McAlester council authorizes city manager to negotiate sale of raw water to Black Mountain Energy Storage

The McAlester City Council on Aug. — authorized the city manager to negotiate a potential sale of raw water to Black Mountain Energy Storage, a company that told the council it needs a large, steady supply of water to cool servers at a proposed data center south of Kiowa.

City staff and a representative of Black Mountain described the request as authorization to pursue terms of a purchase agreement rather than final approval. "We were approached by Black Mountain Energy for the purchase of approximately 6,000,000 gallons a day of raw water," the city manager said. The council vote granted the manager authority to negotiate on behalf of the city; any agreement will return to the council for final approval.

Carolyn O'Brien of Black Mountain Energy Storage urged the council to focus on the high-level needs and said the water would be used for a water-cooled data center rather than an air-cooled or cryptocurrency facility. "We are looking at obtaining 6,000,000 gallons a day of raw water from you guys, for a proposed data center that we have south of Kiowa," O'Brien said. She added the company is coordinating with the county and the town of Kiowa as part of broader regional planning.

Councilors repeatedly noted that the authorization was only to negotiate. "No matter what agreement is reached, it will come back to this body for final approval," one council member said during the discussion. Questions from councilors focused on project type and local impacts; staff said the city's team had vetted the volumes and was satisfied at the authorization stage.

Next steps: city staff will negotiate terms with Black Mountain and bring final terms, including price, duration and any mitigation proposals, back to the council for formal consideration and vote.