Meta Tulsa draws pushback

Meta’s new Tulsa data center is arriving with a $1 billion price tag and an early fight over how the company handled local outreach. (about.fb.com, kjrh.com) Meta said on April 21 that it has started work on a 2 million-square-foot campus in east Tulsa, its first data center in Oklahoma, its 28th in the United States, and its 32nd globally. The company said the site will support about 1,000 construction jobs at peak and about 100 permanent jobs once it is operating. (about.fb.com, watertechonline.com) The company paired the announcement with promises on water and power. Meta said it will spend more than $25 million on local road and water upgrades, work with PhyTech on projects aimed at restoring more than 50 million gallons of water a year, and add up to 1.5 gigawatts of clean energy capacity for the project. (about.fb.com, watertechonline.com) The rollout landed in a city that had already started tightening its approach to data centers. Tulsa City Council voted on March 26 to pause new data center deals through the end of 2026 while staff study noise, odors, water use, energy use, and zoning rules, though both phase one and phase two of Project Anthem were exempted. (kjrh.com) That exemption matters because Project Anthem was already moving before Meta attached its name to it. Residents had been showing up to hearings for months, and a March 18 rezoning vote for phase two was delayed at the developer’s request after community complaints about access and information. (kjrh.com) Councilor Laura Bellis, who wrote the moratorium proposal, told KJRH that she and other councilors got “the runaround” from Meta officials and that the company had not agreed to public meetings beyond sessions with local organizations. Bellis has said since March that Tulsa needed a “proactive pause” because data center impacts are changing quickly and residents still lack a full picture. (kjrh.com, kjrh.com) Meta said it wants to “strive to be good neighbors” in east Tulsa and said it set up a project website to share construction updates and hiring information. PartnerTulsa also defended the deal, saying the agreement includes future grants and other local benefits tied to the company’s investment. (kjrh.com) The financial package is also part of the debate. KJRH reported that Meta will cover project-site costs, pay $25 million for public infrastructure improvements, and make $62.5 million in payments to the city for other infrastructure through a 25-year tax incentive district agreement while receiving an 85% annual property-tax exemption. (kjrh.com) Reuters reported that Meta has already begun construction as it races to add computing capacity for artificial intelligence. In Tulsa, that means the company is not just selling jobs and infrastructure; it is also trying to move a large power-and-water project through a city that has spent the past two months questioning how these facilities should be approved. (usnews.com, kjrh.com) For now, the project is advancing, but the opening argument in Tulsa is no longer just about Meta’s size or spending. It is about whether the company can keep permits, incentives, and neighborhood trust aligned as construction moves ahead. (about.fb.com, kjrh.com)