Economic Development Responsibility Alliance of Michigan

06/11/2026

Mega action alert⏬️⚠️📢🚨

Let's get writing our letters and help Protect The Porkies!!!

06/09/2026

Great coverage of today's protest of The Right Place's "Developer Day" in Grand Rapids from our friends at GRIID:

“As a public-private organization receiving taxpayer funds, The Right Place has a duty to conduct due diligence with the communities their proposed projects would impact for generations,” said Cedar Springs resident Katie Valtchev of Stop Solon Township Data Center.

“The Right Place’s lack of meaningful community engagement on these proposed hyperscale AI data centers shows, even at a perfunctory level, its only mission is to support Big Tech at the expense of our public health, environment, and community values of being good, honest neighbors – all while using taxpayer funds.” said West Michigan residents Betsy López-Wagner and Kathryn Robertson of Residents United for a Healthy Lowell.

Marjorie Steele, Executive Director of the Economic Development Responsibility Alliance of Michigan, says that The Right Place’s large-scale economic development projects have already scarred Michigan’s communities. “The work of Mr. Thelen and his colleagues has left a $23M crater in the Big Rapids community thanks to the Gotion project,” she says, “which was the inevitable outcome of The Right Place’s gross negligence, corrupt dealings, and total disregard for the local community’s right to self-determination. There is no evidence to indicate that The Right Place is conducting these hyperscale data center projects any differently. These communities are right to be concerned, and we’re here to stand with them.”

A dozen people showed up late Tuesday morning at the old Rogers Department Store at 1001 28th St. SW in Wyoming, since The Right Place Inc. was hosting their annual Developer Day event. According t…

06/02/2026

Lenox Township area grassroots are gearing up for a full board recall, and a referendum on developer-influenced zoning ordinances.

From the article:

"The possibility of major data center development in a largely rural township north of Metro Detroit has upset residents, some of whom are seeking to recall local leaders.

The upheaval is coming to a head as Macomb County’s Lenox Township seeks to finalize local regulations for data centers, large-scale server warehouses powering cloud computing and artificial intelligence that can draw as much power as entire cities...

The township planning commission is set to meet Tuesday evening, June 2, to hold a public hearing on the data center ordinance and a separate measure outlining a development district near I-94 that could house the facilities.

The same day, a temporary four-month pause on data center projects instituted by Lenox Township in February, known as a moratorium, is set to expire.

A packed house of residents urged the Lenox Township board to extend it at a meeting Monday night and voiced a range of concerns over data centers. But the board took no action.

“It’ll ultimately change this rural community. We’re giving away agricultural property, and that’s what this. It’s an agricultural community. People moved here for that,” said resident Robert Pannell, who sits on the township planning commission, in an interview.

“We’re ultimately changing where we live, and we don’t want to change where we live. People have been here hundreds of years, and we want it to remain rural,” he said.

Anonymous website, data center mailers spur suspicion

The township is the latest in Michigan to be engulfed in controversy over the possibility of the large-scale projects, amid accusations developers and officials aren’t being transparent.

Fueling suspicion are rumors that residents have been approached by a data center company with land offers and internal township emails obtained by Freedom of Information Act request that appear to show developers corresponding with township officials about a potential data center project.

At the same time, residents have received pro-data center mailers from a Lansing political nonprofit.

And in mid-May, an anonymous website, lenoxdatacenter.com, appeared promoting a “proposed advanced technology and data center campus in Lenox Township’s I-94 corridor.”

The website has since been updated to largely remove references to any specific project. MLive’s emails to an address initially listed on the website bounced. It includes no other contact information.

Mailers residents received originated from a nonprofit based in Lansing called “Michigan Deserves Better,” run by political consultant Joe DiSano. He did not respond to requests for comment by email and phone. The group has sponsored data center mailers in other communities and has a history of involvement in local political campaigns. Its financial backers are unclear.

“It’s just very secretive,” said Arianna Welsh, a local resident who opposes potential data center projects. “I’m absolutely concerned, particularly with the mega-sites.”

Lenox Township officials have flatly denied involvement in any formal data center project.

“The Township states unequivocally that no company has submitted any application, site plan, zoning request, or development plan for a data center, nor has any such project been discussed with or endorsed by the Township Board, Planning Commission, Township staff, or the Supervisor’s Office,” reads a statement issued in late January.

“Any claim that a developer has ‘spoken with the Township’ in a manner suggesting approval, support, advance knowledge, or involvement in a data center project is false,” it continued.

Township Supervisor Anthony Reeder Jr., elected in 2020 at age 21, did not return an email and call from MLive requesting comment. Approached by an MLive reporter at the Monday meeting, he declined to comment."

An anonymous website promotes a data center project, but township officials say no plan has been discussed. “It’s just very secretive," said one resident.

05/30/2026

Dark money funded Republican group "Michigan Foward" criticizes Mop Up Michigan voter initiative to get money out of Michigan politics over alleged dark money, without disclosing any of their own funding sources.

