Sources & Links

Everything on this site is built from public documents. This page collects them so you can read the originals rather than take our word for anything.

Where a link goes to the University’s own materials or to a government agency, we have not filtered or summarized it. Read it directly and form your own view.

The project

U-M × Los Alamos Research Computing Center FAQ — the University’s official project page, from the Office of the Vice President for Research. Covers capacity, water, backup power, jobs, and the town hall schedule. This is the primary source for most of the project’s public claims.
University Record: Textile Road selected as preferred site — the University’s August 2026 announcement, including its responses to the Township’s security and land use concerns.
Letter to the Ypsilanti Township community from Los Alamos National Laboratory — full text of the September 2026 letter from LANL Director Thom Mason, distributed in print at the September 9 town hall and published by The University Record on September 10. Addresses nuclear materials, weapons production, the “Tier 1 High Value Target Risk” characterization, security measures, and the economic case. Contains no figures for power, water, jobs, or cost.
Los Alamos National Laboratory — the federal laboratory that would occupy the larger of the two buildings. Operated for the National Nuclear Security Administration within the U.S. Department of Energy.

Local government

Ypsilanti Township: Data Center Information — the Township’s own archive, with its resolutions, correspondence, and a dated timeline. The best single source for what the Township has actually done. Start here if you want the local record.
Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority (YCUA) — the water and sewer authority governed jointly by Ypsilanti Township and the City of Ypsilanti. YCUA purchases water from the Great Lakes Water Authority and serves roughly 151,000 water customers. In April 2026 its board voted a twelve-month moratorium on service to data centers and AI computing facilities. Board meeting agendas and minutes are posted here.
City of Ypsilanti: YCUA board — the City appoints two members to the YCUA board. Useful if you want to know who decides on utility service.

The state record

Michigan Strategic Fund Board Packet, December 2024 (PDF) — the single most informative document about this project. Pages 52–65 contain the University’s $100 million grant application, an itemized $1.25 billion budget, the 100 MW / 10 MW capacity split between Los Alamos and the University, substation and water details, job projections, and the approving resolution. Much of what the public materials omit is here.
MSF board packet archive — all board packets. Grant recipients file annual progress reports that the MSF transmits to the Legislature.
MEDC commitment letter to the University of Michigan, October 27, 2023 (PDF) — from MEDC CEO Quentin L. Messer, Jr. to then-president Santa Ono, committing up to $400 million in state support through bonding and other programs for a Department of Energy supercomputing national laboratory led by Los Alamos, to be located on the campus of the American Center for Mobility. Conditioned on job creation, investment, federal re-investment, industry and state access to non-classified areas, and a minimum 25% match from the University. The earliest document we have seen on this project. Our analysis is here.
MEDC FOIA release, request 1068 (73 pages) — the signed Memorandum of Understanding between Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Regents of the University of Michigan, dated November 26, 2024; the University’s Strategic Site Readiness Program application materials; an economic impact analysis; and correspondence between U-M and MEDC staff. Contains the 100MW/10MW capacity split, the original state funding ask, operating cost estimates, and the stated reasons Michigan was selected. Published by MEDC in its public FOIA request archive.
MEDC FOIA request archive — browse or search all published MEDC records releases, and file your own request.
MEDC announcement of the grant — December 10, 2024.
Michigan Legislature — look up current data center legislation and find your own state representative and senator. Bill numbers change between sessions, so check status before citing anything.
Michigan Public Service Commission — regulates DTE. Substation cost allocation, large-load rates, and interconnection are decided here, and case filings and public comment opportunities are posted publicly. This process is not affected by the University’s zoning exemption.
Michigan EGLE — state environmental permitting: air permits for backup generators, stormwater, wetlands, and water withdrawal. Permit applications carry mandatory public comment periods, and these also apply regardless of local zoning.
Rep. Debbie Dingell, letter to Ypsilanti Township (PDF) — September 15, 2026, addressed to Supervisor Stumbo and the community, copied to U-M President Domenico Grasso. States her opposition to the Textile Road site; raises the EPA CERCLA record for the site; reports that her inquiries found no federal appropriation or binding federal commitment behind the $300 million attributed to Los Alamos; and sets out proposed federal and state standards for data center development. Our summary is here.
HB 6264 — Data Center Energy Standards Act — would require data centers to procure clean or renewable energy equal to 100% of annual use by January 1, 2040, enforced by the Attorney General. Introduced by members of the Washtenaw delegation. Our analysis of the text, including the additionality gap and the 2040 deadline, is on that page.

