These Rural Americans Are Trying to Hold Back the Tide of AI
February 2, 2026
Howell Township, a conservative farming area in Michigan, is known for being friendly to businesses. But when a developer proposed converting 1,000 acres of farmland into a massive data center for training artificial-intelligence models last year, the community fought back.
The planning commission and county planning commission eventually voted not to advance the project, a potential $1 billion site for Facebook parent Meta Platforms META -1.16%decrease; and the developer recently withdrew its request after Howell Township put a moratorium on new data-center development.
