Tulsa City Council is poised to discuss a 365-day moratorium Wednesday on the construction of incoming hyperscale data centers.
District 4 Councilor Laura Bellis drafted the proposal. She has positioned herself as an outspoken critic of the facilities being considered in Tulsa. The push for a moratorium comes in the midst of an ongoing debate over Project Anthem, a proposed data center in east Tulsa.
Bellis told the Flyer the moratorium is a way for Tulsans to take control of the conversations as companies rush to build new artificial intelligence infrastructure in the area.
“The moratorium allows time for us to be proactive and mindful about the nuances in size relative to impact of data centers,” Bellis said in a statement. “And it coincides with an impact study Cherokee Nation is conducting so it also allows us to learn from that work and have it inform our decisions as well.”
The goal, she said, is to ensure Tulsa is “reducing harm and maximizing benefit from engaging with this side of the AI industry.”
Getting on the same page
Last month, Bellis spearheaded the effort to define hyperscale data centers in zoning codes and outlining where the facilities can be erected within city limits. She described the data center industry as a “runaway train” during a committee meeting.
Other council members have different perspectives. Following a meeting last month where Project Anthem was discussed, District 6 Councilor Christian Bengel told the Flyer the city needs to clearly define what the centers are and what measures are needed when they transition into their construction phases.
“I don’t want to latch on to something that seems to be on the top of everyone’s mind right now,” said Bengel, who represents the east Tulsa area where Project Anthem would be built. “We really need to make sure we have the right people at the table to bring everything in consideration and not just rush to the table and make a change, just for the sake of making a change.”
Tulsans are gearing up to make their viewpoints heard when the council opens discussion about the proposed moratorium Wednesday night.
Cheyenna Morgan, a Tulsa resident and former council candidate who favors the moratorium, expressed concerns during a previous public meeting. They emailed all nine councilors calling for a moratorium when the $1 billion Project Clydesdale data center was proposed on the outskirts of Owasso.
Morgan is preparing to offer comments during Wednesday’s discussion.
“I would hope that it actually pushes them to look at and pass the moratorium for Tulsa city,” Morgan told the Flyer. “These data center developers are coming very rapidly, very quickly, and there is nothing to say that once these data centers are established and have the ability to be built in city limits or outside city limits, that they won’t request an expansion.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story said councilors would vote on the proposed moratorium Wednesday; however, this is the first reading. A vote could be scheduled for later.
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