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Native America Calling: Tribes confront growing data center development pressure
Monday, April 13, 2026
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Tribes confront growing data center development pressure
The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma is one of the first tribes to pass a moratorium against the construction of hyperscale data centers.

The nearby Muscogee Nation also turned down an opportunity to build a data center after Muscogee citizens spoke out in force against the plan. Large tech companies are stepping up the pressure to build hyperscale data centers to house the processing power for data storage and generative AI.

And the federal government is providing incentives for tribes to get involved in this part of the tech boom. It is part of the Trump administration’s push to unleash American technological power, but such facilities typically require a lot of power and water.

Native environmentalists warn data center companies are only looking to take advantage of tribes’ sovereignty and resources.

Guests on Native America Calling
Cheyenne McNeill (Coharie), editorial fellow at Mother Jones, author of In Indian Country, Data Centers Come With a Familiar Threat of Colonialism. These Organizers Are Fighting Back., published April 7, 2026

Jordan Harmon (Muscogee), policy specialist at Indigenous Environmental Network

Ashley Leitka (Absentee Shawnee Tribe and Oglala Lakota), co-director of the sovereignty and self-determination department for Honor The Earth

Dr. Karen Jarratt Snider (Choctaw), professor of applied Indigenous studies at Northern Arizona University

'You Can't Drink Data'
“You Can’t Drink Data. The biggest lie is AI” Photo by Indianz.Com (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

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