Primary documents, 2023–2025

Records obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, covering the period from March 2023 — earlier than anything the project has published — through December 2025. These are the agreements, board materials and modelling behind the decisions.

Agreements

NDA RSNDA-23-0076 (March 2023) — the earliest document in the record. States the purpose as discussions relating to a high performance computing facility and office building in support of the Advanced Simulation & Computing Program and Weapons Physics Directorate. Lists electrical power transmission, facility cooling technology capacity and supercomputer power forecasts as subjects of agreed exchange. A restricted, by-name agreement whose existence was itself to be protected.
First Amendment, NDA-23-0173 (July 2023) — adds SmithGroup, Inc. and The American Center for Mobility. Describes SmithGroup’s conceptual design package covering architecture, mechanical, electrical, structural, civil, fire protection, IT, DOE security risk assessment and cost estimating.
U-M / Willow Run Arsenal of Democracy Landholdings NDA (May 2024) — confidentiality agreement concerning Project L and “a potential real estate transaction.”
MEDC confidentiality agreement (May 2024) — the University signs MEDC’s standard business confidentiality form. Exhibit A designates as FOIA-exempt, among other things, “utility, water, wastewater, and gas usage needs and projected rates” and “environmental studies.” A negotiated paragraph preserves the University’s own FOIA obligations.
Memorandum of Understanding #204 (November 2024) — the full signed MOU between Los Alamos and the Regents. Commits to “mutual support of UM’s Innovation Campus in Ann Arbor” and a computing centre “near UM’s Ann Arbor campus.” States that, subject to NNSA funds, approximately 200 LANL jobs will be created at UM over ten years. Names quarterly collaboration managers and annual reviews. Obligates no funds.
NDA termination and transition letter (2025) — records that the American Center for Mobility is no longer collaborating and has returned or destroyed the information it held. Moves remaining obligations into MOU #204.
Nexus Gas Transmission confidentiality agreement (December 2025) — confirms a high pressure natural gas pipeline on the property, and that the University entered discussions to “evaluate construction conditions” three months before closing on the land.

“Project L” — state board materials

The project was handled under the codename Project L until shortly before the public vote.

Project L briefing memo, October 2024 — requests $135 million and projects over 800 direct permanent jobs over ten years. Itemises the $400 million state package: $135M SSRP, $135M state bonding requiring legislation, $30M capital outlay, $100M budget office ask.
Project L draft term sheet, October 2024 — would have required a fully executed lease of no fewer than ten years for the National Lab Building. The executed version requires only “a multi-year term.”
Fiscal impact estimates, November 8, 2024 — the modelling behind the economic claims. States the industry modelled as NAICS 541511, Custom Computer Programming Services, producing a job multiplier of 3.25 and 650 average total jobs. Net return to the state of 0.25 over twenty years. No local revenue line.
Circulation email, October 16, 2024 — shows the October materials were briefed to subcommittees before reaching the full board.
December 2024 board packet (full, 136 pages) · agenda · transmittal email · budget summary — the materials as they went to the board four days before the vote. In this compilation the University’s memo appears at pages 43–44.
Ann Arbor SPARK letter of support, December 2024 — the documented basis for the “local support” criterion. Signed by Paul Krutko, who writes that SPARK “was proud to provide key assistance in the site selection process.” The board list on the letterhead includes a University of Michigan officer as chair, U-M’s vice president for government relations, and Ypsilanti Township’s supervisor. No letter from Ypsilanti Township appears in the packet.

MEDC records releases

Responses to Freedom of Information Act requests made to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, released April 2026.

Release R000125 — the most useful of the set. Contains MSF Resolution 2024-176 and the executed term sheet; the State Budget Office legislative transfer letter moving $100 million into the program on the morning of the vote; and a July 2025 email in which State Senator Jeff Irwin, asked by Ypsilanti Township to obtain the project documents, is forwarded to MEDC communications staff with the note “let’s discuss our approach.”
Release R000127 — largely overlapping, produced by a different MEDC custodian. Adds the internal email circulating the transfer letter on December 10, 2024.
Release R000129 — the recusal letter from Dr. Britany Affolter-Caine, who stepped back from the vote and the discussion because her organization includes the University.
Release R000131 · Release R000132

