Oklahoma local moratoria
Every local infrastructure moratorium in the inventory for Oklahoma, current through August 19, 2026.
8 instruments — 8 in force, 0 pending, 0 past.
State policy is tracked separately: 12 actions (12 bills) in state_legislation.csv. These are not included in the local count above.
| Jurisdiction | Type | Enacted | Sectors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broken Arrow | City | 2026-06-15 | data center | 🟢 Active |
| Edmond | City | 2026-06-08 | data center | 🟢 Active |
| Luther | Town | 2026-06-17 | data center | 🟢 Active |
| Norman | City | 2026-06-23 | data center | 🟢 Active |
| Oklahoma City | City | 2026-04-21 | data center | 🟢 Active |
| Pawhuska | City | 2026-04-14 | data center | 🟢 Active |
| Seminole Nation of Oklahoma | Tribal | 2026-03-07 | data center | 🟢 Active |
| Tulsa | City | 2026-03-25 | data center | 🟢 Active |
Detailed entries
Broken Arrow
- Type: City
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-06-15, City Council enactment with emergency clause
- Normalized date:
2026-06-15(exact) - Duration: Until the earlier of December 31, 2026, or adoption of permanent regulations, with a possible extension totaling no more than six additional months
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
ok-broken-arrow-2026 - Legal basis: Ordinance No. 3929 (City of Broken Arrow), pausing new rezonings, special/conditional use permits, site plans, building permits, certificates of occupancy, and other approvals for data center uses; exempts vested projects, accessory uses, and facilities of 5 MW or less
- What prompted it: Development of permanent data center regulations
- Affected projects: —
- Detailed status: Active as of 2026-07-31
- Outcome: —
Edmond
- Type: City
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-06-08 (Monday), Edmond City Council, unanimous vote, adopted with an emergency clause making it effective immediately.
- Normalized date:
2026-06-08(exact) - Duration: Runs through 2026-12-31; staff to report back to council at the 2, 3, and 5-month marks.
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
ok-edmond-2026 - Legal basis: Edmond city ordinance/resolution adopted by unanimous council vote (ordinance number not located; Edmond's own AgendaCenter/site search did not surface the item).
- What prompted it: No pending data center proposal in the city at time of adoption; preemptive pause to allow study of water, electricity, and infrastructure impacts and to draft permanent zoning rules.
- Affected projects: None pending at time of adoption.
- Detailed status: Active as of 2026-07-31; runs through 2026-12-31. [VERIFY instrument number; primary source (news-only evidence) not confirmed at confidence 0.65 in the 2026-07 refresh]
- Outcome: City Council unanimously adopted an immediate moratorium on data center applications, rezoning requests, and permits within city limits, through the end of 2026.
Luther
- Type: Town
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-06-17, Board of Trustees enactment (emergency), meeting relocated outdoors to accommodate attendance
- Normalized date:
2026-06-17(exact) - Duration: New data center rezoning and Specific Use Permit applications paused through December 31, 2026, per the published ordinance text
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
ok-luther-2026 - Legal basis: Town of Luther emergency moratorium ordinance (published via journalrecord.com public notice; specific ordinance number not confirmed in the text reviewed), pausing new data center rezoning and Specific Use Permit applications
- What prompted it: Opposition to the pending BLE Landholdings data center proposal
- Affected projects: Pending BLE Landholdings data center proposal
- Detailed status: Active as of 2026-07-31 per the published ordinance text
- Outcome: —
Norman
- Type: City
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-06-23, City Council unanimous enactment, emergency provision effective upon adoption and publication
- Normalized date:
2026-06-23(exact) - Duration: Through June 9, 2027, or earlier adoption of data center zoning regulations
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
ok-norman-2026 - Legal basis: Ordinance No. O-2526-70 (City of Norman); applies to new applications for data center facilities using evaporative cooling projected to consume more than 250,000 gallons of potable water per day; applications filed before the ordinance's effective date are outside its stated scope
- What prompted it: Water consumption concerns from evaporative-cooling data centers
- Affected projects: —
- Detailed status: Active as of 2026-07-31
- Outcome: —
Oklahoma City
- Type: City
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-04-21
- Normalized date:
2026-04-21(exact) - Duration: Until 2026-12-31, or earlier if data center zoning amendments are adopted
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
ok-oklahoma-city-2026 - Legal basis: Emergency ordinance introduced and adopted unanimously by City Council on 2026-04-21 as Council Agenda Item XI.U; amended 2026-05-19 by a 7-2 Council vote to add a 75 MW threshold and named facility exemptions. The assigned ordinance number(s) could not be confirmed via a primary source actually accessed in this pass — direct attempts to reach library.municode.com/ok/oklahoma_city and okc.gov's ordinance PDF both returned HTTP 403 [VERIFY assigned ordinance number(s) from the Office of the City Clerk for both the original 2026-04-21 ordinance and the 2026-05-19 amendment]
- What prompted it: First large data center rezoning requests; no specific zoning use unit or regulations for data centers; concerns about water, electricity, noise, infrastructure, and other public impacts
- Affected projects: New applications for rezoning requests and permits, including building permits, for data center construction, expansion, or use; two pending rezoning requests are exempted
- Detailed status: Active, as amended. On 2026-05-19, City Council voted 7-2 to amend the moratorium to allow data centers using up to 75 megawatts of electricity to apply for zoning and construction permits, and carved out two named exemptions: the Scale Datacenters facility on the Expand Energy (formerly Chesapeake) campus (serving Cerebras AI), and the Rack59 Data Center at 7725 W. Reno Ave. As of the most recent reporting reviewed (dated 2026-06-25), no comprehensive data-center zoning use-unit had been adopted, so the underlying moratorium (through 2026-12-31 or earlier zoning adoption) remains in force. No source dated in July 2026 was located to independently confirm currency as of 2026-07-31.
