The Oklahoma Ethics Commission is weighing the need for new rules around the use of artificial intelligence-generated campaign advertisements. But new ethics regulations involve political will, and while other states have addressed the issue, Oklahoma lawmakers have yet to act.

Abortion access. State income taxes. Welfare benefits. There’s a lot that Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and his Democratic counterpart from Maryland, Gov. Wes Moore, disagree on.

But stopping robots from lying to voters at the whims of dark-money groups—that’s a common cause.

“When you literally, you know, confuse or lie to Oklahomans through AI, you can't tell what's real... I think that's across the line,” Stitt said in late July, at the annual National Governors Association, or NGA, summer meeting in Oklahoma City.

It was the same weekend that Stitt, who served as the NGA chair for two years, passed the baton to his vice-chair, Moore, who agreed with him.

“It is true, you should not be able to use technology to distort facts and realities for people,” Moore said. “Particularly because people are very susceptible to these types of manipulations.”

Thirty-one states, including Maryland, have regulated the use of AI-generated advertisements – specifically deepfakes – in elections, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Oklahoma is not one of them. And while Stitt is on his way out of office, he says that needs to change.

“We need to have some kind of regulation, especially around political campaigns,” Stitt said.

Why Oklahoma needs to regulate AI-generated political ads

Lee Anne Bruce Boone leads the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, which promulgates new rules through a public process and presents them to lawmakers for approval. She said one of the commission's most vital jobs is staying proactive.

“We want to be looking forward and thinking about things that might be impacting our purview, our jurisdiction, and artificial intelligence is certainly one of those,” Bruce Boone said.

The ethics commission has been monitoring the issue in Oklahoma for some time, she said.

“We specifically had some mailers come to our attention several months ago regarding four different officeholders, two of which are involved in a current campaign cycle and two that are not.” Bruce Boone said, explaining that complaints came from a mix of elected officials, campaign representatives and members of the public**.** 

“That kind of kick-started the process in terms of our discussion with the Ethics Commission and a concern about how that might be interpreted or reviewed by the Oklahoma voter,” she said.

But leading up to the June Republican Primary election, Make Oklahoma Great Again, a dark-money group that’s been buying many of the circulating ads, released a flurry of TV ads targeting gubernatorial candidates.

One ad accused then-candidate Charles McCall of secretly supporting sex changes for minors, showing deepfakes of him with a banana in his pocket and calling him “Banana Chuck” in parody of one of his own ads where he chops the fruit in half, saying, “I have a message for any lunatic pushing sex changes for kids: You first.”

McCall really did release an ad of him chopping a banana while threatening supporters of sex changes for minors, but in his version he touts outlawing the practice and banning boys from girls’ sports.

Another ad by the same group attacked Mike Mazzei, one of the frontrunners for the GOP nomination for Governor in the August 25 runoff, along with incumbent State Attorney General Gentner Drummond.

That ad starts with a deepfake scene of 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on a stage, while Trump pouts at a banquet table in the foreground.

“Trump’s MAGA movement; Crushed by crooked Hillary if Mike Mazzei got his way,” a male voice says, going on to accuse Mazzei of voting to remove Oklahoma from the Electoral College in favor of a national popular vote. Trump lost the popular vote when he won the 2016 presidential election.

Then, the ad transitions to deepfakes of Mazzei hanging out with Clinton and hugging her, while the voice calls him a “Clinton lover, Trump hater.”

One candidate the Make Oklahoma Great Again ads don’t attack is Drummond. The group most often depicts the attorney general as a heroic fighter pilot and the solution to Oklahoma’s woes, which has spurred accusations that his campaign is behind the false messaging about other candidates he means to beat.

Meanwhile, Drummond sued Gov. Stitt, the School Freedom Fund Oklahoma PAC and the Republican group Club for Growth in May for allegedly collaborating to air ads calling him “America’s Wokest RINO” (as if Trump said it himself), a Biden bankroller and a “defender of Godless liberals.”

One of the school freedom ads accuses Drummond of grifting federal Paycheck Protection Program funds for his private companies during the pandemic and of buying a $750,000 summer home in Maine.

“A public official fleecing the public and abusing our trust,” A female voice says, “Living high on the hog, summering in Maine, while Oklahomans foot the bill. It’s time for greedy Gentner to take a permanent vacation.”

Multiple businesses owned by Drummond received PPP loans totaling $3.6 million between 2020 and 2021, which were paid out to him by his own bank. That story came to light during his second campaign for attorney general when reported by The Oklahoman.

But AI ads have a way of taking grains of truth and sprinkling them into a mixture of deepfakes and heavy lies about events that never happened. It’s not the sort of thing Oklahoma regulators saw coming when they initially wrote the state’s ethics rules years ago, Bruce Boone said.

“Our existing rules, of course, didn't anticipate the use of AI,” she said. “There have been a few changes in the past few years, but the bulk of them came over ten years ago. And really, I think the Commission is coming at this from a concern of let's begin talking about this process now, because it's a very serious matter and it involves constitutional issues as well.”

Willy-nilly laws around this could lead to violations of the First Amendment’s free speech protections, she said.

“In terms of, if anyone were to try to regulate content, I don't think that's the intent of the commission at this point, but there has been that discussion as well,” Bruce Boone said.

All roads lead to lawmakers

There are two avenues for AI regulation in Oklahoma: new ethics rules for political candidates and state officeholders, with civil and potentially criminal penalties for violations, or straight law proposals, with whatever rules state lawmakers see fit.

The point is to keep state elections and their participants fair and transparent, and, well, AI changes how political communications are created, Bruce Boone said.

“And we know voters deserve accurate information to make an informed decision,” she said. “So we want to be responsible and evaluate whether our transparency laws should evolve at the same time.”

But to become a reality, ethics rules and election laws require the buy-in of state lawmakers, because either way, the legislature gets the final say.

In Maryland, lawmakers have completely prohibited AI deepfake political ads. In other states, like Tennessee, deepfakes impersonating candidates must include certain disclosures.

Some states do both. All states have attached civil and/or criminal penalties for violations.

In Oklahoma, Roland Republican Rep. Jim Olsen chairs the House Elections and Ethics Committee. He supports new regulations that could eventually lead to prohibition.

"I think I would start with the disclosure and probably move on to the other one,” Olsen said. “I think that is not necessarily an either/or. Yeah. Eventually have both.”

The question, Olsen said, is not whether Oklahoma lawmakers should regulate AI political messaging; it’s how to do it without violating anyone’s First Amendment rights.