Remember when the MIGOP astroturfed the Gotion grassroots community with dark money groups and the help of dark money "news" outlets like The Midwesterner, and worked hard to shut down any and all organic grassroots resistence through slander and shunning?

We do.

Projection at its finest, right here.

05/28/2026

BREAKING: Lenox Township area residents blow the whistle on 1,500 acre data center development

May 28th, 2026; Lenox Township, Macomb County, Michigan––Have Lenox Township officials been quietly paving the way for large-scale industrial development behind the local community’s back? Are they paving the way for an AI data center right now? These are questions local Macomb County residents are asking. Recalls for the entire board are underway, and residents are prepared for a referendum.

Lenox Township meetings have been packed over the last few months with residents who are upset about a potential new data center. Residents have publicly stated they’ve received purchase agreement offers for their land which contain contingencies related to data centers, and grassroots research has identified up to 1,500 acres which are vulnerable to such a development. The Township board is pushing hard to adopt a new data center zoning ordinance before the current moratorium expires, in spite of their own Planning Commission’s pleas in April to extend the moratorium another six months to allow more time to work on the ordinance. Residents have packed the town hall to urge the board to extend the moratorium, but so far to no avail. The zoning ordinance, the necessity of which was urged to Planning Commissioners in February by a planner from Carlisle Wortman & Associates, is slated for public hearing–and potentially for board approval–on June 2nd.

To date, Township officials have denied having any discussion with developers about a data center.

“Any claim that a developer has ‘spoken with the Township’ in a manner suggesting approval, support, advance knowledge, or involvement in a data center project is false,” the January 28th 2026 statement read.

But recently FOIAed emails tell a different story. According to township emails, Supervisor Reeder had been communicating with representatives from data center developer Cloverleaf less than two weeks prior to this statement. Not only had Supervisor Reeder been in conversations with developer Paul Reschke about data center development since early 2025; it would appear that the developer had input into the drafting of the data center ordinance itself. What’s more: Supervisor Reeder’s conversations with Reschke about a large-scale industrial development in Lenox Township date back to January of 2024, shortly before the Township began rewriting its Master Plan to include an I-94 Development District which spans nearly 20% of the township’s land. The new district’s land use matches the developer’s desire for “in excess of 500+ acres at the 26 mile and I-94 site”.

According to the emails, in early 2024 Reschke and his associates were initially pursuing the I-94 site for a “shovel-ready” EcoPower Travel Center concept with EV manufacturing as “a huge future opportunity” for site uses, in the hopes of attracting an SSRP grant under the state SOAR funding which was available at the time. At the end of February 2024, the township board began the process of revising its master plan to include the addition of the I-94 Development District. In March, Supervisor Reeder met with Reschke, Michigan legislators, and an associate in Dubai to discuss the EcoPower Travel Center project. Nearly a year later, Reeder’s communication with Reschke shows the project had shifted to a new track: AI. The township fielded a meeting request from the data center developer Cloverleaf in January of 2026, and the following month Supervisor Reeder and Reschke shared input on the draft data center zoning ordinance.

Read the full release below: ⬇️⬇️⬇️

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

05/20/2026

‼️BREAKING NEWS: ‼️Letter of demand to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to suspend $259M SSRP grants for Mundy Township AMD (aka: the Mundy Megasite)

From the release:

"The grounds for these demands include FGEA’s violation of the grant contracts on a number of fronts, bad faith dealings with the public, and the absence of an end user for the site.

The letter alleges that FGEA has demonstrated several violations of the SSRP contract, including:

Failure to comply with state environmental regulations
Material misrepresentation, and
Failure to comply with local zoning regulations

“Since these grants were approved by the MEDC’s MSF board and state legislators in spring of 2024, FGEA has violated state environmental laws by destroying wetlands and changing waterways without a permit…they have made topographical changes to the site, in direct contradiction to their answers on the SSRP grant’s Key Statutory Criteria; and they have ignored the local zoning requirements for the site,” the letter states.

Recently FOIAed documents reveal that FGEA has received over $14.5M for professional and contract management fees pertaining to the $259.25M Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) grant."

cc: Mundy/Swartz Creek Town Hall

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

05/15/2026

👏Yes, because of the amount of concerns received in regards to the Copperwood Mine NPDES permit- EGLE will now be extending the public comment period and will also hold a virtual public hearing! Protect The Porkies ⏬️⏬️

"While public comment was initially slated to close on Friday, Scott Dean, EGLE’s strategic communications advisor, said the department would be extending the public notice period for at least another 30 days due to substantial interest in the permit. EGLE is also in the process of scheduling a virtual hearing on the matter, Dean said."

https://michiganadvance.com/2026/05/14/environmentalists-rally-around-endangered-fish-as-egle-takes-comment-on-copperwood-mine-permit/?fbclid=IwdGRjcAR0DWhjbGNrBHQMxmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHlvBh5kJMFMz-Lx98gC4iZf6ZPZuV05laAjvLmAJAFYJCv5IgUILu9R3S2he_aem_3S4nNlEqL9qU-qNi5Lo3iA

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy opened public comment on April 15 for an application renewing the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System for the Copperwood Mine under development in Gogebic County.

