Roughly 100 people showed up outside the Oregon State Capitol on Tuesday to call for a three-year pause on new data center development in the state.
Among them was Gov. Tina Kotek, who expressed support for the demonstrators — a coalition of environmental, public health, farm and social advocacy groups — but who stopped short of endorsing the length and breadth of the pause they desired.
“I support a moratorium until we make sure that any data center development is done on our terms,” she said.
At the event, she unveiled a roughly one-year pause on approvals for any requests to develop data centers on state land or in state buildings. The order will “immediately pause unapproved requests for easements, rights-of-way, leases, rentals, land-use permits and sales or transfers of state-owned property for data center projects,” according to a news release from Kotek’s office.
“Today, I’m taking the next step by directing state agencies to immediately stop work on any state owned land transaction connected to a new data center. Not just here in Salem, but everywhere in Oregon where the state owns the land,” she said.
The pause would last until July 1, 2027 or until “until statewide action from the Governor’s Office or the Legislature directs otherwise,” according to the release, where Kotek also insists that the state “currently lacks authority to enact a statewide moratorium on data center development.”
Kotek intervened to stop a data center proposed on state-owned Department of Corrections land in Salem in March, though the developers behind that project submitted plans for a data center on privately owned land just ahead of a Salem City Council special meeting to consider a temporary citywide data center moratorium.
Details on how many potential data centers would be impacted by Kotek’s order were not immediately clear on Tuesday, and spokespersons for the governor said that she’s asked agencies to submit a status report on any data-center-related easements or potential sale or transfers of state property no later than Sept. 14.
“That’s as much as we can say at the moment,” said Luke Harkins, a Kotek spokesperson.
A longer pause
Rally attendees shouted for Kotek to declare a state of emergency to stop data center development, and organizers behind the event — including the nonprofits Food & Water Watch, Oregon Rural Action and Columbia Riverkeeper — are backing the Responsible Data Center Development Act, a proposal for a three-year pause on new data center development in the state.
Data centers have become a flashpoint between Kotek and her opponent in the Oregon governor’s race, state Sen. Christine Drazan, a Republican from Canby. They’ve also become one of the central issues during legislative days, a three-day marathon of meetings to allocate emergency spending and for lawmakers to float policy proposals.
The Tuesday afternoon meeting of the House Interim Climate, Energy, and Environment Committee was packed for a session on data centers in Oregon, including details about the tax revenues and exemptions they receive, energy and water they use and how agencies exercise oversight of the facilities.
Presenters from the consultancy ECONorthwest shared information about the estimated 144 data centers in Oregon and the limitations in reporting on such numbers given the amorphous definition of a data center, as well as vague notions of what types of data the facilities in Oregon store or process.
There are nearly twice as many data centers in the eastern part of the state as in the west, including most of the hyperscale centers used for artificial intelligence, though data center development is expected to grow fastest in western Oregon in the next few years.
Chris Allanach, who leads the nonpartisan Oregon Legislative Revenue Office, said the state has far more research and analysis to undertake to be able to speak authoritatively on taxation and data centers in Oregon. Lawmakers asked if reporting in The Oregonian/OregonLive showing data centers will get at least $450 million in property tax breaks this year was accurate.
“It’s pretty close. We’re working on that ourselves, doing our due diligence to come up with the numbers, and the numbers that we have do not suggest that that is unreasonable,” Allanach said.
Kotek’s Data Center Advisory Committee, meant to present a draft report that answers questions about water, energy and tax incentives, and that was supposed to provide a cost and benefit analysis of data centers in the state by mid-September, and a final report by October, will instead provide post a “preliminary leanings and questions document” this week, and send recommendations to the governor by the end of the year.
In response to questions about the changing timeline for the committee delivering a draft and final report, Harkins from Kotek’s office said “The Governor has always said that the state needs to get this right.”
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