The University of Michigan has sent a legal threat over a yearlong pause that would prevent water hookup to a proposed nuclear weapons research and AI data center. Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Michigan are looking to build a $1.2 billion, 220,000 square foot data center in Ypsitlanti Township. On April 22, the Ypsilanti Community Utility Authority (YCUA) passed a 365-day moratorium on the delivery of water to hyperscale data centers in the area while it conducted environmental sustainability and long-term water use studies.As first reported by MLive, the University hand delivered and emailed a legal threat to the YCUA on April 21, the day before it was to vote on the proposed water moratorium. According to a copy of the letter obtained by 404 Media, the university feels the moratorium is \u201cunlawfully discriminatory\u201d against data centers and it promised to pursue \u201call rights and claims for relief\u201d if its demands weren\u2019t met.<\/p>\n
Luther Blackburn, YCUA\u2019s executive director, told 404 Media that the organization had no comment on potential or pending litigation, but did confirm that he\u2019d received a legal communication from the university.\u00a0 \u201cYCUA staff are working on a Request for Proposal to complete the investigations and studies outlined in the moratorium,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe YCUA has acted lawfully and in accordance with industry best practices by issuing the moratorium.\u201dThe university disagreed. \u201cThe University objects to any such sector-specific moratorium which would be legally invalid because, among other defects, it would be unrelated to any documented utility or public health needs,\u201d the letter said, according to a copy obtained by 404 Media. \u201cAs a threshold matter, a moratorium on utility service is permissible only when linked to legitimate utility considerations such as documented capacity constraints, public health issues, or genuine financing challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n
The University argued, citing various legal precedents, that the courts will not be on Ypsilanti\u2019s\u00a0 side and claimed that the area has plenty of water. \u201cThe record contains no evidence supporting any such YCUA capacity constraint,\u201d the letter said. \u201cTo the contrary, YCUA\u2019s leadership has publicly stated that serving the University\u2019s proposed facility would not affect the authority\u2019s ability to provide or treat water.\u201dThe letter quoted Blackburn as saying he had confirmed in 2025 that the data center\u2019s proposed use of 200,000 gallons a day were within YCUA\u2019s 8-10 million gallon per day capacity. \u201cIn addition, YCUA leadership has stated that serving the University’s project would likely help mitigate overall utility costs by improving efficiency and cost distribution,\u201d the letter said.Sean Knapp, the YCUA\u2019s director of service operations, told Planet Detroit last year that the YCUA is operating below capacity at the moment.\u00a0\u201cAdding the data center as a customer would help mitigate overall costs by improving efficiency and cost distribution,\u201d he said at the time.After saying it was illegal for the Ypsilanti community to not give it water, the University claimed the moratorium discriminated against data centers. \u201cBeyond the above legal deficiencies, the proposed moratorium is pretextual and unlawfully discriminatory because it singles out \u2018data centers\u2019 by label rather than by utility impact,\u201d the letter said. \u201cIt is discriminatory to permit other users to connect and consume currently available capacity while the utility conducts undefined studies to determine whether there is sufficient capacity for the University\u2019s proposed facility.\u201dThe University then asked the YCUA not to pass a moratorium and promised to \u201cpursue\u201d the matter. \u201cThe University respectfully requests that YCUA refuse to issue any sector-specific moratorium, instead basing any service decisions on documented utility factors, applied evenhandedly through existing permitting and technical review processes,\u201d the letter said. \u201cIf these legal requirements are not followed by YCUA, the University reserves the right to pursue all rights and claims for necessary relief.\u201dThe University of Michigan did not return 404 Media\u2019s request for comment.Ypsilanti Township has been fighting the proposed datacenter for more than a year now. Data centers are wildly unpopular in the United States. They often cause noise pollution, affect water quality, and drive up utility bills for their neighbors. Local opposition to the Ypsilanti Township data center has been compounded by its connection to America\u2019s nuclear weapons industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"