Tulsa County Data Center Opposed

Citizens rallied with strong opposition Monday to a proposed data center on 506 acres of undeveloped land in Tulsa County just north of the Cherokee Industrial Park and directly west of significant well established residential neighborhoods. The power-elite were also in attendance at the Tulsa County Board of Commissioners meeting.

County Commissioners tabled the vote on the zoning change from agricultural to light industrial until a special meeting Wednesday, July 16 in apparent response to public outcry.

Representing developer Beale Infrastructure, Attorney Lou Reynolds, Eller & Detrich, is known for representing despised development and is often successful as an agent. He announced, at the meeting, the project would likely be owned, after completion, by Google, Microsoft, Amazon or Meta.

Reynolds online, claims demonstrated community leadership as trustee of the Tulsa Metropolitan Utility Authority, the Tulsa Utility Board, the Regional Metropolitan Utility Authority and the Tulsa Authority for the Recovery of Energy, and as chairman of the Tulsa Chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks.

In the photo below, Reynolds is seen taking notes seated between Rich Brierre, Executive Director, Indian Nations Council of Governments (INCOG) on his right and Kim Wilmes, Senior Vice President of Economic Development for the Tulsa Regional Chamber on his left.

The Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission, staffed by INCOG, voted 10-0 in June to recommend approval of the zoning change. County Commissioner Stan Sallee is currently the Chair of the INCOG Board of Directors, a former Collinsville Mayor and residential developer in the North Tulsa County area.

Wilmes expressed Chamber support for the project, saying, “We continue to be supportive of industrial projects, and this one, specifically, as it'll create up to 200 jobs in the tech sector, paying higher-than-average wages.”

Citizens questioned that employment number, suggesting Wilmes included temporary construction workers. Typically, a data center may employ a few dozen or more depending on the scale of operations and service provided. No details on the scale or service has been publicly revealed for this proposed facility.

Kennedy LaPlante, director of youth outreach for OKGOP, a Sperry resident living one mile from this development, said that more than 330 people in the last 24 hours had signed an online petition in opposition to the project and people were outraged over the plan.

To reach the petition, click on the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd4RubnA8tV9ijZ3rwzQ2zKFkDtDCBOxze37wMCjV4mpciulg/viewform?pli=1

Citizen speakers repeatedly said they had not received notice of the development. Reynolds told the County Commissioners that a communications company had been hired to contact neighbors. After the meeting, Reynolds identified the company as Propeller Consulting, but when contacted the president of the company said, “I’m not an authorized spokesperson for this project.”

LaPlante said, “The Commissioners kept looking to the attorney to answer questions as if they didn’t know anything about the project. We believe it will be an environmental hazard and negatively impact generations to come. Until we see credible environmental experts report on the risks, we must insist this project be halted.”

Area neighbor Sabrina Ingram said she wanted time to gather expert testimony from those on the "other side" of the issue to address long-term energy, health, and public safety impacts.

Sabrina Ingram and her children paid close attention

The little Ingram took a phone photo of project art

Neighbor Randall Barnett said, “I think Commissioner Kelly Dunkerley did very well for the people and took to heart what we had to say. I wish the other commissioners had tabled the issue longer, as he requested, to do their own due diligence.

“The presentation was very one sided and the actual demand for cooling water in hot Oklahoma Summers for industrial use may outstrip our resources. This is my view from reading published work by Navy Nuclear Technician Mark Trump on the east coast who has worked on modular reactors which this project may eventually require,” Barnett added.

Significant concerns were voiced about the data center’s water demand, with claims from Rural Water District 3 minutes indicating 7.5 million gallons/day requested, while the sewer system was cited as only able to handle 2 million gallons/day.

Worries centered on water contamination from cooling processes, as chemicals used make the water no longer usable and current knowledge lacks the means to properly clean for reuse (e.g., for drinking, agriculture, livestock, or personal gardening).

Randall Barnett questions development

Residents expressed concerns about potential negative impacts on agriculture, livestock (dairy cows, beef cows, chickens), ranch lands, hay production, and local food production.

Reference was made to existing issues in Muskogee, Oklahoma, where a similar data center is reportedly dealing with leaking contaminants.

FOX 23 has posted the full 48-page application on the new data center for the zoning change, click here for that report. KOTV’s much shorter story may be found by clicking here.

As many have discussed statewide, major money is often made by planning and zoning committees for various causes, some good for the people and some good for some people. It is past time that those conversations be held in public and on platforms like FOX 23 and KOTV Channel 6 in Tulsa. Both covered both sides. The print propaganda outlet, of course, was… typically convoluted.

What are Oklahomans willing to pay for promised “economic development?” Shall we talk about electric vehicles, Kaiser’s Solyndra deal or whatever some salesman wants to promote, “right here in river city.” How about we sell Kansas and keep Oklahoma land?

While Oklahoma’s Favorite Son, Will Rogers, is often credited with the quip, it was first an old gentleman in Kansas in 1905, October 13, “Buy land … God almighty isn’t making any more land.”

In 1930, April 13 Will Rogers did say,” I had been putting what little money I had in Ocean Frontage, for the sole reason that there was only so much of it and no more, and that they wasn’t making any more.”

Rogers might note today that we are still having babies and more people want to move to Oklahoma (leaving Blue State Blues behind), so how should we use our limited resource of land. Maybe a full public discussion is required between residential and industrial rather than a rush one way or the other for 100 or 500 or 30,000 acres. Or what about building these data centers on old abandoned commercial or industrial land - true urban renewal rather than rural betrayal?