Cherokee Nation bans data centers on tribal lands over water and noise concerns

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The Cherokee Nation has placed a moratorium on new data centers on tribal lands

Citizens say they are concerned about the impact of new projects on the local areas

Data centers projects on non-tribal land will not be granted support by the Cherokee Nation unless they are given early consultation

Hyperscale data center development has been banned on tribal lands owned by the Cherokee Nation following a poll of its citizens.

The poll was run by a task force headed by Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., and found that 64% of the 1,593 respondents were opposed to the construction of data center campuses within Cherokee Nations lands, which cover about 6,963 square miles across 14 counties in Oklahoma.

Citizens' concerns returned in a 37-page report focused heavily on water consumption, air quality, noise, and cultural resource protection.

Cherokee Nation data centers require early consultation

The report also stated that data centers seeking approval to be built on non-tribal land within the reservation will require an early consultation with the Cherokee Nation, and will not be supported unless this early consultation takes place.

"Our primary responsibility is to protect our citizens and tribal communities from these threats, so we will not support any hyperscale data centers on our reservation without proper consultation," Hoskin said.

As there are no Oklahoma state rules requiring data centers to register, the number of planned and operational data centers is unknown. But estimates vary. CleanView places the number of planned and operational sites at 41, while the US Data Center Map says there could be as many as 51.

What we do know is that every hyperscale project within the state is on non-tribal land. Google’s Pryor campus has operated since 2011, but is undergoing expansion as part of a $2 billion investment in the Stillwater and Pryor campuses.

The citizens of the Cherokee Nation seem to share the same concerns as many other Americans, with fears of job replacement, environmental damage, and rising energy bills also being prevalent as reasons for AI data center opposition.

Other tribes, such as the Seminole Nation and Kickapoo Tribe, have already passed their own bans on data center projects within their territory.

Via Tom's Hardware