With demand for data centers surging along with artificial intelligence (AI) and “superintelligence” (SI) technology, so have concerns about negative ripple effects for communities that house data centers.

But a national expert told Oklahoma state lawmakers that data centers can be built in Oklahoma without driving up consumers’ electric rates or creating a major negative impact on water supply.

Dr. Rick Evans, senior economist with the Abundance Institute, a technology-focused think tank, told members of the state Senate Agriculture and Wildlife Committee that Oklahoma is already expanding electricity production.

Oklahoma’s current energy supply is 90 terawatts per year, but that figure is scheduled to increase to 270 terawatts within five years. That alone will make Oklahoma a place where economic growth is more likely, he said.

“Independent of data centers, Oklahoma needs energy to be a high-growth state five years from now,” Evans said.

But he noted that lawmakers passed the “Behind the Meter Act,” Senate Bill 480, in 2025. That law expands behind-the-meter energy production, allowing businesses to build on-premises self-supply, including for data centers.

“That is a piece of policy that other states don’t have that clears a path towards modernizing the electrical grids in the state, and I think there are ways for counties, states, municipalities, to really use data-center development as a way to modernize their electrical grids,” Evans said.

Evans said rising consumer electricity rates can occur when data centers are built in areas without sufficient electrical capacity.

“If you don’t have enough capacity, electrical prices can rise if you put in a data center,” Evans said.

But many data centers are now paying for their own electricity production without any pass-along cost to residential consumers, he said.

“There are a lot of examples of data centers bringing their own capacity,” Evans said.

That’s why a study by the Electric Power Research Institute found that from 2015 to 2024 rising data-center construction was associated with lower electricity prices for local residents, Evans said.

He also told lawmakers that water is no longer a primary constraint on data-center construction.

“The closed-loop cooling technology that we have on modern data centers is 10 times more efficient than the previous, traditional, open-loop evaporative cooling for data centers,” Evans said. “So, they’ve become much more efficient. Oklahoma is a state that has water, and that’s just not the main constraint anymore.”

Evans also noted that data centers pay significant property tax, totaling in the tens of millions of dollars per site per year, which boosts local government revenue and can even make it possible for a local government to lower overall property-tax rates.

Evans noted researchers have found many citizen concerns about data centers are based on inaccurate information. He said policymakers should maximize transparency whenever a data center is proposed near a community to address those concerns and reduce the likelihood of negative public response based on inaccurate information.

“The playbook here for states, counties, and cities is to be more transparent and to give better information to their residents,” Evans said.

Alexander B. Gray, chief executive officer of American Global Strategies, an international strategic advisory firm, told lawmakers the data-center issue has major implications for international relations and global U.S. power.

“The U.S. today has the leading superintelligence companies in the world,” Gray said. “We have the leading researchers and models, but our continued leadership is not guaranteed.”

U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence and “superintelligence” technology is tied to data centers, Gray said.

He noted the Chinese government is investing heavily, seeking to overtake the U.S. as the world’s leader in those high-tech fields.

“They have made it very clear in their official state documents that dominating AI/SI is the main economic and national-security priority of the Chinese Communist Party,” Gray said. “If they are successful, if they overtake us and close this gap, they will gain an advantage in scientific discovery, industrial productivity and, critically, military capabilities, as well as greater influence over the technology that other countries adopt.”

State Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt, said the data-center issue is important, and he held the informal meeting to gather information from officials on all sides of the issue.

“Data centers are an important issue facing Oklahoma,” Murdock said, “and before we make policy decisions that could affect our state for decades to come, we need to have all the information available to us.”