Michigan City residents raise concern about Google’s Hyperscale Data Center
MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. -- Google confirmed this week it will be the buyer of the Project Maize site, prompting renewed push back from community members. Residents and organizers gathered at a recent meeting hosted by Just Transition Northwest Indiana to discuss concerns ranging from environmental safety to transparency.
Project Maize is located in an M1 industrial zone a few miles from a middle school with several residential homes in the area. At the meeting, some nearby home-owners say the project is already affecting their daily lives.
“I live about half a mile, like straight line from where the data center is going to be. I get to see the light pollution,” said Amy Losinski. “If you’re driving on royal road, depending on the time of day — if you’re so lucky — you can get stopped in traffic.”
The project has faced scrutiny in the past, including complaints about a lack of transparency from city officials.
“We’re really concerned is the fact that google, even with coming out the other day, they’re still acting in secrecy,” said Ashley Williams, executive director of Just Transition Indiana. “We have yet to see the site plans. We have yet to see the full agreements for how much water, how much energy, what is the contingency plan if things go wrong?”
With construction progressing, organizers at the meeting worry the data center could be operational by the end of the year.
“Google is concerned with one thing and that’s profit,” said organizer Eileen Mark. “We’ve listened to people from around the county who have dealt with Google hyperscale data centers, and others that are just extremely harmful for neighbors. This is a neighborhood. This isn’t a far-off farm community.”
Just Transition Northwest Indiana says it organized the meeting to educate residents about the project’s history and potential risks.
“It is a site that is being actively developed on a brownfield site, which means it’s actively contaminated by trichloroethylene and other toxics that are bad for our health,” said Williams.
The city maintains the development is good for the community, calling the project sustainable and innovative in their most recently press release.
Organizers say their goal is to stop construction altogether. They urged residents to become more involved in advocacy efforts to achieve this goal.
“Please get involved,” Mark said. “Come together, your governor, call your senators, demand regulations and get involved.”
Construction remains ongoing in Michigan City, with no publicly available site plan or official completion date. Residents say they will continue pushing for greater transparency and accountability from Google as the project moves forward.