“The elephant in the room is what are the courts going to say?” he said. “But at the same time, we're the legislators. It's our job to legislate. And it's the court's job to take that next step if it's challenged.”

In the Senate, Democratic Minority Leader Julia Kirt says her caucus has generally supported stronger regulations around AI in brief and sporadic conversations, or at least ensuring the ethics commission has the capacity it needs to investigate violations of new rules. 

“That'd be my biggest worry,” the Oklahoma City Democrat said. “You know, if we slap some new regulations, but we don't actually give them the capacity to follow up on it.”

The topic is bound to come up during next year’s legislative session; whatever lawmakers devise remains to be seen. But it’s already an issue in the runoff election to replace Stitt.

Drummond was blunt about his approach in a debate earlier this year.

“As governor, we'll pass legislation that bans the manipulation of AI,” he said in a debate earlier this year. “Voters need to see the authentic person on the stage in their ads. And they need to be able to vote for the candidate that will represent them.”

Mazzei was more abstract.

“Artificial intelligence. We all need to deal with it appropriately and respectfully,” Mazzei said. “And when we're dealing with information, we need to deal with the facts.”

The GOP nominee for governor this month will face off against Democrat and House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson and Independents Robert Brooks, Orlando Lynn Bush and Jerry Griffin in November.

Bruce Boone says the commission is interested in new AI rules, but that it’s a process with a statutory timeline, which requires commissioners to provide an opportunity for public comment and to agree on the newly written language.

“One commissioner may want to be more stringent, and others may want to be more lenient,” she said. “We may not get agreement.”

Bruce Boone said there is still time for commissioners to hear from the public and write and propose new rules, but maintained lawmakers can act completely independently of the ethics commission. In which case, the commission will be there to help.

Tahlequah is home to two federally recognized Cherokee tribes. But only one, the Cherokee Nation, is the successor to the reservation in the eyes of the U.S. government.

The other, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma, has faced political instability and decades-long strife with its sister tribe over jurisdiction, treaty rights and gaming.

The United Keetoowah Band, or UKB, was first recognized by the U.S. Congress in 1946. Since then, it has claimed equal jurisdiction to the 7,000 square-mile Cherokee Nation reservation. The Cherokee Nation denies that claim.

In its final days, the Biden administration gave the United Keetoowah Band a historic win.

Robert Anderson, former solicitor general for the Department of the Interior and member of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa in Minnesota, issued a 56-page decision in January 2025 declaring the tribe was an equal successor to the reservation. He said he thought it was a fair, easy decision.

“The Cherokee Nation and UKB, they were all over the department (when) I was working on this thing,” Anderson said. “I had them formally submit their papers, but I didn't meet with them again after that, because I didn't want to have that sort of political pressure. I just wanted to have the merits, the legal discussion and the history in front of me.”

But that victory was short-lived. This May, the Trump administration rescinded Anderson’s decision with one of its own, leaving the UKB without a casino and the decades-long battle no closer to being resolved.

Cherokee Nation vs. United Keetoowah Band

The members of both tribes are descendants of Cherokee people relocated from their homelands in the southeastern United States. A third Cherokee tribe, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, exists outside the reservation in North Carolina.

The United Keetoowah Band is derived from the name of the Cherokee mother town, “Kituwah.” It says its members are mostly descended from Western Cherokees, or “Old Settlers,” who relocated prior to the Trail of Tears. Descendants of Cherokee Nation were mostly forcibly removed.

Keetoowah organizations existed prior to the tribe’s federal recognition in 1946. One group, the nationalist, traditionalist Keetoowah Society worked alongside and against the Cherokee Nation government throughout the latter half of the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century.

Today, the two tribes govern in different ways.

Cherokee Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the country with more than 470,000 enrolled members. The UKB has more than 14,000 members.

Enrollment into the UKB requires a one-quarter degree of Cherokee ancestry and members can’t enroll in other tribes. The Cherokee Nation has no blood quantum and its members aren’t limited to one nation.

And while Cherokee Nation assumes tens of thousands of acres in trust land and political, jurisdictional power over the area, the UKB has around 76 acres devoted strictly to its tribal headquarters.

And that trust land is at the forefront of their conflict.

‘They’re modern day successors, and so they jointly succeed to the rights to that reservation’

Former DOI Solicitor General Anderson issued an “M-Opinion” on Jan. 17, 2025, that would have allowed the United Keetoowah Band to use trust land for a casino, reconciling the tribe’s rocky history with gaming rights.

The UKB first opened a bingo hall in 1986, which developed into a full casino venture over the next 27 years. It reportedly operated on non-trust land in Tahlequah throughout that time period. The Cherokee Nation sued the tribe, arguing the operation was illegal.

In 2012, the UKB asked the federal government to take 2.03 acres of the property into trust. But that request failed and the casino shut down in August 2013.

Victoria Holland is an attorney and the proposed congressional delegate for the UKB. She said, the casino was the tribe’s largest source of general fund revenue.

"It's really unfortunate that our alleged sister tribe would not stay out of the way to allow for us to continue gaming operations, and it's escalated to this point,” Holland said.

Since then, the tribe has made multiple attempts to reopen a gaming facility.

One attempt involved an agreement with Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is a Cherokee Nation citizen, but a vocal critic of tribal sovereignty.

In 2020, he unilaterally entered into gaming compacts with four tribal nations, including the UKB. That agreement, which would have allowed UKB to run a casino north of Oklahoma City rather than in Tahlequah, was shot down by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in 2021. State legislators killed the compact again in 2023.

The Cherokee Nation has opposed those measures along the way, arguing its sister tribe requires permission before receiving trust land on the reservation.

Meanwhile, Anderson argues the tribes are both successors in interest to the 19th century treaties that gave way to the reservation, arguing the historic Cherokee Nation that signed those treaties no longer exists. That means both tribes had equal treaty rights, he said, because the Cherokee Nation and UKB are the descendants of the historic Cherokee government.

“They’re modern day successors, and so they jointly succeed to the rights to that reservation, including the right to have land taken in trust,” Anderson said.

But Anderson’s decision was suspended by the Trump administration in April 2025, alongside all 20 opinions he authored during his tenure as solicitor general. This May, Trump’s DOI rescinded the decision outright..

Anderson said the department has been killing each of his opinions. He said it’s unheard of.

“They just write in half a page, ‘It's not the best reading of the law. We reverse it. End of discussion,’” Anderson said. “And so, pretty lame. I'd be ashamed to do that if I was a solicitor … We worked on that thing for two-and-a-half years before we released it.”

And UKB Chief Jeff Wacoche lamented it.

