The Oklahoma City Council unanimously voted Tuesday morning to temporarily ban new data center development within city limits through the end of 2026, a move advocates say reflects growing national resistance to hyperscale technology projects.
David Holt, mayor of Oklahoma City and a citizen of the Osage Nation, led discussions with council members and the city manager about potential next steps, including distinguishing smaller, localized data centers from more resource-intensive hyperscale facilities. Additional discussions are expected in the coming weeks.
The ordinance places a moratorium until December 31, 2026 “on the acceptance of new applications for processing of and issuance of rezoning requests and permits, including building permits, that would allow construction on, expansion of, or use of property for a data center located in Oklahoma City; providing an exception for certain pending rezoning requests; providing for an appeal process; providing for effective and expiration dates; providing severability; and declaring an emergency.”
Honor the Earth, an Indigenous-led climate justice organization active in opposing large-scale data infrastructure, praised the vote as a significant victory. The decision follows a similar unanimous action in Tulsa just weeks earlier, where city leaders also halted data center construction for the remainder of the year.
Advocates say the back-to-back decisions signal a broader shift as communities—from Oklahoma to the Southwest and the Great Lakes—push back against tech companies seeking to expand artificial intelligence infrastructure on lands and water systems that often include Indigenous territories.
Honor the Earth launched the No Data Centers Coalition in 2025 to unify these efforts nationwide.
“At Honor the Earth, we know know that the only way to fight back is to organize together, connect our fights, and empower our local leaders to stand up for their constituents, not data center developers,” said Ash Leitka, Director of Honor the Earth’s Department of Sovereignty and Self Determination. “We were there in Tulsa to pass the moratorium last month, and we were there this morning in Oklahoma City to show that the community does not want these data centers. We want clean water. We want privacy and security. We want jobs and economic stability, all of which hyperscale data centers threaten and negatively impact. The falsely generated demand for AI and AI infrastructure truly is a death cycle.”
Organizers point to Oklahoma’s long history of limited industrial regulation, arguing that the recent moratoriums demonstrate communities’ ability to slow or stop extractive development. Honor the Earth credited local organizers for helping secure both the Tulsa and Oklahoma City decisions.
During the council meeting, Taylor Sanchez of Honor the Earth was one of only two public speakers addressing the issue.
“What’s happening in both the federal and state level legislative cycles indicates that municipal level moratoriums are one of the few tools of protection that our communities have in an unequal partnership with data developers that are making billions by building data centers in other communities that they would not build in their own,” said Taylor Sanchez. “A moratorium would slow the process down and allow opportunities for prior and informed consent amongst community members. We are seeing city and tribal officials being approached by data center developers with non-disclosure agreements, foregoing transparency with communities about projects. Data center proposals are popping up rapidly across Oklahoma. The growth is outpacing the ability of regulators, researchers, and communities to fully understand and respond to its impacts. Slowing down the process allows for transparency with the community who must bear the harms of a technology that extracts local resources.”
The council plans to reconvene in two weeks to consider amendments, including possible exceptions to the moratorium and updates to the city’s zoning code that could establish a specific category for data centers. If such changes move forward, the moratorium could be lifted earlier than planned.
While advocates are celebrating the vote as a meaningful step, they caution that the broader fight over data center expansion—and its environmental and community impacts—is far from over.