Research and analysis

Michigan local government leaders’ views on large-scale data center development (PDF) — Michigan Public Policy Survey, Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy, Ford School of Public Policy, September 2026. Statewide survey of officials in 1,328 jurisdictions, conducted March–June 2026. Fresh water is the leading concern (60% expect negative impact, 5% expect none); 57% expect harm to ratepayer utility bills; 55% say their residents would strongly oppose a local data center against 2% who would support; 60% oppose the State taking planning and zoning decisions; 51% expect positive impact on construction jobs but only 24% on long-term local jobs. Our summary is here.
“What Happens When Data Centers Come to Town?” (PDF) — July 2025 policy brief by Terry Nguyen and Ben Green, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy, with the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition. Covers utility rate impacts, tax revenue, employment, and cooling trade-offs, and recommends policies including energy audits, renewable additionality, public reporting, and protection against ratepayer cost-shifting. Note: the brief contains a unit error in its energy figures, confusing megawatts with megawatt-hours. Rely on its policy analysis rather than those numbers.
2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report (PDF) — Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy. The authoritative source for national data center electricity consumption. A 2025 update projects consumption through 2030.
Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2025 (PDF) — survey of more than 800 operators. Industry data on power usage effectiveness, rack densities, water metric reporting, and outage causes.
Brookings Institution: New evidence on data center employment effects — independent analysis of what data centers actually do to local employment.
Hamm Institute for American Energy: Data Center Employment Forecast Analysis (PDF) — November 2025. Staffing ratios per megawatt for both construction and operations.
U.S. Energy Information Administration: household electricity use — the baseline for any “equivalent to X homes” comparison, including ours.

Backup generators and emissions

EPA: Understanding the Stationary Engines Rules — how emergency generators are regulated, including the annual hour allowance for readiness testing.
40 CFR Part 63, Subpart ZZZZ — the federal rule text itself.
Cummins on alternative fuel emissions and Caterpillar on renewable liquid fuels — the engine manufacturers’ own data on hydrotreated vegetable oil, including the distinction between lifecycle carbon reduction and local pollutants such as NOx.

Environmental records

Rep. Dingell’s September 2026 letter identifies an EPA record under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act for the Textile Road Site. According to the letter, cleanup work was completed and the site is now in an oversight and management phase. These are the databases where the current status can be checked.

EPA ECHO detailed facility report — the federal enforcement and compliance record referenced in Rep. Dingell’s letter. The letter cites EPA ID MID980825558 for the Textile Road Site, noting its proximity to the former General Motors Willow Run plant.
EGLE RIDE Mapper — Michigan’s map of contaminated and regulated sites, including Superfund sites, properties regulated under Parts 201 and 213, and land or resource use restrictions. Searchable by address.
Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments — not publicly available. The University told the Michigan Strategic Fund in December 2024 that a Phase I had identified recognized environmental conditions at the site and that a Phase II was therefore planned. Neither report has been released. We have requested them.

Congressional correspondence

Rep. Debbie Dingell to President Grasso, September 16, 2026 (PDF) — sixteen questions about the LANL agreement, its legal status, and the $300 million attributed to Los Alamos.
President Grasso’s reply, October 8, 2026 (PDF) — the University’s answers. Confirms “LANL has made no commitment of funds,” that the facility is not in the NNSA’s out-year budget profile, that federal funding requires the building to be substantially complete first, and that U-M carries any cost overruns. My analysis is here.
Rep. Dingell to Ypsilanti Township, September 15, 2026 (PDF) — opposing the Textile Road site. My summary.

Town hall recordings

The University has held two community town halls in Ypsilanti Township, both recorded and public. The same panel appeared at each.

September 9, 2026 — nearly three hours, at the Marriott at Eagle Crest. Includes the confirmation of the roughly 90/10 capacity split, the answer on whether jobs would go to township residents, and the exchange on the gas pipeline. My account, with every quotation linked to its timestamp, is here.
October 1, 2026 — the second community town hall. A write-up is in progress.

News coverage

WDET 101.9 FM — on the Township’s 180-day moratorium on major electrical infrastructure, the October 2024 and June 2025 land purchases, and July 2025 as the point at which officials say they learned the full scope of the project.
Planet Detroit — coverage of the September 9 town hall, including U-M’s acknowledgement of anger and distrust in the community.
Planet Detroit — on the land purchase and how the Township was notified.
The Michigan Daily — on the closing of the Textile Road purchase.
The Eastern Echo — on the Township’s resolutions opposing the project.

Links verified August 28, 2026. If one has broken or a document has moved, tell us and we will fix it. If you know of a public document about this project that belongs on this page, send it along — including one that cuts against our position.