Nichols made his comments in response to a question from Tulsa World columnist Ginnie Graham during a podcast interview.
“We have had a lot of conversation about not basing our economic future on data centers, and a lot of that’s because, in addition to the environmental issues, they typically aren’t massive job creators,” Nichols said. “I think there’s a space for some of that activity. Data centers as a whole I don’t think will ever be a kind of critical piece of our economic development effort. You know, I think in some cases, (they) may be a necessary evil.
“So I think we’re going to be probably pretty highly selective on data center-type partners we might have, really having conversation about how we mitigate some of the environmental challenges that they present, because we are relatively water rich here, and we want to stay that way.”
A data center generally refers to a physical structure that houses a company’s digital data and includes such things as servers, storage drives and network equipment. Tech giants such as Amazon, Meta and others are building the facilities, which use large amounts of electricity and water, across the country, raising fears in some communities about their environmental impact.
Nichols’ remarks come as a second data center makes its way through the city’s permitting process. With no announcement as to what company is behind it, “Project Clydesdale,” as it is called, would be built on 506 acres of unincorporated Tulsa County land north of the Cherokee Industrial Park, according to a preliminary zoning application submitted to the Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission.
A rezoning request related to that project is scheduled to be addressed by the Planning Commission next week.
The other planned Tulsa-area data center goes by the name Project Anthem but is widely believed to be a Meta facility. It’s planned for construction on 340 acres southwest of the intersection of 11th Street and the Creek Turnpike in far east Tulsa.
Construction of that data center is expected to begin in early 2026 and take approximately four years for substantial completion, according to planning documents submitted to the Planning Commission.
Data centers typically provide substantial up-front investments and jobs but once operational employ 50 to 100 people, depending on the size of the facility.
Project Clydesdale has not made public its planned financial investment or job numbers.
During construction, Project Anthem is projected to generate up to $3.3 billion in economic activity and more than 5,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs, according to documents submitted to the Planning Commission.
In the first year of operation, the data center is expected to generate up to $50 million in direct and indirect economic activity. It will employ about 50 full-time workers.
Under the terms of a 25-year tax incentive district for the project approved by city councilors, the new property owner would receive an 85% annual exemption on the company’s property tax bill.
The 15% that would be collected is estimated to raise more than $36 million over the life of the tax incentive district for the city of Tulsa, Wagoner County, Catoosa Public Schools and other affected taxing entities, according to the TID project plan.
The company behind Project Anthem has committed to including a minimum of $62.5 million to a city project fund that will be used to pay for public infrastructure serving properties adjacent to the property.
The data center is projected to need a maximum of 1 billion gallons of water a year once fully operational, putting it among the city’s top 10 water customers, according to the city’s Water and Sewer Department.
The city typically pumps 105 million gallons a day but has the capacity to generate 210 million gallons a day.
Nichols said he was not closing the door on future data center opportunities for the city but reiterated that they don’t necessarily provide the kind of economic opportunity his administration is looking to create.
“The big thing for me is making sure that economic opportunity for people who live here is our priority, and data centers don’t always provide that,” he said.
© 2025 Tulsa World, Okla. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
