Tulsa County Commissioners delay vote on whether to approve a data center in Tulsa

Tulsa County Commissioners delay a vote on whether to approve a data center in North Tulsa.

More than a dozen people spoke at the county commissioners’ meeting Monday to voice their opinions on the data center.

Speakers reaction

Some speakers were surprised that commissioners agreed to push the vote to next week, and others were disappointed that commissioners are postponing.

A plan in waiting

The plan is to build a data center with four buildings in Tulsa on 500 acres of land, a project that requires a lot of planning before construction starts. 

Eric Lemley, Iron Workers Local 584, said, "All construction sites and jobs have a schedule that they have to maintain, and there's different things that need to be ordered at different times. And I mean, it's getting down to crunch time they have to do this."

Tulsa County Commissioners decided they wanted a week to think it over before voting.

"One of the commissioners, I don't remember their names, he wanted to table it until the end of August, to give us adequate time to bring in more research and to prove like that we don't have the safety measures in place," said Kortnaa Krogen from Sperry.

Hoping for a vote against

Kortnaa Krogen, her three sisters, and their 10 children went to the county commissioner’s meeting to speak against building a data center, and they're hoping commissioners it because they believe it will hurt the environment.

"Water is a natural resource, but it's not endless, and these data centers use so much water that could be used to provide clean drinking water for homes, for crops, for livestock, for all of that," said Krogen.

Looking at the economic benefits

A union representative with Iron Works Local 584 hopes the data center becomes a reality because it means lots of jobs.

“They made a comment today that there's going to be upwards of 500 people employed full time there, making above, you know, minimum wage, making a good standard of living for this area," said Lemley.

What's next?

Tulsa County Commissioners are set to vote next week.

While both are hoping for different outcomes, they both believe commissioners are leaning toward approval. 

News On 6 contacted Commissioner Kelly Dunkerley, who wanted to table the vot,e but he never responded.