Why Oklahoma

Oklahoma and the Infrastructure Opportunity

Oklahoma communities have real questions about data center development, and while some developers have responded to those real concerns, the legislature took action to pass a meaningful ratepayer protection law.

The transparency and accountability framework Oklahoma now has in place is the right starting point for a fact-based conversation. Data center investment brings genuine economic benefits — property tax revenue, construction employment, and long-term operations jobs — that communities can evaluate on their merits. Built Here exists to share those facts, clearly and completely.

The Benefits Are Real

  1. Ratepayers are protected by law. HB 2992 prohibits data center energy costs from being passed to Oklahoma families and small businesses — developers cover their own infrastructure costs.
  2. Major investment is already here. In Pryor Creek, the school district's assessed property value grew from $80 million to $1 billion over 20 years — driven by data center presence — generating the tax revenue that has allowed the district to remake itself.
  3. Construction employment goes to local workers. Oklahoma's projects are drawing from the local trades workforce, ensuring Oklahoma workers fill construction positions.
  4. Operations jobs are permanent. Data center operations jobs are full-time, long-term positions that remain in the community creating local workforce opportunities.

How Oklahoma Oversees This

Oklahoma now has some of the strongest ratepayer protection requirements for data center development in the country, written into state law in 2026.
  • The Data Center Consumer Ratepayer Protection Act (HB 2992), signed into law in May 2026 and passed unanimously by the legislature, prohibits electric suppliers from passing energy infrastructure costs necessary to power large data centers — defined as facilities adding 75 megawatts or more of demand — to Oklahoma families, small businesses, or traditional industrial customers.
  • HB 2992 requires electric suppliers to establish separate terms, conditions, and tariffs for large load customers, with a minimum term of service of 10 years, ensuring data centers are financially accountable for the infrastructure they require over the long term.
  • The Oklahoma Corporation Commission oversees utility rate requests through a formal public process — no rate increase can take effect without regulatory review and public opportunity to comment.
  • The Oklahoma Water Resources Board governs all significant water withdrawals through a beneficial use permitting process that weighs community water needs before allocating supply.
  • Local governments retain authority over land use decisions through zoning and development approval processes that include public hearings.

Myth vs. Fact in Oklahoma

Myth: Data centers are going to raise Oklahomans' electricity bills.

Fact: This is prevented by law. The Data Center Consumer Ratepayer Protection Act of 2026 (HB 2992), passed unanimously by the legislature and signed by Governor Stitt, requires data centers to cover their own energy infrastructure and operational costs. Developers cannot pass those costs to Oklahoma families or small businesses. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission reviews any utility rate request through a formal public process — no increase is approved without regulatory scrutiny and public opportunity to comment.

Myth: Oklahoma communities don't have a voice in whether a data center gets built.

Fact: HB 2992 guarantees Oklahoma communities a voice. Developers are required to notify communities at least 60 days before purchasing land and to hold public meetings before construction begins. The planning and zoning process for any data center includes public hearings where residents can speak on the record.

Myth: Data centers drain local water supplies.

Fact: All water use in Oklahoma is governed by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, which requires a permit for any significant water withdrawal. Beneficial use determinations are made through a public process that weighs community water needs. Data center water use data is available through open records requests. The industry is also investing in air-cooling and water recycling technology that reduces consumption at new facilities.

Myth: Noise and lights from data centers make nearby neighborhoods uninhabitable.

Fact: Data centers are sited in industrially zoned areas with required setbacks that create buffer from residential zones. Oklahoma's planning approval process gives communities the authority to set binding conditions on projects — including noise limits, lighting design, and landscaping — before a permit is issued. Noise levels at the property line are governed by local ordinance, the same standards that apply to any industrial facility. Lights are typically shielded and directed downward to minimize off-site impact.

Myth: Data centers bring construction jobs, but nothing permanent.

