AG Nessel Files Appeal of MPSC Approval of DTE’s Saline Data Center Contracts

LANSING – Today, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a claim of appeal in the Michigan Court of Appeals challenging the Michigan Public Service Commission’s “conditional approval” of two special contracts to service a 1.4 gigawatt hyperscale AI data center in Washtenaw County. The Commission approved those contracts on December 18^th, 2025, denying the Attorney General’s request to hold a contested case over the contracts, relying on a critically flawed interpretation of a narrow exemption afforded under MCL 460.6a(3). The Attorney General’s appeal will seek to invalidate the Commission’s unlawful ex parte approval of these contracts between DTE and Green Chile Ventures, LLC and remand the matter back before the Commission for the commencement of a contested case hearing.

“I’ve sought a contested case review of these data center contracts since they were first filed in October, and the law requires one,” said Attorney General Nessel. “The Commission ignored our request. My office petitioned for rehearing, specifically challenging their application of ex parte process, and the Commission again ignored our plea. So now our only choice, to protect the state and utility customers from the worst hazards and liabilities these contracts pose, is to challenge the Commission’s unlawful approval of these secret data center contracts in the courts.

“It is our hope that the Michigan Court of Appeals will agree, and that the Commission’s ex parte approval of these contracts will be voided by the Court.”

MCL 460.6a(3) authorizes the Commission to approve, without hearing, only an “alteration or amendment in rates or rate schedules applied for by a public utility that will not result in an increase in the cost of service to its customers[...].” DTE has plainly stated that the application is not an alteration or amendment to rates or rate schedules (PDF), as is required for this narrow exemption. Further, it has never been publicly verified that these contracts will not entail an increase in the cost of service to ratepayers.

“This appeal is not just about this case, but every future data center case that comes before the Commission,” added Nessel. “Our utility companies are preparing to bring aboard massive new data centers in the years to come. On these first, precedential contracts, we must have clarity from the Court, and hold the MPSC accountable to the law.”

Last month, the Commission unanimously rejected Attorney General Nessel’s critical efforts to examine the massive energy contracts between DTE and Green Chile Ventures, LLC, denying the Attorney General’s motion to reopen (PDF) and her separate petition for rehearing (PDF) in case U-21990, wherein the Commission conducted a secret review of the heavily-redacted contracts with significant consequences for Michigan utility customers.

The Commission additionally denied, in March, the Attorney General’s request for a contested case proceeding to review six heavily redacted contracts proposed by DTE for three battery storage facilities throughout the state meant to support the data center project.

The MPSC has repeatedly denied every request from the Attorney General to hold a contested case hearing, which would allow her office and other consumer and environmental advocacy organizations to:

• Review the still heavily redacted special contracts,
• Verify DTE’s unproven claims that servicing this customer will not cause an increase in electric rates for its existing customers, and
• Verify adequate ratepayer protections such as collateral and exit fee terms to protect DTE and its customers if the data center fails to purchase the full projected amount of electricity, leaves the state before the full length of the contracts runs, or goes bankrupt.

Claims of appeal filed by the Attorney General today can be viewed here (PDF) and here (PDF).

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