Gov. Kevin Stitt spoke to Oklahoma business leaders at the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber’s State Spotlight breakfast on Friday. (Photo by Katrina Crumbacher)

OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma is on the shortlist for seven LEAD Act projects estimated to be worth more than $1.3 billion each, Brent Kisling, executive director of the Department of Commerce, announced Friday.

The announcement came as Gov. Kevin Stitt, Secretary of Science and Innovation Elizabeth Pollard and Kisling joined members of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber for breakfast at Oklahoma Christian University. With Colombian coffee on tap and orange juice by the glass, they discussed business development, commerce, workforce and entrepreneurship in Oklahoma.

The Google Mayes County Data Center in Pryor and the Koch Nitrogen plant in Enid are the biggest projects in Oklahoma to date, valued at $1.3 billion each.

A $698 million incentive package, the LEAD (Large-scale Economic Activity and Development) Act is designed to persuade manufacturers to come to Oklahoma and agree to invest at least $3.6 billion and create at least 3,500 jobs in the state within five years.

“It is us as a state putting our money where our mouth is,” Kisling said. “We do best in Oklahoma when we are laser-focused on what we’re chasing after.”

Pollard spoke about Oklahoma’s plan to invest in science and innovation. In 2021, the Department of Science and Innovation released a five-year strategic plan to invest in aerospace, autonomous systems, biotechnology, life sciences and energy diversification.

“We know if we can invest in technology in those areas, that is going to help us create an innovation economy,” she said. “If we focus our workforce development around that as well, we will be creating the right jobs for the future.”

Pollard said the Department of Science and Innovation looked to tech-friendly states like Massachusetts, Ohio and Texas for inspiration.

“As we looked at case studies across the U.S. and states that we might want to emulate – Massachusetts, Ohio, Texas – we saw that they were investing over a billion dollars over a 10-year period of time,” she said. “That’s significantly greater than what Oklahoma invests today.”

Stitt discussed what the Legislature is planning for the state’s $4.5 billion in savings.

“We have a $1.1 billion budget surplus this year,” he said. “The question for all of us as leaders in the Legislature is: What do we do with that? Do we raise our expenses by $1.1 billion? OK, you can do that, but remember, if you keep raising expenses every single year and you didn’t have any savings, eventually your revenue’s going to come down and then you’re going to have to cut.”

Stitt also touted the state’s dedication to improving highway infrastructure.

“Oklahoma has a lot going for it,” he said. “We want to stay ahead of the curve, so we’ve laid out a great aggressive plan to make sure we can finish loops around Oklahoma City and Tulsa.”

Oklahoma was recently awarded $85 million to complete the Interstate 44/U.S. Highway 75 corridor in Tulsa and $28 million to add shoulders to rural two-lane highways.