“The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has used its size and its influence to bully other tribal governments, non-tribal governments and parts of the federal government,” Wacoche told tribal members in June. “The withdrawal of the opinion is further proof that the bully and its friends have gotten their way once again.”

‘We're the signatory to every treaty with the United States and Cherokee people, and we still exist and have never been broken.’

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. denies those claims. He said the modern Cherokee Nation is the one that has always existed.

“We share a kinship in terms of going back generations, coming from the same people, but they are decidedly a separate government that is a creation of the mid-20th century,” Hoskin said. “That's not something the Cherokee Nation imposed upon them. And so all of that means that we have a separate history, separate legal status, that they have no rights to any treaties.

“We're the signatory to every treaty with the United States and Cherokee people, and we still exist and have never been broken.”

Hoskin added that because the tribe was federally recognized in the 20th century, it couldn’t have signed treaties stretching back to the 19th century.

“I mean, you would have to be in a time machine to go back and put UKB government in the 19th century at a table signing a treaty,” Hoskin said.

Holland said the two are 100% equal, adding the Cherokee Nation’s constitution ratified in 1976 was when the tribe became the “Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.”

“The Cherokee Nation as we know today is the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and they've been the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma since they were incorporated in the ‘70s,” Holland said. “They are not the historic Cherokee Nation.”

The Cherokee Nation disagrees. Its 1999 constitution dropped the “of Oklahoma.”

Cherokee Nation maintains the 1976 constitution only replaced its 1839 incarnation and that it is still the same historic government.

Hoskin also takes issue with the UKB Lighthorse Police Department.

According to the UKB, the department and its officers are recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and certified by the Oklahoma Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training.

But Hoskin said it has no jurisdiction on the reservation, with the possible exception of its 76 acres of trust land, pointing to a drunk driving case from 2024 that was thrown out due to UKB involvement.

In January 2024, a UKB officer pulled over an alleged drunk driver on the reservation who was later arrested by a Cherokee County sheriff. The defendant argued the UKB police had no jurisdiction. In October, a judge dismissed the case.

Thirty-two law enforcement agencies endorsed a letter that December condemning the UKB for the case’s dismissal, stating the tribe posed a public safety threat.

“Their mere presence, and given the role they attempt to execute, jeopardizes criminal investigations and ultimately may allow criminals to go unprosecuted, unpunished and able to harm or kill others,” the letter reads. “Therefore, we hereby put the UKB on notice that they are not welcome at stops or crime scenes where our agencies are involved and if they appear, will be asked to leave. Failure to immediately vacate the scene will subject the UKB Lighthorse to potential criminal prosecution under Cherokee Nation law and potentially Oklahoma law.”

Hoskin and the law enforcement agencies both refer to the UKB Lighthorse as “rogue police officers.”

Holland said because they’re BIA-certified, those statements threaten UKB police officers.

“The public safety threat is making allegations that we’re not a legitimate law enforcement agency, because then you are now putting my officers at risk,” Holland said.

‘That infighting is not present on the personal level’

Robert Anderson said he always knew the legal fight between Cherokee Nation and the UKB would continue regardless of his decision. His M-Opinion, he said, was intended to counsel the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit with meaningful analysis.

The United Keetoowah Band currently has multiple applications pending in the Department of the Interior. If approved, they would increase UKB’s trust land acreage from 76 to 188. And, according to Chief Jeff Wacoche, another would allow trust land for gaming.

But according to Holland, the turmoil between the two is purely political.

“My kids are CNO, my husband's CNO,” Holland said. “We all live together, work together, go to school together, go to church together, like that infighting is not present on the personal level.”

Meanwhile, the United Keetoowah Band is facing internal, economic struggle.

Last month, the tribe furloughed 32 employees due to depleting American Rescue Plan Act funding. Those funds were issued during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021 to help governments around the country mitigate its impacts. The tribe’s comptroller said it was never intended as a permanent funding source.

Around that time, Wacoche allegedly threatened to fight a council member during a tense meeting about the layoffs.

Most of the employees were relocated while at least two took layoffs as of July.

For decades, Cherokee Nation has challenged the UKB’s claims. What’s the end goal? According to Hoskin, that does not include eliminating its sister tribe.

“Sometimes people either perceive or cynically describe the Cherokee Nation's position as wanting to eliminate the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma or to deny them their federal recognition, and that's just simply not true,” Hoskin said. “All we're asking is that history be vindicated.”

Anderson speculates there is only one solution.

“Under the modern view of tribal sovereignty, I think the tribes should work something out between themselves,” Anderson said. “Politically, very difficult to do, but I think ultimately that's what's going to have to be the resolution, but that's going to be up to them.”

Oklahoma Attorney General and Republican candidate for Governor Gentner Drummond’s comments calling some members of his party fascists at the Tulsa Press Club’s Candidate Forum this week are causing a stir.

When asked what he thinks about opponents in his own party calling him a “fake Republican,” Drummond said he thinks the two major political parties are no longer relevant to statewide elections.

“There's 4 million Oklahomans, not all rich, not all poor, not all Republican, not all Democrat. But I aspire to be the governor of all,” Drummond said, “And that sometimes draws me in sharp contrast with the extreme members of the Republican Party. But I don't think they are real Republicans. I consider them more fascist.”

Affiliating as a Republican or Democrat, he said, has become a national competition for who can take the most extreme stance on either side of an issue, and that’s not in the best interest of Oklahomans.

“I used to think politics was linear,” Drummond said, “But frankly, folks, it's circular. So the further right you get, at some point you tip over the top and you're coming back down on the other side.”

Drummond’s GOP runoff opponent, Mike Mazzei, quickly took to social media to condemn Drummond’s characterization of far-right, MAGA politicians.

“Last night, Biden donor Gentner Drummond sounded exactly like liberals attacking Pro-Trump, America First Republicans,” Mazzei wrote on X. “Now, Oklahoma conservatives know exactly what Gentner Drummond thinks of them.”

U.S. Congressman and Freedom Caucus Member Josh Brecheen, R-OK2, also weighed in against Drummond in a post shared on Mazzei’s campaign socials.

“There is nothing ‘far-right’ about securing our border, defending the Second Amendment, standing with President Trump, or making Oklahoma an income-tax-free state like Mike Mazzei has proposed,” Brecheen wrote. “Disagreeing with true conservatives is one thing, but calling them “fascists” and “extreme” is entirely different. Gentner Drummond should stop treating true conservatives like the enemy.”

