Datacenters Done Right – The Story of the Benton Charter Township Datacenter Ordinance

Robert Hipple, CAFE Board of Directors & Regina Hipple

Benton Charter Township is well known as a peaceful, rural community in the southwest corner of Eaton County, Michigan. Home to 5,400 residents, it contains the quaint sleeper community of the City of Potterville, the beautiful Fox Park pond and trails, countless acres of rolling farmland and is next-door neighbors with the City of Charlotte. Up the road a ways lies the bustling Megalopolis of Lansing, Okemos and East Lansing. Our township is quiet and serene, and that is precisely its charm - that is why we choose to live here.

June 2026: Dates & Links

Dates to keep in mind:

May 9: World Migratory Bird Day (Lansing): https://tinyurl.com/22rcydt7
May 13: Sierra Club Michigan Lobby Day 2026 (Lansing): https://tinyurl.com/33y8ht2n
May 14: Michigan Energy Summit 2026 (Lansing): https://michiganbattleofthebuildings.org/mes/
May 15-18: Great Lakes Small Modular Nuclear Reactor Summit (SW Michigan): https://www.dontwastemichigan.org/SMNR/SMNR-Summit-Flier-April-22.pdf
June 2: Health Professional Advocacy Day on Clean Energy Solutions (Lansing): https://tinyurl.com/39sjzp2d
June 12: Michigan Climate Summit (East Lansing): https://tinyurl.com/5843xysn
June 28: 2026 Conservation Carnival (Lansing): https://tinyurl.com/58h5yjhe

Links to organizations and information resources:

Data Centers Are Hogging This Town’s Water: https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/data-centers-are-hogging-town-s-water?id=701Po00001k7v3TIAQ
Citizens Climate Lobby: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/chapters/MI_Lansing/
No data center in Lansing after Deep Green withdraws plans: https://tinyurl.com/4982kkpw
AI bubble: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_bubble
Distributed Energy Can Unleash the Resilient, Affordable Grid of the Future: https://tinyurl.com/mrzsx64b
Trump’s attempt to crush clean energy progress not going to plan, experts say: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/28/trump-clean-energy-progress
State of the Climate: https://tinyurl.com/3ptah8c5
Last year was hot. Next year will be even hotter: https://tinyurl.com/mr3wr8n3
Santa Marta: Ministers grapple with practicalities of fossil fuel phase-out: https://tinyurl.com/34jye6p6
Santa Marta: Key outcomes from first summit on ‘transitioning away’ from fossil fuels https://tinyurl.com/3e5f69db