Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Moratoriums, Referendums, and Ultimatums: The New Permit Math

Oklahoma City's unanimous moratorium through 2026, Port Washington's 2-to-1 vote killing future TIF districts, and Rep. James Frank threatening to ask Abbott to halt the Three Way Road project in Archer County all landed in one news cycle. Developers arriving with water agreements, interruptibility commitments, and benefit-sharing frameworks keep moving; those treating engagement as post-permit paperwork are losing deals that no PPA can unwind.

Today's Lead

Community opposition to data centers moved from protest to policy this week, with Oklahoma City's council unanimously approving a moratorium through end of 2026, Port Washington, Wisconsin voters blocking future TIF districts 2-to-1, and Texas Rep. James Frank threatening to ask Gov. Abbott to halt the Three Way Road project in Archer County absent constituent engagement.

The through-line: local governments and state legislators aren't rejecting development. They're rewriting the terms. Developers who show up with water agreements, interruptibility commitments, and benefit-sharing frameworks keep moving. Those who don't get moratoriums.

[1]·[2]·[3]

Politics

The permission structure is being rewritten in real time

Oklahoma City's unanimous moratorium, Port Washington's 2-to-1 TIF referendum, Piedmont's pre-zoning fact-finding tour, and Pennsylvania townships scrambling to write ordinances before developers file, all within the same news cycle. Upper Merion learned the cost of moving second when a developer submitted nearly a dozen proposals ten days before ordinance approval, grandfathering the filings. Rep. Frank's demands for the Three Way Road project (interruptible load, closed-loop water, TxDOT road agreements, abatement restrictions) are the substantive template emerging from rural Texas.

The risk: developers treating community engagement as a post-permit activity will face Port Washington-style electoral defeats that no grid interconnection or PPA can unwind. The window between "no zoning" and "locked zoning" is the only window that matters.

[1]·[4]·[5]·[3]·[2]

Power

Secured power is the new bankability test

DataBank closed $2 billion from MUFG for its Red Oak campus in DFW, three fully-leased buildings totaling 180 MW, with Kevin Ooley noting the financing accelerates delivery by roughly 18 months when combined with existing power commitments. Denham Capital's Gray Oak Power platform partnered with First American Nuclear to deploy on-site gas now and fast-spectrum SMRs later, explicitly citing five-plus year utility interconnection queues. Meanwhile, Latitude Media's conference consensus held that off-grid stays a specialty play at 25-33% of incremental demand through 2030 per McKinsey, with Fermi's 78% share decline and CEO departure underscoring execution risk. Foley & Lardner's Texas roundtable flagged 60% of developments running three-plus months behind on labor and equipment, not just grid.

The risk: capital is still flowing, but only to developers with power locked in and customers signed. Everyone else watches deals accelerate past them.

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Sources we cited

9 articles across 9 publishers · 9687 reviewed today

[1]KGOU
Oklahoma City leaders approve data center moratorium
Apr 22, 2026·The Oklahoma City Council unanimously approved a moratorium on the construction and expansion of data centers on Tuesday. The moratorium wi…
[2]The Cap Times
Editorial | Dane County should put a moratorium on data centers
Apr 22, 2026·Pictured is a rendering of a $15 billion, 672-acre data center campus in Port Washington being built by Vantage Data Centers. Completion of …
[3]Oklahoma Energy Today
Texas legislator threatens to stop data center
Apr 19, 2026·A state legislator who represents Wichita Falls, Texas and surrounding counties near the Red River is tackling the issue of data centers—inc…
[4]Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Township supervisors across Pa. urge colleagues to adopt zoning for data centers - Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Apr 21, 2026·Upper Merion Township Board of Supervisors Vice Chairperson Bill Jenaway speaks about the community’s efforts to regulate data center develo…
[5]NonDoc
'Establish a baseline of impact': Piedmont residents raise questions about possible data center
Apr 22, 2026·More than 120 years after it was founded by Dr. E.H. Long in 1903, the City of Piedmont is a growing suburb of Oklahoma City with about 8,00…
[6]Construction Review
Red Oak Data Center Campus Construction Secures $2B Financing in Texas
Apr 21, 2026·Rising demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure is accelerating large-scale data center construction across the…
[7]Morningstar
Denham Sustainable Infrastructure Executes Strategic Partnership Agreement with First American Nuclear to Accelerate Power Solutions for AI and Hyperscale Data Centers
Apr 21, 2026·JERSEY CITY, N.J., April 21, 2026 JERSEY CITY, N.J., April 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Denham Capital's infrastructure business ("Denham Capit…
[8]Latitude Media
Developers say off-grid data centers won’t be ‘a huge part of the market’
Apr 21, 2026·At least one off-grid developer, Fermi, has struggled to find a tenant. The post Developers say off-grid data centers won’t be ‘a huge part …
[9]Mondaq
Texas Navigates Grid Reliability, Data Center Expansion, And Capital Investment Amid Rapid Energy Transformation
Apr 22, 2026·Texas has long occupied a unique place in the U.S. energy economy. It is the nation’s largest producer of oil and gas, the leading state for…

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