Oracle and OpenAI Saline Township Data Center, in order
What happened with this project, oldest first: the stages it reached, what the county and its cities decided, and every dated step on the record. Each entry links its source.
2 events, August 20, 2026 to September 15, 2026. Also on the record, under the month each belongs to: 15 statements and 5 lines that are not events of their own. The facts, newest first: the record; the place: Michigan.
A plain date is the day it happened, as the source states it, or as the line's own sentence states it ("voted on July 6"), which is where the line sits even when it was filed later. "Reported" and a date is the day a source published a line that carries no date of its own. Those lines, and lines that describe rather than report an act, sit under their month rather than on the timeline, with what was said and the figures other sources gave. Every timeline on the site reads its lines by this one rule. How dates are read.
Stages
2026 2 events
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(source date; the content gives no date of its own)
reported
Related Digital purchased Rustic Glen Golf Club, an 18 hole public course in Saline Township [4]
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Also in August 2026: 6 statements and 4 lines that are not events of their own
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(source date; the content gives no date of its own)
Entry
Related Digital is building a $16 billion data center known as The Barn for Oracle and OpenAI in Saline Township [4]
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(said in the source itself)
Statement · Related Digital
Related Digital committed to keeping Rustic Glen Golf Club open to public play CBS News national outlet
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(source date; the content gives no date of its own)
Entry
Saline Township initially voted against rezoning farmland for The Barn; developers sued and township settled. [5]
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(source date; the content gives no date of its own)
Entry
The Barn is set to be completed in 2027. [5]
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(source date; the content gives no date of its own)
Entry
The Barn, OpenAI and Oracle's $7 billion hyperscale data center, will be built in Saline Township. [5]
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(said in the source itself)
Statement · Bridge Michigan reporting
Only one official, Elaine Ferris, will face a vote in November to remove her from office over data center votes. bridgemi.com local outlet
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(said in the source itself)
Statement · Chris Kobus, Oakland University engineering professor
Chris Kobus noted that Michigan has perfect conditions for data centers including power infrastructure, cooling infrastructure with water availability, and internet backbone CBS News national outlet
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(said in the source itself)
Statement · Chris Kobus, Oakland University engineering professor
Chris Kobus, engineering professor at Oakland University, said there has been an explosion of activism against data centers in Michigan this calendar year CBS News national outlet
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(said in the source itself)
Statement · Timothy, Saline Township resident
Timothy from Saline Township stated strong opposition to AI in all its forms and called data centers a waste of resources CBS News national outlet
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(said in the source itself)
Statement · Mike MacDonald, York Township resident
Mike MacDonald from York Township expressed concern about the massive use of rural land and unknown water and electricity draw from data centers CBS News national outlet
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(content date)
Decision · Ypsilanti (city)
Ypsilanti City Council reviewed proposed data center regulations on Sept. 15 covering noise, water, energy use and oversight; small data center limited to 20,000 square feet, 5 megawatts power, 20,000 gallons cooling water per day; open loop cooling prohibited. thesuntimesnews.com
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Also in September 2026: 9 statements and 1 line that is not an event of its own
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(source date; the content gives no date of its own)
Decision · Ypsilanti (city)
Ypsilanti City Council preliminarily passed a 60 day emergency data center moratorium, pending final vote. inthesetimes.com
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(said in the source itself)
Statement · Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan Governor
Gretchen Whitmer has championed the data center and likened Michigan's AI investments to propping up a new version of Michigan's auto industry Political Currents by Ross Barkan local outlet
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(said in the source itself)
Statement · John James, Michigan Congressman and Republican
John James, a congressman and Republican, supports a moratorium on the construction of new data centers in Michigan Political Currents by Ross Barkan local outlet
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(said in the source itself)
Statement · Jocelyn Benson, Michigan Secretary of State and Democratic nominee for governor
Jocelyn Benson, the Democratic nominee for governor and the most likely politician to replace her next year, now supports a moratorium on the construction of new data centers in Michigan Political Currents by Ross Barkan local outlet
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(said in the source itself)
Statement · Natalie Ravitz, Related Companies spokesperson
Related Companies says Friedrichs received zero commission from the Related Digital data center project and is no longer working on Michigan projects as of March 2026. The Oakland Press local outlet
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(said in the source itself)
Statement · Jocelyn Benson, Michigan gubernatorial candidate
Jocelyn Benson's husband, Ryan Friedrichs, earned $370,000 in 2025 as an employee of Related Companies, which is developing the Saline Township data center. The Oakland Press local outlet
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(said in the source itself)
Statement · Joi Harris, DTE Energy president and CEO
Joi Harris, DTE Energy president and CEO, said the plan would be $3.5 billion less expensive than the company's previous IRP from 2022 Michigan Public local outlet
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(said in the source itself)
Statement · Bryan Smigielski, Sierra Club of Michigan
Sierra Club of Michigan said Oracle, building a mega data center in Saline Township, is rated BBB minus, just above junk bonds Michigan Public local outlet
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(said in the source itself)
Statement · Bryan Smigielski, Sierra Club of Michigan
Bryan Smigielski, Sierra Club of Michigan, said the planned power plants will likely serve electricity requirements of data centers and called for transparent modeling of future energy needs with and without data centers Michigan Public local outlet
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(said in the source itself)
Statement · Bryan Smigielski, Sierra Club of Michigan
Sierra Club of Michigan asked Michigan Public Service Commission to require DTE to model future energy needs with no data centers and compare to future energy needs including data centers Michigan Public local outlet
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On the timeline: a stage change; an entry that reports an act on the day the source or its own sentence gives; and a decision, a published scorecard event on a row at or under the record's county, that reports an act. Under the months: a statement that names this record, a figure another source gave about it, matched by place and developer, an entry dated only by the day its source was published, and an entry or a decision that describes rather than reports an act. Each is on the record in its own right and keeps its own link.
For researchers
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- Status value
- rumored
- Events on the timeline
- 2
- Under the months
- 20
- Stage changes
- 1
- Decisions
- 2
- Statements
- 15
- Figures
- 0
- Entries and decisions under the months
- 5