Oregon: data centers & your electric bill
As of October 1, 2026, AI GridWatch tracks 7 data center moratoriums or pushback actions in Oregon: 3 in force, 4 proposed. The state has 148 tracked data center facilities using an estimated 6.5 TWh of electricity a year.
Everything GridWatch tracks in Oregon on one page — proposed projects, moratoriums, permits, officials, and the 2026 ballot.
Subscribe by RSS — moratorium changes and community headlines for Oregon.
As of July 2026 (3m ago) · changes over months · Source: U.S. Data Center Power Map by State — ElectricChoice.com compilation (updated July 2026; CC-BY 4.0). Underlying load research: LBNL 2024 US Data Center Energy Usage Report; rates: EIA
Facility counts vary by directory because each one draws the boundary differently — DataCenterMap lists 44 in Alabama where this table says 35, since it counts small network rooms alongside hyperscale campuses. Cite the TWh figure rather than the facility count when you can; it is the number that speaks to grid impact. Underlying load research is LBNL-2001637 (Dec 2024).
1Proposed data centers in Oregon (2)
0 still live · 2 decided or withdrawn. Each name links to the full dossier — ownership, intelligence log, and where to read the paper trail.
| Project | Where | Size | Behind it | Stage | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google The Dalles | The Dalles | 154 MW | Under construction | Source read 2026-08-14 | |
| Meta-QTS Hillsboro 2 | Hillsboro | 180 MW | Meta | Source read 2026-08-14 |
2Pushback already happening in Oregon
| Where | Level | Status | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salem | Local | Proposedterm not documented | Council voted unanimously to *begin* the process — a 60- or 120-day moratorium still has to come back for adoption, and staff must first give the state notice and show a compelling need. No pause is in effect; a developer advanced its plan ahead of the vote | SourceNews read 2026-08-04 |
| Oregon (statewide) | State | Proposedterm not documented | Democratic lawmakers proposed a three-year moratorium on new large data centers | SourceNews read 2026-08-04 |
| Oregon (enterprise zone tax) | State | Enactedno fixed end — runs until a condition is met | HB 4084 — makes new data centers ineligible for Enterprise Zone property tax breaks until 90 days after the 2027 session adjourns. Separate from the proposed 3-year construction moratorium. Oregon DC tax breaks cost ~\$450M/year | SourceNews read 2026-08-13 |
| Hillsboro | Local | Enactedexpires soon — 2026-11-24 | 120-day land use moratorium on new or expanded data centers and battery storage as a primary use — Oregon's first. Called with one day's notice so applications could not be filed ahead of the vote; applications already in continue | SourceNews read 2026-08-23 |
| Clackamas County | County | Proposedterm not documented | Commissioners voted unanimously to direct staff to begin formal moratorium process (up to 120 days once enacted). Oregon law requires 45-day notice before public hearing; moratorium not yet in effect during notice period. No existing data center applications in the county. | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Oregon (state land) | State | Enactedexpires 2027-07-01 | Gov. Kotek directed state agencies to 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 | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Woodburn | City | Proposedterm not documented | City filed 45-day notice with Oregon DLCD signaling intent to consider temporary pause on data center development; statutory review period before council can adopt moratorium | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
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.
3Known data center campuses in Oregon
| Operator | Location | Tenant | Filing LLC |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Dalles | Land-acquisition shells: Jet Stream LLC, Sharka LLC | ||
| Meta | Prineville | Meta | Codename shells: Greater Kudu, Raven Northbrook, Stadion, Wobniar, Pinnacle Mountain |
| Amazon (AWS) | Umatilla / Boardman | Amazon (AWS) | Vadata, Inc. — AWS's build/operating entity on many permits |
⏳ No verification date recorded · changes over months · Source: Operator ownership & filing-LLC naming patterns — compiled from operator releases and county filings, then checked against SEC EDGAR full-text search. Composite, not a single citation: look the entity up yourself before naming it in a filing
Each row carries its own attribution level — first-party rows come from the operator's own site, but colocation and REIT ownership was compiled from trade press and never passed an independent fact-check. Check the attribution column before citing a row.
4Every data center already built in Oregon
The campuses above are the ones GridWatch tracks by operator and filing LLC. For the full inventory — street addresses of every existing facility, including the smaller colocation and network sites — DataCenterMap keeps a public directory for Oregon.
