By Paris Rain, FOX23.com News Staff
COWETA, Okla. — Coweta residents are enjoying the recent withdrawal of a local proposed data center.
This comes after Beale Infrastructure withdrew its application to build a data center known as Project Atlas in the city of Coweta.
Allen Prather, a Coweta resident, said the decision has sparked widespread excitement in the community.
“I’m feeling jubilant, as are a great many other people in this town,” Prather said.
City Manager Julie Casteen said the city was notified by phone Monday morning that Beale Infrastructure was withdrawing its rezoning application for the proposed data center, known locally as Project Atlas.
Casteen announced the decision during a Monday afternoon news conference but said the company did not provide a specific reason for pulling the project.
In a statement, Beale Infrastructure said in part, “While we have made the decision to withdraw our data center project in Coweta, known locally as Project Atlas, we look forward to continuing to build meaningful community investments in other locations in Oklahoma.”
Prather said he believes the decision reflects the community’s efforts to oppose the project.
“We certainly worked hard for it,” he said. “From this point, we’re shifting our focus to accountability, and that’s going to play a large part in making sure that this doesn’t happen again anytime soon in our town.”
He also encouraged other small communities facing similar proposals to stay engaged.
“If you’re in a small town and they’re wanting to put a data center in, don’t give up hope,” Prather said. “Stay in the fight, and you can prevail. It is possible. It can be done.”
Toward the end of the news conference, Casteen said the city is now investigating emails that appeared to be from Coweta residents supporting the project.
According to Casteen, the emails were sent to city council members, but some officials questioned their authenticity because they did not reflect known public sentiment.
“The city is actively investigating the cause and source of these emails,” Casteen said.
