Kalkaska AI Data Center

Residents of the remote, northern community of Kalkaska brought the fight swift and hard, when announcements emerged in October 2025 that carbon capture startup Rocklocker wanted to build a nearly 1,500 acre AI data center–on primarily state land, no less.

Two days after a very rowdy public meeting between developer representative Matt Rine and local community members on November 18th, Rocklocker announced that they were ending their “pursuit of a data center” in Kalkaska.

Furthermore, DNR officials have unequivocally stated that the “door is shut” to allowing an AI data center to be built on public land.

Although these are tremendous wins, it’s unlikely that Kalkaska has seen the last of potential AI data center developers.

And Rocklocker will now be looking for a new site in Michigan for its 1,500 acre data center.