Two caveats before you cite it at a hearing: it lists facilities that already exist, so a newly proposed campus will not appear; and it counts a small network room the same as a hyperscale campus, so the facility count is not a measure of power draw or community impact.
5What communities in Oregon have won
- Morrow County (Amazon (AWS)) — Fees in lieu of taxes, negotiated in the open: ~$40M over 15 years across five new data centers in exchange for enterprise-zone abatements worth an estimated $1B (2023). Cited here as a benchmark of what a payment-in-lieu deal looks like — including how much is forgone to get it Source 1 · verified 2026-08-05
- The Dalles (Google) — Infrastructure money, but no cap — the cautionary benchmark. Google paid ~$28.5M toward city water treatment and storage and donated 3.88M gallons/day of water rights, yet nothing limited its own draw, which reached ~40% of city supply by 2025. Ask for the volume limit in writing, not just the capital contribution Source 1 · Source 2 · verified 2026-08-05
6Case studies
The Dalles, OR — Google funded the water system — and its share of the water kept climbing
Under a 2021 agreement Google paid roughly $28.5M toward upgrades to The Dalles' water treatment and storage, including an aquifer storage and recovery system it later handed to the city, and bought and donated 3.88 million gallons/day of water rights from a closed aluminium smelter. What the deal did not include was a cap on Google's own draw. When The Oregonian sued for the usage records, the city spent 13 months fighting disclosure before settling — and the records showed the campus using about 29% of the city's water, rising to roughly 40% (some 550 million gallons a year) by 2025. Infrastructure money is not the same protection as a volume limit. This is the case that shows the difference, and the reason to put a cap in writing.
7What Oregon's own study found
Data Centers and Energy Use in Oregon (2024)
Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE) Sector Report
Statewide review of energy draw, water rights in The Dalles (Columbia River), and utility disclosure laws.
- Columbia River Water Draw: Spotlights Google's major campus at The Dalles. Evaporative cooling draws significant water from the municipal aquifer, causing municipal water rights disputes during dry seasons.
- Hydroelectric Load: Historically attracted by cheap Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) hydropower. However, hydro capacity is fully allocated, forcing new expansion to draw from mixed Pacific Northwest grids with higher carbon intensities.
- Transparency Laws: Led to new state laws regarding municipal utility disclosure. Utilities are now permitted to release actual water consumption figures, which were previously protected as proprietary trade secrets.
Read the report · read 2026-08-15
8Your regulator
Oregon Public Utility Commission — website · file a complaint
Official state energy data: EIA Oregon electricity profile — generation, prices, and consumption from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
9Where the Oregon paper trail lives
Air & environmental permits: Oregon DEQ — Air Quality
No searchable register. Oregon does not publish a permit database you can query. A public-records request to the agency is the only route to the file.
No organised market. There is no interconnection queue to read here; the utility's own resource plan and the PUC docket are the record.
These are places to look, not evidence that anything has been filed. Links were checked on 2026-08-21; search links are queries, not records.
10Your federal delegation and governor
Grades cross party — this is an issue axis, not a partisan one. A blank grade means no documented action was located, never that the official is neutral.
| Grade | Official | Documented action (sourced) | Reach them |
|---|---|---|---|
| B | Tina Kotek Democratic · Governor | Convened a state Data Center Advisory Committee and backed a one-year tax-break moratorium ('stop being a cheap date'). — Gov. Kotek convenes Oregon Data Center Advisory Committee (2026) | site · contact |
| B | Jeff Merkley Democratic · Senator · on the 2026 ballot | With Wyden, wrote Oregon's data center advisory committee listing constituent concerns on energy demand, consumer costs, water, noise and farmland. — Sens. Wyden & Merkley ask Oregon data center advisory committee to weigh Oregonians' concerns (2026) Guardrails With Sen. Wyden, wrote Gov. Kotek's data center advisory committee listing constituent concerns about energy demand, consumer electricity costs, water, noise, farmland rezoning and tribal consultation. sources | site · contact |
| A | Ron Wyden Democratic · Senator · next on the ballot 2028 | Demanded answers from Google, Apple, Meta and Amazon on data-center water use in Oregon, and proposed stripping data centers of federal investment incentives plus a new excise tax. — Sen. Wyden demands Big Tech execs answer on data-center water impact (2026) Guardrails Pressed Google, Apple, Meta and Amazon on data-center water use, co-signed a letter to Oregon's data center advisory committee, and as Finance ranking member released a white paper proposing to strip data centers of federal investment incentives and levy a new excise tax. sources | site · contact |
| — | Suzanne Bonamici Democratic · Representative 1 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Cliff Bentz Republican · Representative 2 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Maxine Dexter Democratic · Representative 3 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Val T. Hoyle Democratic · Representative 4 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Janelle S. Bynum Democratic · Representative 5 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Andrea Salinas Democratic · Representative 6 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
Roster: regenerated by scripts/refresh_officials.py (Senate XML + congress-legislators + current governors).
