By Paris Rain, FOX23.com News Staff
TULSA, Okla. — Tulsans came together to speak out against a data center being built in Green Country called Project Anthem.
City councilors are considering a moratorium on future data centers. The moratorium would not affect Project Anthem since it’s already under construction.
In February, city councilors unanimously voted to evaluate the city’s zoning code for data centers and now, they are taking a look into voting on a moratorium that would prevent new projects from slipping in under old rules and classification.
Those in the community came together on Tuesday to talk about it and inform one another ahead of the upcoming vote.
Tulsans met at Dream Keeper Park Tuesday afternoon in an effort to rally against Project Anthem and get the information about the city council’s data center moratorium vote out to others.
One organizer shared her biggest concerns.
“The water, the energy, job development…how that’s going to impact the people that live in the neighborhoods around Project Anthem,” Stop Data Colonialism Coalition Coordinator Cheyanna Morgan said.
The data center will go in east Tulsa, near East 11th Street and South 193rd Avenue.
“They are rapidly expanding across the country. They’re going into [the] community and these developers are basically coming in and getting city councilors, planning staff, and anyone else involved in making decisions in the city to sign nondisclosure agreements and that really subverts community consent and manufacturers’ consent from the community because the community is unaware of the full impacts,” said Morgan.
She said a data center moratorium is what is needed right now.
Many neighbors have been outspoken against the idea for months, like Kels Cooper who is struggling with the same thing in Owasso. Cooper came to support Tulsans because it’s where she spends a lot of her time.
“I am very much against data centers,” said Cooper. “They are bad for every part of the environment and every part of the economy and our communities. It doesn’t matter what side of whatever you’re on, as Oklahomans — as people who live on this land and already pay enough for our bills — I think this is an issue that we can all agree on and it’s been really nice to see people from the different suburbs of all classes and demographics come out and speak against the data centers being built in their communities.”
If approved, the moratorium will not stop Project Anthem, but it will place a year-long hold on any new data centers coming in.
The Tulsa City Council is scheduled to vote on the moratorium on Wednesday.
