In March, the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma became one of the first tribal governments in the country to ban AI data centers on the reservation.
Chebon Kernell only had one week to prepare Seminole Nation citizens, many of whom had little understanding of artificial intelligence and the influx of AI-centric facilities, about a possible non-disclosure agreement with a data center startup company.
On Feb. 25, the Seminole Nation General Council posted its upcoming agenda for March 7. It included a proposal to enter an NDA with a data center startup.
On March 3, Kernell helped coordinate an emergency town hall meeting. There, he said, Seminole citizens were "almost unanimously" opposed to data center development.
As a Mekusukey representative on the 28-member Seminole Nation General Council, his job was to consider that NDA.
He considered it. And instead of signing, Kernell authored a resolution to ban discussions about, inquiries into and developments of data center construction within Seminole Nation. That proposal turned into an indefinite moratorium at the suggestion of another council member.
It was approved by all 24 members present.
"One of the reasons why I'm so involved with these efforts is because of its impact on our understanding of our identity as Indigenous peoples," Kernell said. "Nothing can ever replicate the organic life that we represent, the miracle of life that we represent … nothing can ever replicate the communication between us and elders or us and our children."
"If they want to expand in Oklahoma, they're probably going to be on one of our tribal reservations"
Data center development is a hot topic throughout Oklahoma and the United States.
Major municipalities in the state, including Tulsa and Oklahoma City, have followed in Seminole Nation's footsteps. Both cities enacted moratoriums on data centers until the end of the year, though OKC now allows some exceptions with limited power use. Others, like Edmond and Norman, have similar measures.
These moves follow a national surge in artificial intelligence infrastructure, as investors look to data centers to sustain an increasingly AI-based market. That influx has proved controversial for the majority of Americans, who view data centers unfavorably.
And tech companies have set their sights on Oklahoma's reservations.
Oklahoma Rep. Amanda Clinton, D-Tulsa proposed a series of data center-related laws during the 2026 legislative session. The Cherokee Nation citizen said corporations looking to invest in the state will likely come into contact with the 38 federally recognized tribes based here.
"Half of Oklahoma is Indian Country. So inevitably, if they want to expand in Oklahoma, they're probably going to be on one of our tribal reservations," Clinton said. "What I think is important for these developers is that they actually consult with tribes."
The tribes are responding cautiously.
The Cherokee Nation created a task force in February to study the impacts of data centers. Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said the report will inform the tribe's next decisions when it comes out sometime this month.
The Muscogee National Council rejected a bid to build a facility last November following a grassroots, anti-data center movement on the reservation. Kernell, who joined the protest, said that outcome was harder to sell at the time because of the movement's infancy.
But, 100 miles to the north, the Osage Nation is in a different situation.
"I can't make a decision until I see verifiable information that it's not just people's politics getting ahead of the science"
In February, Sand Springs approved an 827-acre Google data center called Project Spring, located on the edge of town within the Osage reservation.
Project developers now seek support from the Osage Minerals Council, which is responsible for the nation's 1.47 million-acre oil and gas subsurface. Google says it's looking for a minerals lease to use the underlying rock for earthwork, not oil or gas.
White Rose Partners, a development firm working on the project, met with the council during a February meeting.
Jeff Eigenbrood, a managing partner for the firm, said it will create 1,000 full-time jobs. Google says jobs will likely be sourced locally, ranging from facility management to food services.
But the council had unanswered questions about artificial intelligence.
"They don't disclose exactly what they do at each facility," Eigenbrood told council members. "They haven't disclosed exactly what they'll be doing in this particular facility, but effectively, either way, it'll be a large warehouse filled with server computers and equipment."
The project's website does not mention artificial intelligence, and representatives for the company did not specify if the facility will train AI.
"Google has been building and operating data centers for decades. Data centers power the technology America relies on – everything from online banking to hospitals and 911 systems," Google wrote in an email. "The proposed data center could be used for a number of applications."
Council members have discussed the project in executive session multiple times since February, but not publicly. Representatives for Google say the company provided the tribe with engineering studies and general details early on.
Outgoing Osage Nation Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear, who was recently elected to the minerals council, said those details were unclear.