Even President Trump contributed, panning Drummond in a Truth Social rant for not supporting the United Arab Emirates-backed aluminum smelter proposed for Inola and having a “bad attitude.”

“He wants to dethrone a magnificent, Job producing, desperately needed, and brand new, Aluminum Plant that will be one of the best projects ever conceived or built, not only in the Great State of Oklahoma, but in the United States, itself,” Trump wrote. “Drummond is not the right guy. He’s got a bad attitude, and he doesn’t stand for the Values of Oklahoma."

”For his part, Drummond has backed many of the Trump Administration’s policy agendas and other initiatives, notably in recent years around immigration enforcement.

“I prefer to be a traditional Republican that supports the president's agenda. I am his partner in Oklahoma,” Drummond said. “I've done everything that the president has asked except honor the aluminum smelter request.

“It's just not in the best interest of Oklahoma.”

Gov. Kevin Stitt wants Oklahoma’s chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, to be investigated as potential threats in the state.

Stitt released the executive order Wednesday. It follows one signed by President Trump back in November, aimed at designating “certain Muslim Brotherhood chapters as foreign terrorist groups.” It’s a move his counterparts in Florida and Texas have already made themselves, even though such authority lies with the federal government.

Members of the Lebanese and Jordanian branches of the Muslim Brotherhood have worked with Hezbollah and Hamas, which are in armed conflict with the U.S. and its ally Israel in the Middle East. The U.S. has considered Hamas a foreign terrorist organization since 1997.

Trump’s order was meant to preempt any terrorist activity from those groups in coordination with Hezbollah and Hamas on U.S. soil. Since the order, the Lebanese and Sudanese chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood have been designated foreign terrorist organizations. The Egyptian and Jordanian branches are listed as specially designated global terrorists.

Those findings by the federal government were related to foreign groups based on actions performed abroad. Stitt is now citing them to target local Muslim social and advocacy groups.

“Organizations affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas have operated in the United States and have raised funds to support Hamas's terrorist attacks in the Middle East,” Stitt’s order reads.

To justify the targeting of CAIR, Stitt cites a 2009 terrorism financing case against another organization, the Holy Land Foundation. CAIR appeared along with 200 other groups as “unindicted coconspirators” after appearing in banking records from that organization. CAIR was not accused of a crime.

Stitt’s order does not offer any proof that CAIR or the Muslim Brotherhood in Oklahoma are colluding with terrorist groups. The order empowers law enforcement agencies like the Oklahoma Departments of Public Safety and Homeland Security to “conduct an intelligence-based assessment” of local Brotherhood chapters and CAIR Oklahoma.

If they find evidence of support for those foreign organizations, the order also directs state law enforcement to make a recommendation to the federal government to designate them as dangerous.

The Executive Order is counter to Stitt’s past advocacy welcoming Afghan refugees in 2021. At that time, CAIR Oklahoma was heavily involved in the resettlement process, alongside other faith communities that included Catholic Charities of Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

CAIR Oklahoma Executive Director Veronica Laizure-Henry did not agree to be interviewed for this story, citing pending related litigation in other states, but she did provide a written response on behalf of the organization:

“Throughout CAIR’s long history in Oklahoma, our civil rights organization has worked to protect the Constitution’s guarantees of free speech, religious freedom and equality under the law. We have also pursued justice for all people, including Oklahoma Muslims impacted by hate. We filed the lawsuit that ultimately struck down Oklahoma's unconstitutional anti-Islam amendment, and just days ago, we filed a lawsuit challenging the City of Broken Arrow's illegal denial of a mosque's establishment. Our successful civil rights work in Oklahoma is exactly why Gov. Stitt is targeting our organization with debunked conspiracy theories. We look forward to continuing our civil rights work in Oklahoma and proving once again that the Constitution is stronger than any politician’s bigotry.”

In a May opinion piece in The Oklahoman, Laizure-Henry and her colleague Corey Saylor quoted Proverbs 26:11 to argue that anti-Muslim sentiment is something politicians in this state repeatedly return to, “like a dog to its vomit.”

The Bible verse, “aptly describes the recent resurrection of efforts to erase a disfavored religious minority from Oklahoma,” Laizure-Henry and Saylor wrote. “Agree or disagree with Muslims, the protection of free exercise of religion is a duty the Constitution imposes on federal, state and local government.”

Reported cyclosporiasis cases have climbed to more than 500 in Oklahoma, according to data from the State Department of Health.

The state's total count includes 496 confirmed and 10 probable cases. This is up from a total of 418 confirmed and eight probable cases reported last week. Thirty-two cases have resulted in hospitalization.

Oklahomans ages seven to 94 have become infected with the intestinal illness, caused by a parasite called Cyclospora. People can become infected by consuming food or water contaminated with it, but it is not known to spread person-to-person.

Symptoms include watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, loss of appetite, weight loss, slight fever, nausea and fatigue. They usually begin about one week after exposure to the parasite, but they can start between two and 14 days.

The CDC has reported more than 10,000 confirmed cases in 47 states since May 1. This includes 6,358 cases reported in an ongoing multistate outbreak linked to recalled iceberg lettuce grown by Taylor Farms in central Mexico, according to the CDC. The outbreak has resulted in 278 hospitalizations and two deaths.

Oklahoma is one of 15 states that reported cases with exposure to recalled iceberg lettuce from the company, according to the CDC. The federal agency stated the best-by dates for the recalled products have passed and they should no longer be available in stores or restaurants.

If an individual has recalled lettuce, they should throw it away or return it, and wash items and surfaces it may have touched with hot soapy water or in a dishwasher.

Cases of cyclosporiasis can be treated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, a combination antibiotic. But most people who have a healthy immune system will recover without treatment, according to the CDC. An untreated infection can last for a few days to months.

Consumers can reduce their risk of infection by washing their hands and any fresh produce before eating and cooking, and cooking produce to at least 158 degrees.

Terry “Buffalo” Ware, a longtime Oklahoma guitarist known for his work with Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jimmy LaFave and John Fullbright, died Wednesday, August 5th after a battle with lung cancer, according to several friends. He was 76.

Proposed taxpayer-funded religious charter schools are using state and federal courts to poke holes in the wall between church and state. Here is how each of the leading Republican Candidates for Governor feels about the issue.

In March, two years after the Oklahoma Supreme Court rejected a proposed Catholic Charter school in Oklahoma, a new Jewish school from Florida sued the state charter school board to make its own case.

So, whether tax dollars should be used to pay for a publicly funded religious education is an open question in the courts, again. The first round of hearings in federal Western District Court of Oklahoma was last week.

