A proposed data center site, adjacent to John Day Dam and formerly home to the Columbia Gorge Aluminum plant, is an industrial park zone, where data centers are allowed outright in Klickitat County. Emma Renly photo.
GOLDENDALE — At their Sept. 8 meeting, Klickitat County Commissioners were asked to explain why two of them wouldn’t give a second to Todd Andrews’ motion for a six-month moratorium on data centers.
“I believe moratoriums should be used for certain reasons,” Chair Ron Ihrig said. “If the legislature passes something and we have no time to react ... [but] I believe we have plenty of time to react right now, and we need to be leaders and do the ordinance.”
“If we decide [on a] moratorium, we have to go the route of legal counsel look at that — yes or no — [and then] wait for those answers to come back, and then if it’s yes, go ahead with the process you were going to do anyhow, which is address the ordinance,” said Commissioner Lori Zoller.
She also said Andrews sprang his motion on them at the Sept. 3 workshop with no warning.
Both stressed that none of the data center proposals would be ready to apply before the county could create an ordinance to deal with the subject, and Zoller added that there was both a time and expense cost to a moratorium.
Zoller released a further statement on Sept. 10 regarding the data center workshop that reads in part, “To put it simply: County commissioners cannot simply say no to data centers. We are obligated to ensure they meet the requirements under the permitting system currently in place and approved by state and federal law. And moratoriums cannot kill a proposal; moratoriums only provide a short pause.”
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