Just as some Oklahoma leaders have expressed extensive concern over the impact that data centers will have on residential electric bills, the issue is of concern at the White House.
POLITICO reported this week the Trump administration wants what some Oklahoma legislators want—to have the data center developers pay for the tremendous amount of electrical power they need and not be able to shove it on the backs of residential ratepayers.
As reported, the President also wants those same high technology companies to “publicly commit to a new compact governing the rapid expansion of AI data centers.”
POLITICO reported that a draft of the compact it had obtained shows there would be promises and “commitments designed to ensure energy-hungry data centers do not raise household electricity prices, strain water supplies or undermine grid reliability, and that the companies driving demand also carry the cost of building new infrastructure.”
Just the same worries and concerns voiced by residents in numerous Oklahoma cities and towns where data centers have been proposed. If the proposed pact is agreed to, it would be considered a “voluntary agreement between President Donald Trump and major U.S. tech companies and data center developers. It could bind OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook parent Meta and other AI giants to a broad set of energy, water and community principles. None of these companies immediately responded to a request for comment.”
Google is one of the companies with plans of expansion at its data center in Pryor and construction of a new data center in Stillwater. It is investing $9 billion in Oklahoma and also plans a data center near Muskogee. It also is seeking approval to build a center in Sand Springs where the City Council voted last week to rezone land for the site.
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