As construction on a Michigan City data center is underway, area residents are continuing to do what they can to try to stop the development.
“We refuse to accept that it’s a done deal,” said Ashley Williams, Michigan City resident and executive director of Just Transition Northwest Indiana. “It is absolutely not. (The data center) is not operational as of yet. Until it is, and even when it is, we will continue to push back.”
Williams sent a letter to Indiana Department of Environmental Management and Michigan City officials, urging them to halt construction and related soil disturbance at the Project Maize data center site at 402 Royal Road. The letter was sent on behalf of other organizations, including the Citizens Action Coalition, Hoosier Environmental Center and NAACP Michigan City Branch 3061-B.
Michigan City residents have also filed a zoning complaint to attempt to halt construction. Residents also allege that Michigan City officials are refusing to allow them to view data center site plans, citing a statute in Indiana Code that would allow municipalities to deny access if there’s a threat to public safety.
Michigan City Mayor Angie Nelson-Deuitch’s administration was unable to immediately comment on the claims.
IDEM responded to residents’ concerns in a Friday statement.
“IDEM is currently evaluating soil sample results from the Project Maize site,” a department spokesman said in an email statement. “Related documents, including correspondence, are publicly available via IDEM’s Virtual File Cabinet.”
The Michigan City Common Council, in September, passed four resolutions that would allow the construction of a more than $800 million data center at 402 Royal Road, according to Post-Tribune archives. The resolutions provided multiple tax abatements, designated the area as an economic revitalization area and approved a taxpayer agreement for Project Maize.
Kelley Smith, administrator for the Michigan City Mayor’s Office, previously told the Post-Tribune that Project Maize is a private project and the city isn’t involved with the construction.
The data center end user has yet to be formally announced, but residents suspect it to be Google. Documents list the operator as Lavender Fields Holdings LLC, and according to Indiana Economic Development Corporation sales tax exemption documents, Google is listed as an affiliate.
In her letter, Williams requested that construction be halted until all moved soil is fully characterized, all contamination above state criteria has been properly managed, and the public can be assured that workers and the community are protected.
The site is a former Federal-Mogul facility, Williams said in her letter, “which has decades of contamination from trichloroethylene (TCE) and other contaminants.”
“We knew that this was always going to be a recipe for environmental disaster,” Williams said. “(TCE) sort of gained notoriety through (Marine Corps Base) Camp Lejeune and the poisoning of communities there and military families. This is the same chemical we are dealing with on that property.”
Recent samples show that the site’s soil tested at levels exceeding safety criteria for arsenic and TCE, Williams said.
Williams is also concerned that IDEM recently issued an air permit to the Project Maize site. IDEM approved the permit on March 19, and those opposed can challenge the decision, according to a letter sent from the department.
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The permit allows for 66 diesel-fired critical emergency generators “that would have no control device to limit emissions and would exhaust outdoors,” according to the Environmental Law and Policy Center. It would have “insignificant activities,” which include two diesel-fired site entrance emergency generators, two diesel-fired fire pump emergency generators, and 70 belly tanks with “a maximum storage capacity of 5,373 gallons to store fuel with no control devices.”
At a December public hearing, more than 30 speakers expressed their concerns for the air permit and the environmental impact that the Project Maize data center will have on their homes, school and city. Williams and other residents feel like IDEM ignored their concerns when approving the permit.
“We are extremely discouraged,” Williams said. “There has been mass outcry about this project. … This is not simply a few diesel generators or a cluster of them. They are not sanctioning just a small facility, so it feels like a slap in the face.”
On Wednesday, Williams told the Post-Tribune that she had yet to hear back from Michigan City or IDEM officials after sending the letter asking to halt construction. Williams isn’t surprised that she hadn’t heard back, she said, especially because the project was approved after city officials signed nondisclosure agreements to discuss Project Maize before it was publicly discussed and approved.
“It’s extremely unfortunate, but I am not surprised that they are continuing to do this,” Williams said. “We’re not going to back down. They don’t get to pull this with us anymore. They have a responsibility, and they have a duty to the people of Michigan City, and we’ve been saying this all along.”
Dominic Yanke, a Michigan City resident and member of Just Transition Northwest Indiana, helped file a zoning complaint about the data center. The nine-page complaint asks for construction to be halted, alleging the developer never went to the Michigan City Board of Zoning Appeals.
The complaint argues that without special exception, the project should “consist solely of indoor storage and not operate as a massive (artificial intelligence) company using storage within M1” zoning. The complaint also alleges that the project is violating ordinances setting limits on lighting and noise levels, and an ordinance that prohibits storage of combustible materials, including diesel generators.
“It makes me feel like I don’t have a voice or representation,” said Yanke, who lives about three-quarters of a mile away from Project Maize. “It’s been quite a nuisance trying to stay up to date because there hasn’t been transparency. Even just the truck traffic and fugitive dust they’ve had, and the concerns for all the pollutants, there hasn’t been anything done about it.”
Eileen Mark, another Michigan City resident, also said she’s frustrated with the developments at Project Maize.
“It feels like the state has set everyone — the community members and taxpaying citizens — up for failure,” Mark said. “It feels like we are just here to endure inappropriate projects in our community, like Project Maize, which is M1 zoning when it’s clearly not.”
M1 zoning applies to light industrial developments, according to the La Porte County website.
Mark is also frustrated that the data center will be near a school, a golf course and other areas where residents go to be outside.
“They’re going to inhale fumes from diesel generators,” she said. “We have no assurances as to when they’ll be used, how often (they’ll be used), and how often they’ll be tested. … This is nestled in the middle of a residential area.”
Mark and other Michigan City residents have been concerned about workplace safety at Project Maize. Multiple injuries have happened at the site, including an Oct. 9 incident where a worker fell from a roof and struck his head.
Police body camera footage obtained by the Post-Tribune shows the man fall and a group of workers who later come to his aid and carry him off. When officers arrived at the worksite, before viewing the security video, a worker told them that the man who fell had left the site. It is alleged that fellow workers took him to an unnamed hospital, according to Post-Tribune archives.
A representative for site developer Phoenix Construction responded to the workplace safety concerns in a previous email to the Post-Tribune.
“Phoenix Construction works with both union and non-union subcontractors based on project needs, and all workers on site are required to meet the same safety, training, and compliance standards,” the statement said. “Phoenix Construction remains committed to maintaining a safe and compliant worksite and will continue to cooperate with regulatory authorities.”
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Mark said it’s infuriating that she and other residents have to monitor the situation at Project Maize.
“It’s stressful to live in Michigan City,” she added. “It’s just reflective of the country as a whole right now.”