Oklahoma Data Center News

Mar 30, 2026

It’s Time to End Data Centers’ Massive Tax Break

The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) is urging Virginia legislators and Governor Spanberger to eliminate or phase out the $1.9 billion annual sales tax exemption for data center equipment and is mobilizing constituents to contact their representatives before the legislature reconvenes.

Main announcement/action: PEC asks Virginians to urge the General Assembly and Governor Spanberger to end or phase out the $1.9 billion annual sales tax break for data centers; the Senate’s budget would phase out the exemption while the House keeps it. Key dates and actions: reconvene April 23 (legislature), advocacy kick-off Zoom call March 30 at 6:30 p.m. (register link provided), and a “Send Your Email” action page to contact delegates, senators and the governor today.
Background and details: PEC cites Dominion Energy’s 70 GWs of load requests and ongoing monthly >1 GW requests, estimates of over $100 billion in new generation/transmission/substation infrastructure (including $30 billion for transmission and a 114-mile, 765 kilovolt proposed line), and an independent PEC analysis estimating $53–$99 million/year in health damages from on-site fossil generation at a Loudoun County facility. Also summarizes bill statuses (HB153/SB94; SB553/HB496; HB507; SB619/HB155; SB339/HB658).

Mar 19, 2026 · Google

A new milestone for smart, affordable electricity growth

Google has announced it integrated 1 GW of demand response capacity into long-term energy contracts with multiple U.S. utilities.

Main announcement: Google has integrated a total of 1 gigawatt (GW) of demand response capacity into long-term energy contracts with multiple U.S. utilities (including Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Entergy Arkansas, Minnesota Power, and DTE Energy) to allow the company to shift or reduce ML workloads, deploy demand response quickly to bridge short-term load growth, and help new data centers connect more rapidly to local grids.
Background and implementation details: These contracts position demand response as a capacity resource alongside solar, geothermal and long-duration energy storage; Google cites collaboration with states, regulators and utility partners, participation in initiatives like EPRI DCFlex, and notes limits to availability by location and that demand response helps cover peak periods while longer-term generation/storage projects are developed.

Mar 11, 2026

General Assembly Budget Conferees Need to Invest in Quality of Life, Not Big Tech

The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) has called on Virginia lawmakers to eliminate or substantially limit the sales tax credit on data center equipment to redirect revenue to public services.

Main action: PEC submitted a letter to General Assembly leadership and budget conferees requesting elimination or phased reduction of the sales tax exemption on data center equipment, arguing the exemption cost more than $1.9 billion in FY2025 and could have raised state revenue from $31.2 billion to $33.1 billion if collected. The letter identifies priorities for redirected revenue: water supply and wastewater treatment, transportation and transit, schools, childcare, and food security.
Background and details: PEC cites Dominion Energy data that it is receiving requests for ~10 additional data center applications monthly totaling 2–3 GW, bringing cumulative demand to 70 GW, while current peak demand is 24 GW with >36% electricity imports. PEC estimates Dominion will need to invest over $100 billion in generation, transmission and substation infrastructure (including nearly $30 billion for transmission) to meet the backlog over the next ten years.

Mar 3, 2026

Rick Payne returns to UTulsa to lead Center for Energy Studies

The University of Tulsa has named alumnus Rick Payne director of its Center for Energy Studies.

Appointment and background: Rick Payne (B.S. ’84) returns to UTulsa as director after a nearly four-decade global energy career; he holds a master’s in chemical engineering from Oklahoma State University and an MBA from Southern Methodist University, worked operations on Alaska’s North Slope, held leadership roles in Venezuela and Peru with ARCO and BP, and co-founded Foundation Energy in 2005 which raised roughly $500 million across eight funds; he served as president of Foundation Renewable Energy Co. until 2024 and has maintained ties to UTulsa by hiring graduates and serving on the chemical engineering industry advisory board in the College of Engineering & Computer Science (ECS).
Center mandate and near-term priorities: The Center for Energy Studies will be an interdisciplinary, campus-wide energy hub focused on energy systems that are available, affordable and safe; early priorities include strengthening student engagement, partnering with energy-related student organizations, connecting engineering-driven innovation with business strategy and policy, and extending the center’s educational mission beyond campus; the center will provide data-driven insight on topics including infrastructure reliability, climate considerations, and energy demands from hyperscale data centers powering AI.

Feb 26, 2026

Data centers aren’t the water villains you think they are, environmentalist says

Andy Masley argues that concerns about data center water use are overstated and that electricity demand poses the larger long-term risk.

Main claim and data: Masley says the widely cited 1.7 trillion gallons figure is misleading because ~80% of that water is used at power plants and returned to source, while data centers’ on-site evaporation is ~20%; he calculates data centers used about 905 million gallons in Maricopa County in 2025 and finds they generate ~50x more tax revenue per unit of water than golf courses. The article also notes Gov. Katie Hobbs proposed a surcharge of about one cent per gallon for data centers.
Background and policy details: Masley warns electricity capacity is the bigger issue (APS says it lacks generation/transmission capacity), cites an NRDC study estimating an average family in a 13-state region could pay about $70 extra per month by 2028 due to infrastructure expansion for data centers, and reports Microsoft and OpenAI pledged to cover their own infrastructure costs and restore more water than they use; Masley estimates AI use is about 1 milliliter per prompt.