"Where is the proof on the water? Where is the proof on all these issues? … They provided me some documents, a nice booklet, but it's not the science we need to make these decisions," Standing Bear said. "I can't make a decision until I see verifiable information that it's not just people's politics getting ahead of the science."
Project Spring will use air cooling and water will be used for domestic purposes, according to Google.
But the company states any future water use will require negotiations with Sand Springs, and will fall in line with the company's pledge to replenish more than it consumes.
"There's expected to be very minimal water usage for cooling purposes. Google has asked for flexibility in the future to potentially use water," Eigenbrood told the minerals council. "But currently today, there's a six-inch water line that runs to the site that is served by the City of Sand Springs."
Now that the Osage Nation has elected its incoming minerals council and chief, Google says it will share more information with the tribe.
"I do not want to damage our water rights, but we have to look at it in a smart business decision way"
Data centers are expected to gobble up water, straining rural communities' water supply.
By 2030, AI data infrastructure is predicted to consume water equivalent to the annual needs of 1.3 billion people, according to the United Nations.
And this occurs as the state experiences record heat and persistent drought. Last June, Oklahoma became drought-free for the first time in six years. Now, dryness can be found throughout most of the state, including Osage Nation.
Rural Water District 21 is about 40 miles north of the proposed location for Project Spring. There, water outages and quality issues have plagued the reservation and its encompassing communities. The tribe entered into an agreement with the City of Pawhuska to improve water infrastructure last month.
Those issues were a subject of the tribe's recent elections.
Chuck Tillman, who was elected to the minerals council, said he wants to protect the tribe's water sources while negotiating for economic benefits.
"Google is a multi-trillion dollar company. You just don't come in and say, 'We don't want you here.' We want to listen to them and say, 'What are you going to do for us?'" Tillman said during a debate. "... I do not want to damage our water rights, but we have to look at it in a smart business decision way."
For tribes in Oklahoma, water rights are complicated.
The Environmental Protection Agency is authorized to treat some federally recognized tribal nations as states, which allows them to manage certain EPA regulatory programs, including those under the Clean Water Act.
But only one tribe in Oklahoma – the Pawnee Nation – is eligible to administer water quality standards. That's because it received treatment a year before the 2005 "Midnight Rider" legal provision, authored by U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Oklahoma. That measure, included in a congressional transportation bill, allows the state to veto any tribal nation's request to adopt EPA regulations for treatment as a state.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma, which affirmed half of Oklahoma is reservation land and that tribes had major crimes jurisdiction over its citizens, Gov. Kevin Stitt invoked the Midnight Rider. Currently, the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality maintains jurisdiction over water regulations.
Project Spring's website notes this.
"(Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality) and the Oklahoma Water Resources Board administer state regulations to protect groundwater quality," the website states. "Project Spring will adhere to these established requirements and any site-specific mandates from the permitting process to ensure construction or operational activities do not negatively impact groundwater quality or volume."
"We have a right to say how life can be"
In January, the federal government recommended tribes partner with data center developers.
"Data centers are getting a lot of attention right now. Fundamentally, they're just big buildings that house computer systems, which have been around for a long time," the Department of the Interior wrote on its website. "... Developers are looking to build data centers fast, so being able to move quickly is a strong selling point for potential partners. You can decide if that makes sense for you."
The U.S. Department of Energy has also planned to allocate $50 million in grants to tribal nations to "share in the prosperity of American energy dominance." That money can be used for data center planning, the department states.
Meanwhile, the concept of data sovereignty has joined the conversation, which refers to the capacity of nations to control tribal data. Some, according to the Department of Energy, argue that data centers could strengthen that data sovereignty.
As a traditional practitioner, Chebon Kernell dispels that notion. He said the concept has originated in non-Indigenous spaces, that legitimate sovereignty comes from culture and ancestry and that tribes can determine how data centers play out in Indian Country.
"What companies are saying to our communities is that 'You don't want to get left behind' … What I would be fearful of is being left behind and forgetting about the laws in the way of life (ancestors) taught us," Kernell said. "We speak the mother languages of these lands that have been here millennia upon millennia before these technologies existed.
"We have a right to say how life can be."
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
