Oregon governor orders pause on environmental permits to build or expand data centers

Oregon’s governor has effectively issued a moratorium on new data centers and data center expansions in the state by ordering environmental regulators to pause approving new state and federal air and water pollution permits for data center projects until next July.

Gov. Tina Kotek issued the order Friday in a letter to Leah Feldon, director of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The La Grande-based nonprofit Oregon Rural Action, which has called for a statewide three-year data center moratorium, shared the news in an email on Tuesday.

“This time limited pause will provide an opportunity for me to evaluate and digest recommendations forthcoming from the Advisory Committee, and to provide space for policy and/or regulatory reforms that may be considered in the upcoming 2027 session of the Legislature with my support,” Kotek wrote in her letter to Feldon.

Kotek’s seven-member Data Advisory Committee has held seven fact-finding meetings over nine months and in mid-September issued a 20-page “preliminary learnings and questions” report, a departure from the cost-benefit analysis of data centers in the state it was tasked with providing when it was established. The public has until 5 p.m. Oct. 24 to submit comments based on the report.

Kotek has declined repeated requests from the Capital Chronicle for more than two months to discuss the data center industry in Oregon and emerging issues with the data centers among Oregonians. She is expected to propose a policy to address concerns in January when the Legislature next meets.

She did not publicly announce her directions to Feldon ahead of Tuesday night’s final gubernatorial debate with Republican opponent and state Sen. Christine Drazan, who has repeatedly attacked Kotek for previously supporting tax breaks for data centers. Instead, the governor used official channels over recent days to highlight her support for Oregon’s immigrant communities and a Tuesday executive order directing state agencies to look for ways to reduce health care costs.

Kotek’s latest order halting new air and water permitting follows a roughly one-year pause she recently ordered on approvals to develop data centers on state land or in state buildings. She has repeatedly insisted she lacks the power to order a statewide moratorium on data centers without legislative action.

According to information provided by Kotek’s office, there are no state agencies currently considering permitting data centers on state land or property.

Oregon Rural Action in a statement said the pause on air and water pollution permits could impact a proposed Amazon hyperscale facility in Boardman. An air pollution permit the company needs to build the facility is under review and approval is ultimately up to Feldon’s discretion, the group wrote.

Local residents have sent dozens of public comments asking the environmental quality department to hold an in-person hearing on the hyperscale facility’s air quality permit, and 700 people have signed a petition calling for the hearing, according to the group.

Shannon Kellogg, vice president of Amazon Web Services, said in a statement that the pause was issued abruptly and would “eliminate thousands of construction jobs, hundreds of onsite operational jobs, halt billions of dollars in planned investment and impact a key source of revenue for many Oregon communities and small businesses.”

Oregon is among the top 10 markets for data centers in the U.S., according to Pew Research, and has for more than 20 years attracted massive server facilities due to the state’s lack of sales tax, moderate climate, relatively cheap electricity and generous property tax incentives for industrial development.

Eastern Oregon is home to the state’s largest facilities, including most of Amazon’s data centers, a recent ECOnorthwest analysis found.

Source: Washington State Standard

This article was originally published by Washington State Standard.