one else will shoulder these costs, while urging the Commission to fast-track this application without any of the usual public scrutiny,” Nessel said. “My call here is not that data centers don’t belong in Michigan, but that we can regulate these entities responsibly, and we have an obligation to do so. We can’t claim fair regulation if we’re starting out with shortcuts. I appreciated hearing from the Michigan Environmental Council, Citizens Utility Board, and Natural Resources Defense Council, and I’m grateful to Senator Irwin and Representative Foreman for joining us to learn how we work to protect Michigan ratepayers.”
Charlotte Jameson, chief policy officer of the Michigan Environmental Council, highlighted both potential benefits and risks: “This project has the potential for a big upside for Michigan—significant investment in our state, build out of clean energy and energy affordability benefits. But none of those things are a given,” Jameson said. “We need to ensure that the infrastructure and energy costs the project necessitates don’t unjustly burden Michiganders. We also need to see real growth in renewable energy to power data centers in order to stave off a rush to build expensive methane gas plants by our utilities. Without full transparency in this case, and from other utilities who want to invest in data centers, we can’t properly safeguard our communities from unintended environmental and financial harm.”
The Department of Attorney General has formally requested public hearings on DTE’s proposal by filing a notice of intervention with MPSC; however, no decision has been made yet regarding this request. Members of the public may submit comments online through case U-21990 on the MPSC website or participate virtually at a scheduled forum on December 3 via Microsoft Teams. This virtual session will be limited to two hours.
Participants at the roundtable argued that comprehensive public hearings—including discovery procedures and testimony—are essential for verifying proposed customer protections and cost reductions before any contract is approved by regulators. Under an ex parte process like DTE’s current request, such steps would not occur.
The MPSC is set for its next formal meeting on December 5—the date by which DTE seeks approval for its special contracts.
Video footage from today’s roundtable discussion is available at this link.