During a recent News on 6/News9 primary runoff debate, Republican candidate for governor Mike Mazzei indicated his support for the idea. His reason: Because President Donald Trump supports it.

“This is one of the big differences between Drummond and myself,” Mazzei said, pointing to his opponent’s lawsuit in 2023, which led to the end of St. Isidore Catholic Charter School in state and federal courts in the following years. The Trump administration had filed court briefs supporting the school.

Mazzei’s opponent, Gentner Drummond, is also the incumbent State Attorney General. He defended his lawsuit, calling the Catholic school unconstitutional.

“I took an oath…to uphold the federal Constitution and the Oklahoma Constitution, and the Oklahoma Constitution leaves no ambiguity,” Drummond said. “We shall not fund any religious school.”

The Oklahoma Supreme Court agreed with him in a 6-2 majority ruling in 2024. When the case arrived before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2025, the bench was split 4-4, allowing the state’s decision to stand.

Mazzei also said states — and parents — ought to have more options to educate their children. Then, he used the remaining time in his 30-second response to take a few jabs at his opponent.

“He does like being the darling of the liberal teachers unions, because they won't support the reforms that will get us out of being 49th in education,” he said of Drummond. “And he won't support moving school board elections to the general election date in November so conservative Oklahoma parents can have more of a say in the leadership of their school districts.”

And because a good primary runoff debate isn’t complete without at least one wild extrapolation meant to prove a point, Drummond sent his own dagger in response, conflating the religious school issue with Mazzei’s support of the United Arab Emirates-backed Aluminum smelter planned in Inola.

“Mr. Mazzei is supporting the Muslim monarchy,” Drummond said. “We can anticipate he'll also support Sharia schools. I stood between that and the freedom to worship God when you wish, with whom you wish and how you wish.”

Mazzei escalated further.

“Part of the reason President Trump supports me is he knows I will ban Sharia law in the state of Oklahoma and designate the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council of American Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist organizations,” he said.

The Cherokee Nation issued a ban on hyperscale data center development for tribally owned and trust land on Wednesday.

Cherokee Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. wrote that the Tahlequah-based tribe, which has the most enrolled tribal members in the U.S., will protect citizens from threats to the environment and culture.

“It’s clear that our Cherokee Nation Administration, Council, and citizens have serious concerns about the construction of hyperscale data centers on our tribal lands, which affect our resources and cultural lifeways,” Hoskin wrote. “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.”

That also goes for non-tribal land, he said.

The tribe wrote on its Anadisgoi website that it will not consider data centers on non-tribal land within the reservation unless the tribal government and citizenry are consulted, adding that those projects ultimately impact Cherokee Nation citizens. The consultation must address environmental concerns and include community input, according to the nation.

Another member of the Five Tribes in Oklahoma, the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, banned data centers on its lands in March. The Muscogee Nation is currently investigating data center impacts.

The Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma in McLoud, which is not a member of the Five Tribes, also opposes data centers.

Data center report

Hoskin’s decision follows a report the tribe released Wednesday that researched potential impacts and opportunities data centers could bring to the reservation. It was mandated via an executive order Hoskin issued in February.

The report, created by the Principal Chief’s Task Force on Data Centers, surveyed nearly 1,600 tribal citizens about the subject. It revealed 64% of respondents were opposed to data centers, while 14% were favorable. The remaining are marked as “unsure.”

At least two data centers are being developed within the Cherokee reservation: Project Clydesdale near Owasso and Project Mustang in Claremore.

Report authors wrote that the tribe has limited influence over development on non-tribal land, but it has full authority on trust and tribally owned land.

Cherokee Nation’s Office of Real Estate Services reports it oversees around 46,000 acres of restricted land, more than 62,000 acres of tribal trust land and more than 5,100 acres of tribal fee land. The Cherokee Nation reservation in northeastern Oklahoma covers around 7,000 square miles, or around 4.4 million acres.

Osage Nation Congress members say they’re in the dark after the tribe’s executive branch decided to close its visitors center, language immersion school and Harvest Land farm.

Principal Chief Joe Tillman issued an executive order Tuesday to declare a state of emergency, citing financial shortfalls in the tribe’s projected revenue.

Last month, he wrote that the tribe’s annual budget totaled around $60 million with submitted budget requests totaling nearly $90 million. He said the tribe must reduce spending by around $38 million.

Daposka Ahnkodapi, which teaches Osage culture and language to children up to the 8th grade, was closed Wednesday morning as a result of the cuts. The Osage Nation Visitors Center will close Saturday.

Harvest Land farm, which will close at the end of the year, was designed to expand Osage food sovereignty, including through food assistance for tribal citizens.

Congressional member RJ Walker, who has served as assistant principal chief and acting principal chief, said he never expected the farm to generate revenue.

“To me, that is a government service. I know that we're not going to grow tomatoes and pineapples and different things and make a profit off of that,” Walker said. “That provides a service to our people. It's something we can be proud of. It's food sovereignty.”

The executive branch released a statement Wednesday stating the locations were not generating revenue.

The Osage Nation Congress met Thursday morning for a special session Tillman requested two weeks ago. Tillman addressed congress and asked them to appropriate several budget requests, but did not directly address the closures. He left shortly after his statements. A KOSU reporter attempted to talk to him outside, but a spokesperson said Tillman could not speak on the situation.

Osage Congress member Eli Potts said there is no actual state of emergency.

“We're paying millions of dollars to have a patch on the uniforms of OSU athletes. We are spending millions of dollars to invest in our infrastructure throughout Osage County. We are spending millions of dollars to invest in economic development at Skyway 36,” Potts said in an interview. “We are not broke.”

Congress member Billy Keene said the executive branch’s statements do not reflect reality.

“It's Orwellian, man. It literally is,” Keene said. “It's not true.”

Congress member Maria Whitehorn echoed that sentiment during the meeting.

“We're financially stable, and I just want the people to know that,” Whitehorn said. “We have two months worth of this fiscal year [left] with $11.3 million sitting there.”

Walker said budget requests often outweigh project revenue.

“Every single budgetary session that we go through, there are more budget requests than we have, let me say, that exceed our projected revenue,” Walker said. “So this is nothing new.”

The Osage Nation Congress has yet to set a budget for the tribe’s 2027 fiscal year, which begins on Oct. 1.

Communication with the congress

Potts, along with at three other members of the congress, said they were unaware of Tillman’s decisions before they were made.

“What we have is what the public has … We were as blindsided as everyone else,” Potts said. “The communication from the executive branch has been lacking, and it's led to confusion and fears in our community. And that's wrong.”