05/08/2026

🚨ACTION:🚨Protect local zoning round 3!

The House Government Operations Committee is hearing House Bills 5581-5585 next Thursday, May 14th. These bills would gut local township zoning rights and make it easy for large developers to railroad over local residential communities, under the justification of creating "affordable housing".

Michiganders cannot afford to lose any more local power to government agencies and corporations. This kind of supply-side economics has got to stop.

So TELL the Government Operations Committee Members not to entertain these bills, IN WRITING, before Thursday!

Rep. Brian BeGole (R) - chair
[email protected] (517) 373-0853

Rep. Mike Harris (R) - majority vice chair
[email protected] (517) 373-0828

Rep. John Fitzgerald (D) - minority vice chair
[email protected] (517) 373-0835

Rep. Curtis VanderWall (R)
[email protected] (517) 373-1747

Rep. Mike McFall (D)
[email protected] (517) 373-0140

Letter template:

The Honorable [Representative/Senator Name]
Michigan House of Representatives / Michigan Senate [Office Address]

Dear Representative/Senator [Last Name],

My name is [Name], and I am a resident of [City/Township], Michigan. I am writing regarding the recently proposed housing and zoning legislation, House Bills 5529–5532 and 5581–5585.

Many communities across Michigan are currently addressing large-scale energy and energy storage development proposals that residents feel have lacked transparency, adequate environmental impact analysis, and clear assurances related to public health and safety. Because of these experiences, many citizens have become particularly sensitive to policies that could further limit local input in land-use decisions.

After reviewing the proposed housing legislation, it appears that several provisions are intended to override local authority over zoning and land-use planning. Local elected officials and planning commissions invest significant time and effort developing zoning ordinances and master plans that reflect the unique needs, infrastructure capacity, and character of their communities. When these decisions are overridden at the state level, it can place local governments in a difficult position where development interests are prioritized over community planning, potentially negatively impacting property values and permanently altering the character of established communities, creating division and discord.

The public widely recognizes that housing affordability is a serious issue in Michigan and across the nation. Inflation, elevated mortgage interest rates, limited housing inventory, shortages in skilled trades, rising labor costs, tariffs, and increasing material costs all contribute to the current challenges. However, broadly shifting zoning authority from local governments to a centralized state authority will not produce the balanced and cooperative solutions necessary for sustainable and thoughtful growth.

Thank you for taking the time to consider this perspective. These proposals will be watched closely, as

they have significant impact on all of our communities in this great state of Michigan and will influence voting choices.

Respectfully,

[Your Name]

05/08/2026

05/07/2026

🚨ACTION: 🚨public comment on Copperwood Mine EGLE wastewater permits BY MAY 15th

From our friends at Protect The Porkies:

The mining company is applying for a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) wastewater discharge permit which would allow them to release up to half a million gallons of treated wastewater per day into Namebinag Creek. Significantly, a Michigan endangered fish, the redside dace, inhabits the area just over one mile downstream.

Neither EGLE nor the mining company have sufficiently communicated what steps, if any, are being taken to ensure that the endangered redside dace and its habitat will be protected.

Through the public comment process, let's demand that the precautionary principle be respected: before unleashing so much wastewater, the company must prove through research that it will not adversely impact the redside dace.

Objective: Michigan’s environmental regulatory agency EGLE thinks this is a permit without public interest. Let’s show otherwise by setting a record for the most comments ever received on a NPDES (wastewater discharge) permit.

Deadline: public comment period for this NPDES permit closes May 15th.

Submit public comment:

by sending an email to [email protected]

Craft a comment including these bold-faced points (in your own words as much as possible):

— Request a PUBLIC HEARING.

A hearing will give us the chance to deliver spoken comments via a virtual comment session, and it will require Michigan’s regulatory agency to provide education on the permit. They will only hold a hearing if they deem the permit to be of public interest, which is why your participation is crucial!

— Ask them to EXTEND THE PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD.

This will allow us to continue submitting comments to show mass resistance and to have time to more carefully investigate this matter.

— Ask them to DENY THE PERMIT.

The company has not shown that the heavily filtered wastewater being discharged will not change the chemical composition of the stream and make it uninhabitable for the redside dace.

— Demand that the company PROVIDE RESEARCH showing that flooding a stream with their exact quality of wastewater does not impact the ecosystem’s ability to support the redside dace and all the other living things that depend on it.

More info and action items in full post ⬇️⬇️⬇️

The Copperwood Mine has become a zombie project. It just won’t die.