Feb 25, 2026

How Data Centers Are Adapting to Extreme Weather

Data center industry analysis warns operators to intensify climate resilience planning.

Main announcement/action: Industry analysis and expert commentary (S&P Global, World Economic Forum scenarios; Uptime Institute research) highlight rising climate-driven risks to data centers, projecting annual climate-driven costs up to 9.5% of total data center asset value by 2055, with extreme heat responsible for roughly two-thirds of that impact; operators are implementing site selection, hardened construction, hybrid air-and-liquid cooling, closed-loop water systems, and on-site generation use (e.g., generator switchovers during Winter Storm Fern) to manage risk.
Background and details: The article documents recent events and regional responses: ERCOT warnings after July 2025 Texas flooding, a DOE emergency order during Winter Storm Fern (start of 2026) authorizing curtailment and encouraging on-site generation, and Brazil market growth projections from Mordor Intelligence ($2.95 billion in 2025 → $3.38 billion in 2026 → $6.67 billion by 2031) alongside Microsoft’s prior ~$2.7 billion pledge to Brazil cloud/AI infrastructure; operators like ValorC3 and Tecto are emphasizing elevated pads, reinforced concrete, seismic criteria, corrosion-resistant materials, and burying fiber as concrete resilience measures.

Feb 23, 2026

240-Mile Network to Expand High-speed Dark Fiber in Indianapolis

Light Source Communications (LSC) announced a new network build out: a 240-mile dark fiber route in Indianapolis, projected for completion by the third quarter of 2027.

Main announcement: LSC will build a 240-mile dark fiber route in Indianapolis, with targeted completion by Q3 2027, intended to enable high-speed processing for GPUs, support AI workloads, and expand capacity for hyperscalers, neoclouds, and data centers. The build targets connectivity within the city’s financial district, government institutions, and education sectors.
Background and other details: LSC stated the route will strengthen regional connectivity and enhance network resilience; the provider also has ongoing construction projects in Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Tulsa. This article is an announcement of the new Indianapolis build (not a retrospective report on a previously completed project).

Jan 29, 2026

Data center critics speak out at Indy environmental committee meeting

Dozens of residents and the Hoosier Environmental Council turned out at the City of Indianapolis Environmental Sustainability Committee meeting to protest data-center development and urge stricter oversight.

Main announcement: The Hoosier Environmental Council asked the committee to explore a pause on data center construction, consider removing discretionary economic incentives, and fully evaluate projects’ energy, water and land use and potential impacts to the electrical grid as part of permitting decisions. The group emphasized community impact and identified energy, water, land as four key aspects to assess.
Background and details: Public commenters called for stronger state development, building and zoning standards or a moratorium; the article cites a Citizen Action Coalition report saying nearly 30 data centers are proposed or under construction in Indiana. The meeting was reported on January 29, 2026 and included presentations from experts on grid and environmental impacts.

Jan 21, 2026

Silicon Valley’s AI boom is an environmental time bomb

Tina Landis (Liberation News) publishes an opinion piece arguing that Big Tech’s rapid expansion of AI-driven hyperscale data centers is creating severe, measurable environmental harms in the United States and globally.

Main claim & evidence: The article documents hyperscale data center environmental impacts including freshwater use up to five million gallons per day, energy consumption currently equivalent to France, projected growth to the energy use of 1.4 billion people by 2030 (IMF), and that 20 data center proposals worth $98 billion were blocked or delayed between April and June 2025 (Data Center Watch). It also cites a UNEP warning: “We need to make sure the net effect of AI on the planet is positive before we deploy the technology at scale.”
Background & supporting details: The piece lists concrete harms across the lifecycle: raw material extraction (800 kg of materials for a 2 kg computer), e-waste exports to the Global South, 5–10% increases in household energy bills, community resistance across multiple U.S. states (Arizona, Wisconsin, Virginia, Oklahoma), and notes Big Tech (Microsoft, Google, Meta, Amazon) is spending collectively hundreds of billions of dollars on data centers while pushing for expanded power infrastructure and nuclear expansion by 2050.

Jan 13, 2026

US carbon pollution rose in 2025. Experts blame cold winter, high natural gas prices, data centers

Rhodium Group calculated that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions rose in 2025 compared with 2024.

Main finding: The Rhodium Group estimated the U.S. emitted 5.9 billion tons (5.35 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2025, an increase of 139 million tons (126 million metric tons) from 2024; the report cites a cool winter, explosive growth of data centers and cryptocurrency mining, and higher natural gas prices as primary drivers, with coal generation up 13% contributing substantially to the power-sector increase.
Additional details and context:Solar generation jumped 34%, pushing solar past hydro and bringing zero-carbon sources to 42% of U.S. power; the Rhodium authors say Trump administration policy rollbacks had not been in place long enough to affect 2025 data, and the report’s earlier 2035 projections have been revised down (projected pollution drop now about one-third less than prior estimates).

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