Walker said Tillman is his friend but has not responded to his messages for the past day.

Keene said the tribe can still make remedies before the next fiscal year. He said the tribe should learn more about the logistics of the closures during the Osage Congressional Education Committee meeting at 3:30 p.m. Monday.

“We haven't set a fiscal year budget yet, so hopefully we can just make things better,” Keene said.

Oklahoma passed a law last year allowing energy-hungry facilities to build their own power. But as data center announcements sprout up across Oklahoma, most include plans to work with local utilities.

Last month, Gov. Kevin Stitt and some Oklahoma electric utilities signed a federal pledge to protect household ratepayers. The Ratepayer Protection Pledge directs data center developers to pay their own way and invest in surrounding communities.

Part of the document states companies must buy the massive amount of electricity they require, add more power to the grid or supply it on-site.

"You're going to be building your own data centers, and you're going to be building your own electric plants," said President Donald Trump. "You're essentially becoming a utility."

The pledge is one of many ways officials are responding to public pushback against hyperscale data centers.

Oklahoma has its own version of a ratepayer protection pledge, a law requiring electricity suppliers to create separate terms and conditions for large-scale energy consumers like data centers and increase transparency. State regulators are currently reviewing large-load tariffs from utilities intended to prevent households from shouldering grid connection costs for companies like Google and Meta.

The legislature also passed Senate Bill 480 last year, allowing data centers to build power plants behind the meter, bypassing utilities. Rep. Brad Boles, R-Marlow, co-authored the legislation.

"What we realized is in Oklahoma, our state law is kind of vague; it doesn't really say that companies can provide their own power generation," Boles, who is running for a seat on the Corporation Commission, said. "It doesn't say they can't either, but it doesn't say that they can."

" So we wanted to provide clarity that if a large load comes to Oklahoma and they want to provide their own power generation, that they would have the ability to do that," he said.

The bill was expected to generate billions of dollars in private investment and alleviate pressure from the electric grid. Growing demand, supercharged by large-load consumers like data centers, is expected to outpace supply within the Southwest Power Pool's territory. The organization operates the electric grid in Oklahoma and 16 other states.

But so far, most data centers with plans in Oklahoma are opting to plug into the grid. Experts say the state's grid system is likely more reliable than depending on behind-the-meter generation. Building a power plant is costly and can take years to complete.

" I don't readily, actually, believe that any data center company wants to also be in the power business," said Joshua Rhodes, a research scientist at the University of Texas at Austin.

Still, some AI companies are investing in behind-the-meter natural gas plants in states like neighboring Texas to accelerate the pace of buildout. Those plants are expected to emit significant amounts of pollution, an analysis from the Texas Tribune and Floodlight shows.

Why Oklahoma isn't seeing an influx of behind-the-meter projects for data centers

Data centers typically have backup generators on site, should they temporarily lose connection. Some companies are adding power to the grid with new energy projects.

Google and Oklahoma Gas & Electric announced a deal in the spring to power the tech company's three data centers in Muskogee and Stillwater. Google is building two solar farms to add energy generation.

Christi Woodworth,  OG&E's chief communications officer, said companies are eyeing the state's relatively low electricity costs and reliability.

"They've got to make a decision about if they want to build or bring their own generation," she said. "That effectively puts them on an island, right? They take on all of that risk themselves, and they have to decide if that's something that they want to do."

"The folks we're talking with are very interested in connecting to the grid."

The company is in "a handful" of other discussions with large-load projects, Woodworth said, but no plans are public yet.

Last year, officials announced a project in Chickasha and celebrated the state's new behind-the-meter law. The Chickasha Airport Industrial Park could one day be home to a data center and power plant, but no firm plans have been made public. A manufacturing firm in the Tulsa Port of Catoosa announced early this year it plans to build its power on-site. A news release says the company specializes in aerospace, energy and advanced manufacturing.

Large proposed data centers, including the Luther Horizon Technology Park, Project Mustang in Claremore, IREN's Kiowa Data Center and more, plan to work with local utilities.

The Kiowa facility is the state's largest proposed data center, according to energy analytics firm Cleanview. In an email, Jason Date, associate director of development, said the company plans to secure its power through Public Service Company of Oklahoma.

"Like the vast majority of homes and businesses, IREN's facilities use grid power because it is the most efficient and reliable way to source electricity," he said.

A delay in critical infrastructure delivery is also an obstacle for data center developers. Getting a natural gas plant, the typical energy source for behind-the-meter data center projects, can currently take years.

"If you're not in line right now, you're probably not getting one until the 2030s," Rhodes said.

Some companies instead are turning to used products to avoid the mile-long backlog.

" I've heard of companies looking to buy used cruise ship engines," Rhodes said. "I heard one the other day of someone trying to string together a bunch of used helicopter engines."

Oklahoma's behind-the-meter law requires developers to have natural gas as part of their plant. Other sources, including solar and wind, could be used in conjunction. When asked about the natural gas requirement, Boles said it was included to support the oil and gas industry.

"We felt like, as Oklahomans, it's important to ensure that natural gas has a seat at the table," he said.

According to an analysis from Cleanview, Oklahoma has fewer than 30 data centers planned for the state as of early August. Texas has hundreds in its queue, Rhodes said, meaning more developers are racing to supply power. Should tech companies continue showing interest in Oklahoma, it's possible more behind-the-meter projects could be announced.

Boles said he expects more interest in the future.

"Like anything, it takes time," Boles said. "If you're to build a facility with behind-the-meter, it may take three to five years to get the power infrastructure built."

"I think we're not going to really know for sure how many companies are utilizing this until a few years down the road."

A little known fact about the creator of animated TV series SpongeBob SquarePants: he was a Lawton, Oklahoma native. OKPOP Museum in Tulsa will be celebrating the late Stephen Hillenburg with special guests on Friday, Aug. 7.

While SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea, the show's creator Stephen Hillenburg was born on the Oklahoma army base Fort Sill.

OKPOP will host the voice of Spongebob, Tom Kenny, alongside the show's former creative director Derek Drymon. The pair will explore the origins of the animated show that tells the story of sea creatures in fictional Bikini Bottom.

On preview will also be select items from "The Stephen Hillenburg & SpongeBob SquarePants Collection & Archive at OKPOP."

Kenny will be in Tulsa all weekend for Oklahoma Comic Con and will also be performing with his band the Hi-Seas at The Vanguard. The group is known for covers of Chuck Berry and other soul songs.

The evening at OKPOP is sold out, but it will be standing room only for guests without tickets. Concert tickets are being sold separately.

