The data center fight in Spokane, Washington
As of October 1, 2026, Spokane, Washington has a data center moratorium in force (action taken Jun 23, 2026; documented end date 2027-06-23).
Status is derived, not stored — a pause with a documented end date flips to Expired on its own — and the source is right next to the claim.
Status today
Ordinance C36887, passed 6-1 as an emergency measure: 1-year citywide pause on building permits for new data centers. Followed news that Avista had been approached about a 500 MW facility
SourceNews
read 2026-08-04
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
Recent news
6 stories tracked since 2026-07-20 across 4 outlets. 4× A community is pushing back on a nearby data center. 1× Local officials are moving to pause or block the project. Most recent: “Spokane County residents mobilize as data centers eye region” (RANGE Media, 2026-08-28).
- Spokane County residents mobilize as data centers eye region
- Spokane County reverses course, approves four-month data center pause
- Spokane County Commission confronted by data center opponents as potential development discussions continue
- Washington Residents Voice Concern Over West Plains Data Center
- A company proposing a massive West Plains data center has little history, spurring outcry from concerned residents
- Spokane County considers moratorium on data centers amid water contamination concerns
Automated news aggregation, not human-verified — follow each link to the original outlet. Part of the story tracker, 6 headlines archived.
What to do next
- Questions to ask at the hearing — force specific answers onto the record.
- Estimate the impact — electricity, water, and rate pressure for any facility size in Washington.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- Washington briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Nearby in Washington
- Spokane County (3 mi) — Enactedexpires 2026-12-15
- Lincoln County (46 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-03-10
- Moses Lake (94 mi) — Enactedfixed term, end date not recorded
- Pasco (126 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-01-20
- Kittitas County (158 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-02-12
- Yakima County (162 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-02-12
- Cle Elum (167 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-01-31
- Skagit County (211 mi) — Enactedexpires 2026-12-01
All 19 tracked actions in Washington are on the state page.
As of August 2026 (2m ago) · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Part of the U.S. data center moratorium tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0.