Fact: Construction is one part of the picture — operations jobs are another. Data center construction typically spans multiple years, creating stable employment and career pathways through apprenticeship programs in the trades. And the jobs don't stop when the building is complete: facilities require full-time, permanent staff for the life of the facility — engineers, technicians, security, and operations personnel who live and work in the community long-term. In Oklahoma, agreements negotiated by unions including Ironworkers Local 584 have prioritized local workers not just for construction, but for the long-term workforce that follows (News On 6).

Myth: The construction and operations jobs go to out-of-state workers, not Oklahomans.

Fact: Oklahoma's trades unions have jurisdictional authority over local construction work — meaning a data center project in a given county works through the IBEW local that covers that geography. IBEW Local 584 covers a defined set of Oklahoma counties, and workers from outside the jurisdiction go through a formal portability process. Local workers are not competing with out-of-state crews — they have structural priority built into how union labor works. Operations jobs by definition go to people who live near the facility.

Myth: It doesn't matter where this gets built — data lives in "the cloud" anyway.

Fact: The cloud is physical. Every email, every social media post, medical record, and financial transaction lives on a server in a specific building in a specific place. Where that building is determines whose laws govern it and who can access it. When this infrastructure is built here — in Oklahoma, by Oklahoma workers — it stays under American law. That is not just good for Oklahoma's economy. It is good for the country.

Glossary

Closed-loop, air-cooled system

A cooling system that uses air rather than water as the primary method of heat dissipation. In a fully air-cooled facility, water use is limited to domestic purposes — kitchens, bathrooms, and health and safety systems — at levels comparable to any traditional commercial or retail building. Some facilities use a closed-loop water system for cooling, in which the same water circulates continuously through the facility rather than being drawn from and discharged back into local water supplies; after the initial fill, a closed-loop system requires minimal makeup water to maintain.

Data center

A building that houses computer servers, networking equipment, and the power and cooling systems that keep them running. Data centers are the physical infrastructure behind digital services — storing files, processing transactions, routing communications, and supporting the systems that hospitals, emergency services, banks, and businesses depend on every day.

Direct job

A permanent position created and employed directly by the data center facility — engineers, technicians, operations staff, and security personnel who work on-site.

Indirect job

A job created in the surrounding economy as a result of a data center's presence — in supply chain businesses, local services, construction trades, and other sectors that support the facility and its workforce.

Incentive / tax exemption

A reduction in a specific category of taxes — typically sales tax on equipment and construction materials — offered by a state or local government to attract qualifying investment. Incentive programs require minimum investment levels and job creation thresholds; if those commitments are not met, clawback provisions allow the state to recover the value of the exemption. Facilities still pay property taxes, income taxes, and other local taxes from the first day of operation.

Large-load customer

A utility customer that consumes electricity at a significantly higher volume than residential or small commercial customers. Data centers are classified as large-load customers in most states. Many states have specific rate structures that require large-load customers to pay their proportional share of any grid infrastructure upgrades they trigger. In Oklahoma, HB 2992 defines large-load customers as facilities adding 75 megawatts or more of demand and prohibits electric suppliers from passing those infrastructure costs to residential, commercial, or industrial ratepayers.

Load growth

An increase in total electricity demand on a utility's grid. Load growth can be driven by population growth, electrification of homes and vehicles, manufacturing expansion, and other large-load customers like data centers. Research has found that when load growth is planned for, it can lower per-unit electricity costs by spreading fixed grid costs across more customers.

Performance agreement

A legally binding contract between a developer and a government body — typically a state economic development agency or local government — that ties investment commitments, job creation, and community benefits to enforceable milestones and financial penalties for non-compliance.

Ratepayer

A residential or business customer who pays for electricity, water, or other utility services. Ratepayer protection refers to regulatory frameworks that prevent the costs of large-load infrastructure from being passed to ordinary utility customers.

Server

A computer designed to process and store data continuously, running the software that powers websites, applications, databases, and digital communications. Data centers house thousands to hundreds of thousands of servers depending on their size and purpose.