Pokagon Band supports city of Dowagiac’s call for transparency on data center expansion

The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi is calling for more transparency from tech company Hyperscale Data Incorporated as it plans to open an AI data center in Dowagiac.

We reported this month that a subsidiary of the firm, Alliance Cloud Services, has reached an agreement to acquire nearly 49 acres of land to expand its existing data center campus, which is located in the city. It says once the deal closes, it will own about 83 total acres in the region, more than doubling its current footprint.

The news prompted Dowagiac Mayor Patrick Bakeman to issue an open letter to the company on April 1, requesting more information. Pokagon Tribal Chair Matthew Wesaw tells us he’ll second that.

“We don’t have a lot of thoughts on the project itself because of the lack of information,” Wesaw said. “This surfaced probably two months ago for us when the company put out just a brief statement that they were going to expand their data center operation. That by itself just created a lot of concern for our tribal citizens who live in the city of Dowagiac.”

And Wesaw says because the company remains tight lipped, the concern is only growing.

“The biggest drawback to these data centers is the company’s lack of information, purposeful lack of information to the communities, in my opinion. So I’m hearing things about how noise is terrible, it’s very loud, it’s a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week operation. But then one of our concerns is the water usage. Is it going to be a closed system, open system?”

The Pokagon Band says it provides significant infrastructure and community project funding to the city of Dowagiac through direct capital projects and grants through its Pokagon Fund.  These efforts include modernization of essential services such as water and sewer expansion, road and transit projects, housing development, and natural resource restoration.

Wesaw says the Pokagon Tribal Council applauds Mayor Bakeman and the city of Dowagiac for trying to obtain more information about the data center expansion. He adds at a recent meeting, tribal members expressed their concern, prompting him to speak out in support.

The Pokagons have about 6,500 tribal members in Southwest Michigan, more than 1,000 in Dowagiac.