Enough Yukon residents signed an initiative petition seeking the recall of the Mayor of Yukon Brian Pillmore.

Valid signatures total 1,451, according to a spokesperson for the city. More than 25,000 people live in the city.

The petition along with the City Clerk’s Certification of Sufficiency will be presented to the Yukon City Council next Tuesday during the body’s regular meeting, according to a press release. After that, council members have 10 days to order a recall election through a resolution or ordinance and set the election date.

This comes as Yukon and other Oklahoma municipalities have faced community backlash for considering data center projects. During the comment period in a city council meeting last week, resident Charles Scott said the community does not want the centers.

“We are organized and have begun the process of an initiative petition to prohibit data centers in our city,” Scott said.

Any qualified person including the incumbent can run for the office. Under the city’s charter, candidates must file within 15 days before the recall election and get the most votes to win.

In a recall election, if a candidate other than Pillmore gets the highest number of votes, he will be removed and the winner will serve the remainder of the term. If Pillmore wins, he will continue to serve.

If a subject of a recall petition resigns as recall proceedings are happening, that person can’t hold any city of Yukon office or position for one year.

Pillmore did not immediately respond to KOSU’s request for comment.

The Osage Nation executive branch declared a state of emergency Tuesday due to financial shortfalls, further announcing the closure of its language immersion school, visitor center and Harvest Land farm on Wednesday.

Daposka Ahnkodapi, which teaches Osage culture and language to children up to the 8th grade, was closed Wednesday morning, according to Osage News and the tribe. The school, located in Pawhuska, first began operations in 2016. It means “Our School” in Osage.

The Osage Nation Visitors Center and Harvest Land will also close, the tribe wrote on its website.

The visitors center will close Saturday. The tribe says it generated minimal revenue and required substantial support.

Harvest Land is a farm designed to increase food sovereignty and production within the nation, including through food assistance for tribal citizens. It will close on Dec. 31. The tribe says it did not achieve goals of long-term sustainability or generated revenue.

The closures follow a state of emergency issued by Principal Chief Joe Tillman, who issued an executive order citing shortfalls in the tribe’s projected revenue.

Tillman wrote in July that the tribe’s budget totals around $60 million with submitted budget requests totaling nearly $90 million. He added that means the tribe must reduce spending by around $38 million.

Osage News reports some parents of Daposka Ahnkodapi students demanded answers from leadership Wednesday morning. Instead of speaking with Tillman, they were handed a letter from an Osage Nation spokesperson that provided more insight into why the school is being shuttered.

“This decision was not made lightly. The school’s annual operating budget exceeds $3 million, resulting in an approximate cost of $32,000 per student,” Tillman wrote in a letter obtained by Osage News. “In addition, a recent security assessment identified substantial facility and security improvements necessary to meet standard safety requirements. The anticipated costs of these improvements, combined with ongoing operating expenses, make it clear that the current model is not financially sustainable for the Osage Nation.”

Tillman also wrote that students from 8 weeks old to pre-kindergarten will transition to Wahzhazhe Early Learning Academy.

But other Osage parents must enroll their children elsewhere. In his letter, Tillman pointed parents to Pawhuska Public Schools and its parent portal.

The district, which begins its school year on August 11, is extending its enrollment until August 6.

Employees affected will reportedly receive two weeks of severance pay.

Osage Nation Congress will hold a special session at 10 a.m. Thursday to review the budget. Tillman scheduled the meeting last month.

Reactions

Billy Keene, an Osage Congress member, said the tribal constitution does not define a state of emergency.

“When (the executive order) was issued yesterday, I was really perplexed by that,” Keene said.

Osage Minerals Council member and former Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear said the executive branch and congress must work together to find a solution.

“Blaming the chief, blaming the congress – that's not the way to go here,” Standing Bear said. “We need to figure out how we can all say, ‘Let's work together to keep these programs open.’”

He said he’s trying to remain positive.

“I spent 12 years working with Osages and non-Osages to build the schools,” Standing Bear said. “I don't mean just the buildings. I'm talking about the relationships, the teachers, the students, the parents, grandparents … those things really happened and they can happen again.

“I'm just trying to be positive here. It's difficult.”

The Osage Nation Principal Chief’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

On a hot July afternoon drive, Linda and Lewis Rainey surveyed a prairie hay field nestled in their 400 acres of fields and farmland in Guthrie. It contains buffalo wallows — depressions in the land created by bison rolling in the dirt, which now serve as basins for rainwater and runoff. To their knowledge, the patch of land has never been plowed.

For the past eight months, the Raineys have been fighting a planned transmission line that would cross that hay field and carve out a 130-foot easement. They worry the development would threaten their forebears’ work to preserve the land, and their younger family members’ ability to live comfortably on the property.

Linda’s great-grandfather staked a claim on the original 160 acres during the 1889 Landrun — he fought a lengthy court battle against a Sooner to acquire the property rights. The Raineys’ great-grandchildren are the seventh generation to live on the land, one of Oklahoma’s 1,900 centennial farms.

“We do have a lot of acres, but we walk every bit of it,” Lewis Rainey, 82, said. “We count the trees in it. We know what kind of trees they are. We know where the trails go through that have been here for centuries. Deer roam in our yard. We wake up in the morning and there's quail and dove and turkeys. It just gives you a warm feeling when you look out on your own land and know that people before us have sacrificed so much to pass this down to us. And it’s our duty, our responsibility, to do the same in the future.”

The proposed transmission line would cross over two 80-acre tracts of the Raineys’ property, including an area of land where their granddaughter had plans to build a home for her family. Linda said the line means “dreams are being burst.”

But the Raineys’ concerns extend miles beyond their own property. They are worried that the transmission line would help to power proposed hyperscale data centers in Luther and Piedmont, the two towns on either end of the line’s route. The Raineys have joined a chorus of local voices advocating against data centers in both towns.

Residents’ concerns about data centers have made it more difficult to advance the transmission project, according to a spokesperson for Transource, the company building the line. Although official communications from Transource have sought to shift attention away from the data centers, the facilities play a significant role in the state’s growing electric load — and could impact the ultimate function of new power infrastructure.

A shifting electrical landscape

In November, the Raineys received a letter notifying them that they lived near the area being considered for the Mathewson-Redbud Transmission Line Project. The project would create a 40-mile high-voltage corridor connecting electrical facilities in Luther and Piedmont.

A Transource pamphlet accompanying the letter described the project as “vital for maintaining reliable power in the area,” saying it would save between $138 million and $225 million in electricity costs in the coming 40 years.

