Keweenaw communities fight back as wealthy billionaires threaten their futures

Lexi Tater, founder of Keweenaw Against the Oligarchy (KATO), explains how she and her classmates at Michigan Technological University are working to empower rural communities in the Upper Peninsula as plans for data center development threaten their futures.

Dozens of people gathered at the Orpheum Theater in Houghton on Jan. 18, but they weren’t there to see a show on the historic vaudeville stage. 

Instead, they met with over 200 other Yoopers and organizers from across Michigan to discuss their concerns regarding the increasing number of data centers and crypto mining operations being built statewide, with potentially more on the way later this year. 

Watch: Big Tech found Michigan. Michiganders aren’t thrilled. 

In addition to connecting with their neighbors, attendees were given tools to engage local and state decision-makers about how this expanding infrastructure to power the country’s AI boom will impact their communities—from rising utility bills to drying up our Great Lakes. 

Organizers of the event, like Keweenaw Against the Oligarchy (KATO), believe that this type of community building is one of the best ways Michiganders can make their voices heard. It’s the kind of event Lexi Tater always envisioned organizing when she moved to the Upper Peninsula to attend Michigan Technological University in 2021, just months before OpenAI released an early demo of ChatGPT, opening the floodgates of rapid data center investment and expansion across the country. 

“Big corporations should not impose their issues onto communities that do not have the resources to fight back,” said Tater. In March 2025, she founded KATO as an outlet to help her and her classmates use their voices to amplify concerns about more billionaires finding ways to disrupt their lives. 

The group’s very first event, a peaceful protest in March 2025, brought nearly 150 community members to downtown Houghton. The event’s success left Tater wanting to create something that would last long after she and her classmates graduated, especially as President Donald Trump and his administration continue to rub elbows with Big Tech company leaders like Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, and Jensen Huang. 

Tater later connected with Audrey Gerard, an organizer with Michigan United, and the duo worked together to establish KATO as a community organization that empowers everyday people in rural communities across the Keweenaw Peninsula to fight for justice by organizing and educating others about ways they can challenge the wealthy elite. 

“Decisions should always be made at a local level. When big corporations drown out the voices of the people, that is where small communities like ours should draw the line and fight back,” said Gerard, noting that this has been a winning strategy for communities across Michigan. 

Over the last year, KATO has collaborated with over a dozen grassroots organizations to host multiple community listening sessions, educational webinars, and other events across the Upper Peninsula, to amplify issues that their community members care about—from the lasting environmental impact of data center development on Michigan communities and threats that AI will push college graduates out of entry-level jobs during one of the toughest job markets for recent grads in over a decade.

“The UP is always left out of policy conversations. [KATO] has become a place where people of all ages are coming, sharing ideas, and feeling heard,” Tater said, adding that KATO will continue to work with other community orgs to host weekly online community listening sessions in the Western UP throughout the year.

“It’s hard to fight a fight without a government that wants to fight for their people, but I’m hopeful that people will see the bigger picture and that we can all come together and continue this work.”

Related: Upper Peninsula communities join forces to push back against Big Tech