Oklahoma is seeing a data center boom, along with unverified claims about the projects.
The Frontier used state records, testimony from public meetings, news archives and other sources of information to fact-check recent claims about new data center development in Oklahoma.
Claim: Oklahoma has enacted a “Behind the Meter” bill that requires data centers to develop their own sources of electricity.
Source: Behind the Meter legislation “basically says ‘companies, data centers, if you want to come to Oklahoma and set up shop, then you pay for your own power. You build it yourself, you use your own power,’” Dunnington said during an interview on the local TV program Your Vote Counts. “That alone, the Legislature looking out for the utility rate payers by passing that was massive, and it needs to get talked about more.” A subsequent news story on the interview, published by KOTV and KWTV states that “The law requires large energy users — including data centers — to generate and pay for their own electricity rather than drawing power from the public grid.”
Fact check: False
The law the story referred to is Senate Bill 480, which was passed during the 2025 legislative session and signed into law by Gov. Kevin Stitt. The law allows data centers or other large electric users to build their own on-site power generation facilities, but does not require them to do so. The law also permits companies to contract with a local utility or other party to transmit electricity from their own power facilities without oversight from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. The law also requires that any type of unregulated electrical generation facility utilize a natural gas component to their electrical generation. Griffin Media, owners of KOTV and KWTV, where the interview aired, did not disclose to viewers that Dunnington, a former Democratic state legislator, is also a registered lobbyist for several technology industry groups and companies with direct interests in building data centers in Oklahoma, according to state records. One of the companies that Dunnington is registered to lobby for, Intersect Power, was a key supporter of the Behind the Meter legislation, NonDoc reported in April. Intersect builds data centers and energy infrastructure. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, announced Monday that it has plans to purchase Intersect. Dunnington is also a registered lobbyist for MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor, which is home to a large Google data center, the site of another Google data center under development, and at least one cryptocurrency mining data center. In a statement to The Frontier, Dunnington said “nothing I said in that segment was false, saying otherwise would make your publication’s statement about me incorrect. Your Vote Counts is a political opinion show that I have been a regular commentator on for 8+ years. I’m sending this correspondence along with your email to my attorney as a matter of record.”
Griffin Media did not respond to The Frontier’s request for comment or a request to correct its online story.
-Clifton Adcock
Claim: Project Clydesdale, a massive data center development planned for Tulsa County, won’t cause residential customers’ power bills to increase.
Source: Michael Gordan, external affairs manager for Public Service Company of Oklahoma said at a July 16 Tulsa County Commissioners meeting that the utility would be adding three miles of distribution lines and a substation near the project, though any infrastructure upgrades would be paid for by the data center’s owners.
“Not only this project, but even moving forward, we will work with development opportunities just like this to make sure we can meet their timelines and meet their energy needs and yet at the same time, making sure we’re not losing sight of the customers we already have,” Gordon said.
“And there won’t be any negative impact on residential customers here in Oklahoma?” District 1 Commissioner Stan Sallee asked.
“That’s correct,” Gordon said.
Fact check: Mixed
While the Project Clydesdale is paying for a new substation and other transmission needs, the center will be a grid-connected customer of PSO and will not generate its own power, a spokesperson for project developer Beale Infrastructure said in an email. Estimates on how much power the Project Clydesdale will need weren’t immediately available, the spokesperson said. PSO also said it doesn’t give out information on specific customer service needs for privacy and security reasons
While it’s unclear how much power Project Clydesdale will use, PSO is actively seeking to pass costs to build new power generation along to customers, in part because of increased demand from data centers and other large industrial users, according to testimony filed with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. Tiffini Jackson, vice president of external affairs for PSO told state lawmakers during a study session in October that the company was seeing an increase in demand from large, new customers, including data centers.
“There is a lot of increase in demand in our state, and whether that comes from data centers, manufacturing facilities or expansions of our existing businesses. Either way, it requires investment in generation and transmission,” Jackson said.
PSO is asking state regulators to approve a plan that would increase customers’ monthly bills by an estimated $10 a month to help finance more than $1.2 billion in new sources of energy generation. Jackson said the utility is looking to create a different rate schedule for larger users to protect its existing customers from price increases.
The utility has also put protections in place for large new customers, including minimum contract lengths, advance notice if service is canceled, termination fees, and financial security requirements.
“Together, these safeguards are designed to prevent the costs of serving large users from being passed on to residential customers,” Matt Rahn, a spokesperson for PSO said in an email.
-Brianna Bailey
Claim: Data Centers have been secretive in the past, but that is changing.
Source: “Historically, these projects were secretive — code names, closed-door deals,” said Emily Sullivan, president of Oklahoma’s chapter of AFCOM, a trade group for IT and data center professionals, during an interview with FOX23. “Now, we’re seeing more transparency. When communities and developers talk openly, it leads to better understanding and balance.”
Fact check: Mostly false
Some of the biggest data center projects now under development in Oklahoma have taken steps to conceal their end users. In November 2024, voters in Stillwater approved an agreement provide power to a data center development for an unnamed company. It wasn’t until months later that Google announced it would be running the data center.
In Tulsa County, two projects in the works by developer Beale Infrastructure, Project Clydesdale and Project Anthem have not revealed who their end users will be. Beale Infrastructure also wants to develop the Project Atlas data center in Coweta for an unnamed client, which has been described as “one of the major U.S. tech giants.”
Sullivan replied to The Frontier’s request for comment with a link to a response generated by ChatGPT. The response said in part:
- Yes, data center developers are increasingly prioritizing community engagement and transparency, recognizing that early, clear, and sustained communication can reduce conflict and ease approval.
- Best practices now include early dialogues, accessible project information, environmental commitments, and collaboration with local stakeholders.
- But not all developers execute these approaches effectively, and community pushback remains strong where transparency is perceived as lacking.
-Brianna Bailey
Rating system:
True: A claim that is backed up by factual evidence
Mostly true: A claim that is mostly true but also contains some inaccurate details
Mixed: A claim that contains a combination of accurate and inaccurate or unproven information
True but misleading: A claim that is factually true but omits critical details or context
Mostly false: A claim that is mostly false but also contains some accurate details
False: A claim that has no basis in fact