- Outcome: City is using the pause to evaluate impacts and draft zoning code amendments for data centers
Pawhuska
- Type: City
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-04-14
- Normalized date:
2026-04-14(exact) - Duration: Until 2026-12-31, or earlier if data center regulations are adopted
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
ok-pawhuska-2026 - Legal basis: Resolution 2026-04-01
- What prompted it: Proposed conversion of an abandoned warehouse near Indian Camp Elementary School into an 8-10 MW AI data center; utility capacity, water, school proximity, property values, and community-impact concerns
- Affected projects: All city actions that would advance data center development in Pawhuska
- Detailed status: Active
- Outcome: City will gather information and develop zoning, permitting, and performance-standard recommendations
Seminole Nation of Oklahoma
- Type: Tribal
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-03-07
- Normalized date:
2026-03-07(exact) - Duration: Indefinite by design, not merely undisclosed. Per KGOU reporting (June 25, 2026), the resolution's author, Rev. Chebon Kernell, originally drafted a ban on data-center discussions/inquiries/development, but 'that proposal turned into an indefinite moratorium at the suggestion of another council member.' The resolution's own phrase 'the moratorium period' (as quoted by Native News Online) therefore refers to an open-ended condition rather than a fixed numeric term that simply has not been published. The full resolution text remains unposted on sno-nsn.gov.
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
ok-seminole-nation-of-oklahoma-2026 - Legal basis: Tribal Council resolution [resolution number needed]
- What prompted it: Startup approach seeking an NDA and letter of intent to develop a data center on Seminole lands; environmental, water, sovereignty, and community-health concerns
- Affected projects: Any inquiries, discussions, or developments concerning data centers of any size within the Seminole Nation during the moratorium period
- Detailed status: Active per Native News Online and Honor the Earth statements; no captured Tribal Council action rescinding or amending the 2026-03-07 resolution as of 2026-04-29 [VERIFY: no public Tribal Council minutes posted on Seminole Nation website]
- Outcome: Moratorium adopted before project approval; permanent replacement framework not identified
Tulsa
- Type: City
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-03-25 (unanimous Council vote; reported by Oklahoma Energy Today and Tulsa Flyer; ordinance text included emergency clause requiring immediate effectiveness, so adoption and effective dates coincide)
- Normalized date:
2026-03-25(exact) - Duration: Through 2026-12-31, or earlier if data center zoning amendments are adopted
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
ok-tulsa-2026 - Legal basis: Tulsa City Council File/Ordinance No. 26-196 (final substitute version "26-196-3"), confirmed via direct review of the City of Tulsa's CouncilDocuments records: reviewed by the Urban Development committee and Council on 2026-03-11, and by the Budget/Special Projects committee and Council on 2026-03-25 (adoption). The city's own record title reads "Ordinance declaring a 365-day Moratorium," in tension with news reporting (Tulsa Flyer) describing the final passed duration as 9 months; this discrepancy was not resolved with a directly-opened primary text of the signed ordinance in this pass.
- What prompted it: Re-evaluation of Tulsa's 2024 classification of data centers as low-impact manufacturing and industry; concern that large-scale data centers may have off-site impacts
- Affected projects: New building permits for data center use in Tulsa; Project Anthem Phase 1 and one pending Phase 2 zoning case are exempted
- Detailed status: Active
- Outcome: Planning Office must report to Council approximately every 60 days on zoning-code review and recommendations
Source: moratorium_inventory.csv · Methodology · Codebook.