The Southwest Power Pool is the regional transmission organization that oversees the electrical grid in much of the central U.S., including Oklahoma. The SPP laid out plans for the line in their 2023 Integrated Transmission Planning Assessment Report, which aimed to plan transmission projects based on load growth and reliability forecasts for the coming decade.

Casey Cathey, the vice president of engineering at SPP, explained that the region’s existing “backbone” of high-voltage transmission lines and substations has neared its top capacity.

“Think about that as the highway system of the nation, from a road perspective. And now's the time to start looking at building out the interstate system,” Cathey said.

In terms of what’s adding traffic to the SPP’s electric grid, Cathey cited new ammonia plants, cryptocurrency mining, the adoption of electric vehicles and a booming oil and gas industry. SPP’s 2025 Integrated Transmission Planning Assessment Report echoed that sentiment.

Data centers have become an increasingly significant part of that load growth. In an October 2025 report, McKinsey and Company researchers estimated that the emergence of data centers, many of which are used to power artificial intelligence and cloud computing, could account for 14% of the United States’ power demand by 2030.

The power needs of hyperscale data centers and similar large load electrical customers are “insanely big,” Cathey said — comparable to those of a small city.

“What it’s doing is basically adding fuel to the fire,” said Rep. Brad Boles, R-Marlowe. Boles is the Republican nominee for the vacant seat on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and currently chairs the state Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Oversight.

“With the growth of the demand of electricity in Oklahoma and the country, we were going to need more power even without AI data centers. The growth is gonna happen. and I think what the AI data centers have done is basically just expedite that growth,” he said. “We’re needing more transmission than we’ve ever needed, in a shorter timeline than we needed it in the past.”

Piedmont, Luther and in between

Since the Raineys learned about the Mathewson-Redbud transmission line, they’ve made it a point to attend local government meetings in Luther and Piedmont where data centers have been up for consideration, joining local resistance against the projects.

Lewis Rainey said it has been “heart-wrenching” to hear from the families in those towns who live close to the proposed data centers. He described concerns about high electricity consumption and added strain on the water table linked to the proposals in Piedmont. Linda said she is worried that once data centers are built, they’ll be sold to larger corporations. After that, she thinks, locals will lose control.

“We're in our 80s, and this should be a time when we can concentrate on travel, being with our family and doing what we want,” Linda said. “And then we have this big project in front of us that we don't want, and we want to help fight for others that don't want it, and we just think it's gobbling up the land. When they gobble it up, we don't own it anymore.”

Luther’s Board of Trustees voted in June to pass a six-month moratorium on re-zoning or permitting for data centers after a pending proposal sparked resounding opposition.

Piedmont’s city council decided in late July to defer a decision on a data center proposal to their planning commission and pursue further studies.

The towns are among several Oklahoma municipalities that have recently considered data center proposals and faced community backlash, including Yukon, Claremore, Edmond, Oklahoma City and Sand Springs. Several have passed moratoriums like Luther’s.

Michael Harris, a project outreach specialist for Transource parent company American Electric Power, emphasized that SPP outlined the need for the Mathewson-Redbud line in 2023. At that point, Harris said, data centers had yet to enter “the popular zeitgeist.”

“I think one of the the big obstacles we've been running into — with not just this, but a lot of the higher voltage transmission line projects, not just in Oklahoma, but really everywhere right now — is the instant association or assumption that they're tied to a data center or a large load industrial customer,” Harris explained.

An Oklahoma Watch investigation last month found that existing power infrastructure in Piedmont, particularly the Mathewson Substation, was a significant draw for companies hoping to build data centers in the area. Transmission infrastructure can impact economic development.

Aaron Bilyeu is the chief development officer for prospective data center developer Cloverleaf Infrastructure. At a late-July city council meeting in Piedmont, Bilyeu doubled down.

“We are here because of the proximity to the Mathewson Substation,” he said. “And being able to build a data center next to that is one of the best data center sites in the state of Oklahoma.”

Council Member Byron Schlomach asked Bilyeu explicitly whether the planned transmission line between Piedmont and Luther — the Mathewson-Redbud line — was what made the area attractive.

“Yes,” Schlomach answered. “It is all of the power generation and transmission lines coming into that substation.”

Harris, meanwhile, maintained that Transource was unable to give landowners a conclusive answer about whether data centers would or would not utilize the transmission line. He also said that data center developers look for more than simply the availability of power when siting their facilities.

It’s possible that a transmission line not built for data centers could eventually power them, according to Cathey.

Cathey said that SPP aims to calculate the “40-year useful life” of a new transmission facility, and that the value of a facility can change dynamically over time.

“Certainly, additional load can benefit from the facilities that were paid for by previous customers,” he said, affirming that data centers would be held responsible for paying for the power they use.

The waiting game

Linda Rainey described the last several months of developments around the transmission line as a “domino effect.” The initial letter they received in mid-November invited them to attend open houses in Cashion and Guthrie in December, where they could meet with a Transource team member to learn more about the project. It also set a deadline of January 7 to share feedback about the project.

The Raineys attended the Cashion meeting, and Linda used the feedback window to email all three members of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and executives at Transource and Oklahoma Gas and Electric. Her letters included a 13-point description of her concerns: the family history on the land, potential health risks, noise pollution and data centers, among other items.

On February 20, Harris sent landowners, including the Raineys, a new letter telling them that a project team was at work reviewing feedback and that they planned to determine a final route for the line the following month.

About a week later, a right of way agent affiliated with the project stopped by their home to confirm for them that a potential route ran through their property.

“It's like the big people have come through and said, ‘This is what's going to happen and you have no choice,’” Linda said. “And we can only do what we feel like we can do. I don't think that they really listen.”

Transource has yet to finalize the route for the line and submit it to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission for approval. An early timeline for the project, included in the November Transource pamphlet the Raineys received, projected that the route would be finalized by spring 2026.

Harris said the process has been delayed because of the volume of feedback Transource received. He said he understood landowners’ concerns and empathized with their expectation that they be included in the decision-making process.

“We've received so much feedback from the public.We're trying to accommodate as much as we can based on concerns that have been brought up, since the point that we announced this project back late November and then had the open houses in December,” Harris said. “I'm not just trying to pat ourselves on the back either, but I think the purpose of those open houses really was to try to engage the public on the front end as much as we could.”

For now, though, the Raineys still feel in the dark. They remain motivated by the legacy of Linda’s grandfather and other relatives who worked to protect their land from similar developments.

“It may happen,” Linda added. “But we can say that we fought it.”