Data Center Explored for Kalkaska

A Traverse City company is spearheading an effort to bring a multi-billion-dollar data center to Kalkaska. Geologist Matt Rine of Rocklocker will hold three community forums this week on the proposal, which aims to put a gigawatt-sized campus with its own power plant and carbon capture and storage system on 1,440 acres of state land. While Kalkaska officials are supportive – saying it could bring tens of millions in tax revenue and hundreds of jobs to the rural community – opponents cite a wide range of concerns over environmental and local impacts.

Rine will give presentations tonight (Monday) at 5:30pm at the Garfield Township Branch Library in Fife Lake and Thursday at 5:30pm at the Coldsprings Township Branch Library in Mancelona. He will also present Wednesday at 12:15pm at the Kalkaska County Commission on Aging. Rine has been working to marshal community support to bring a hyperscale data center – one potentially quadruple the size of a planned controversial facility in Saline Township – to Kalkaska County. Rine is serving as project developer, aiming to get Kalkaska on board before approaching companies to partner on the buildout.

Driven by rising demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence, companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into such data centers. Rine’s company, Rocklocker – a subsidiary of oil and gas company Reefworks – offers solutions to capture carbon emissions from data centers and other ventures. He sees an opportunity to build a “flagship” project in Kalkaska that has its own natural gas power plant and uses carbon capture and storage to achieve net-zero emissions. An air-cooled design – enhanced by northern Michigan’s cool climate – plus a closed-loop geothermal system could minimize water usage, Rine says.

“There is an opportunity right now to design the project how Kalkaska wants it, then go to the data center and power plant developers and outline our stipulations,” he says.

A combination of open land, gas storage, high-power electric lines, and geology made Kalkaska a “bullseye” on the map when Rine started scouting locations in Michigan. The project needs a lot of land – at least 1,000 acres – to be big enough to lure a tech firm “all the way to northern Michigan” away from existing hubs, he says. Rocklocker identified 1,440 acres of Department of Natural Resources (DNR) land near Island Lake and South River roads that could be suitable for development (pictured, map). The site has no wetlands or houses and is primarily covered with shrubland and upland conifer, Rine says.

Rine contacted the DNR this spring about buying the property. In a May 6 response, the DNR cautioned that the state rarely approves sales for economic development, noting they’re not “routinely undertaken due to their large size, increased complexity, and the need for a robust public input process.” The DNR requested a list of private lands that could be developed instead, information on public engagement efforts, and environmental studies for the project area.

In a July follow-up, the DNR wrote Rine it hadn’t received any of the requested documents. “Further, we have heard strong opposition from conservation stakeholders to any conversion of state-managed public lands for this use and to date have received no letters of support from legislators for this proposed use of state-managed public lands,” the letter states. “Given the lack of response and the fact that your proposal does not align with the DNR's usual mission and practices, we are informing you that we are denying the request and consider the matter closed.”

Rine believes the DNR – fearful of backlash like occurred near Gaylord over a proposed solar plant on state land – has a “clear directive” not to support such projects without community or legislative support. Therefore, he’s focusing on generating community support first, which in turn can bring legislators and then the DNR on board, he says.

Rine points to the strong backing of Kalkaska officials as a crucial first step. A new project website launched this weekend links to letters of support from the Kalkaska County commission, Kalkaska Township board, Kalkaska Village DDA, Kalkaska EDC board, Kalkaska County Sheriff’s Office, Kalkaska Township Fire Department, NorthStar Clean Energy, and Kalkaska Memorial Health Center. “The proposed data center project presents a rare opportunity for Kalkaska County to expand its tax base, create quality jobs, and fund long-overdue improvements in our community,” Kalkaska Township Supervisor John Arnold says on the site.

Rine estimates the Kalkaska campus could generate over $40 million annually in tax revenues – a fantastic sum for the rural community. Critics have questioned how real the job and revenue promises are from data centers, particularly when states (including Michigan) and communities offer generous tax rebates – something any tech firm coming to Kalkaska would likely require. Rine says he’s calculated revenues conservatively accounting for such incentives. Whether Kalkaska is prepared for such a large-scale project – whether it has the housing to support hundreds of new jobs if realized, for example – is another question. Rine acknowledges there’s a deeper philosophical issue for the community to consider on whether it wants such a transformation. “It would be a different Kalkaska in 10 years, that’s for sure,” he says.

Some residents are already weighing in, launching a “Say No to the Data Center” website and a Change.org petition opposing the project. Such opposition is not isolated: A new study shows “at least 16 data center projects, worth a combined $64 billion, have been blocked or delayed as local opposition mounts to the developments” across the U.S., according to The Hill. Environmental concerns are front and center, from intensive energy and water usage to noise pollution to carbon emissions. While Rine wants to design the Kalkaska project with net-zero or even net-positive impacts, Heather Smith of The Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay cautions that data centers can have “substantial community impacts.”

“First, we know that some data centers withdraw large amounts of groundwater for data center cooling needs that may stress aquifers,” she says. “And secondly, we know these are large industrial complexes that often result in the conversion of hundreds of acres of agricultural or forested land to impervious surfaces…this reduces greenspace, leads to tree canopy loss and habitat fragmentation, and generates large quantities of stormwater. These are two aspects of data centers that we are carefully examining.”

Rine says as a Traverse City resident, he’s also sensitive to environmental concerns. “I don’t want (the companies involved) being wasteful and drawing out of the aquifer,” he says. Even if a path was cleared with necessary support and approvals, the geologist acknowledges that building a data center campus would be a years-long process. “I’d say five years at a minimum before you’re even operating, but realistically seven to eight years,” he says.