Write to your senators → Your senators in detail → Full officials scorecard → Find your state legislators →
112026 U.S. Senate race
PVI D+8 · Seat held by Jeff Merkley (Democratic) · Incumbent renominated
David Brock Smith (Republican) No record found
No documented statement or action on data centers located. Not scored — see how this page treats silence.
Jeff Merkley (Democratic) · incumbent No record found
No documented statement or action on data centers located. Not scored — see how this page treats silence.
Ballot roster: state candidate list (read 2026-08-25).
122026 U.S. House races in Oregon (6)
A documented data-center record exists in 6 of 6 districts. A candidate with no badge colour has said nothing we could locate — that is a gap in the record, not a neutral position. ★ marks an incumbent.
| District | PVI | Incumbent | Candidates |
|---|---|---|---|
| OR-1 | D+20 | Suzanne Bonamici | Suzanne Bonamici ★ Barbara Kahl |
| OR-2 | R+14 | Cliff Bentz | Cliff Bentz ★ Chris Beck |
| OR-3 | D+24 | Maxine Dexter | Maxine Dexter ★ Loran Ayles |
| OR-4 | D+6 | Val Hoyle | Val Hoyle ★ Monique DeSpain Justin Filip |
| OR-5 | D+4 | Janelle Bynum | Janelle Bynum ★ Patti Adair Andrea Townsend |
| OR-6 | D+6 | Andrea Salinas | Andrea Salinas ★ David Russ |
The documented records (6 districts)
OR-1
Suzanne Bonamici (Democratic) · incumbent Consensus vote only
On the record only for voting yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act (417-3). No other data-center record located yet.
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-22.
OR-2
Cliff Bentz (Republican) · incumbent Accelerate
Sponsored H.R. 655 to transfer 150 acres of Mt. Hood National Forest land to The Dalles to expand water reservoir capacity, which critics say primarily benefits Google's data centers that use 40% of the city's water
- Sponsored and passed H.R. 655 (The Dalles Watershed Development Act) through the House, transferring 150 acres from Mt. Hood National Forest to The Dalles to triple reservoir capacity; said he did not ask the city how the water would be used (2025-12-09 — source)
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-11.
OR-3
Maxine Dexter (Democratic) · incumbent Consensus vote only
On the record only for voting yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act (417-3). No other data-center record located yet.
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-22.
OR-4
Val Hoyle (Democratic) · incumbent Mixed
Endorsed by pro-AI industry super PAC Leading the Future; initially distanced herself saying AI must be regulated, then backtracked to support industry engagement with worker protections
- Endorsed by Leading the Future (pro-AI industry super PAC); initially distanced herself saying 'AI must be regulated so that it does not harm labor or people,' then revised position to support engagement with industry while advocating federal regulations and worker protections (2026-05-08 — source)
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-11.
OR-5
Janelle Bynum (Democratic) · incumbent Consensus vote only
On the record only for voting yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act (417-3). No other data-center record located yet.
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-22.
OR-6
Andrea Salinas (Democratic) · incumbent Guardrails
Introduced the Data Center Community Reinvestment Act to tax data center electricity use at 1 cent/kWh and reinvest $1.76B/year into housing, conservation, clean energy, and infrastructure
- Introduced Data Center Community Reinvestment Act establishing 1-cent-per-kWh excise tax on data center electricity consumption (>1 MW capacity), directing $1.76B/year to Land and Water Conservation Fund, Housing Trust Fund, Superfund, Highway Trust Fund, and Energy Technology Trust Fund (2026-08-14 — source)
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-11.
13Latest Oregon data center news
A data center was proposed near you?
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State municipal league: League of Oregon Cities