Washington: data centers & your electric bill
As of October 1, 2026, AI GridWatch tracks 19 data center moratoriums or pushback actions in Washington: 19 in force. The state has 142 tracked data center facilities using an estimated 4.2 TWh of electricity a year.
Everything GridWatch tracks in Washington on one page — proposed projects, moratoriums, permits, officials, and the 2026 ballot.
Subscribe by RSS — moratorium changes and community headlines for Washington.
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 Washington
GridWatch is not yet tracking a named project in Washington. That is a gap in our coverage, not evidence that nothing is proposed — most projects surface first in a zoning agenda, weeks before any reporting.
2Pushback already happening in Washington
| Where | Level | Status | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spokane | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-06-23 | 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 |
| Seattle | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-06-09 | Emergency ordinance passed 9-0; 1 year, facilities over 20 MVA, extendable about six months | SourceOfficial read 2026-08-04 |
| Yakima County | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-02-12 | 6-month moratorium in unincorporated areas, unanimous. Studying economic, health, agricultural, and water impacts | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Snohomish County | Local | Enactedexpires 2026-12-24 | 6-month emergency zoning moratorium on new data-center development in unincorporated Snohomish County, adopted unanimously so the council can craft a permanent policy. | SourceNews read 2026-08-12 |
| Federal Way | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-07-07 | 12-month moratorium, unanimous. Studying impact on former Weyerhaeuser campus. Public hearing set Sep 1 | SourceNews read 2026-08-13 |
| Burien | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-06-29 | 12-month emergency moratorium, unanimous, effective immediately | SourceNews read 2026-08-13 |
| Marysville | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-01-14 | 6-month moratorium on buildings/facilities whose principal use is data management/transmission, unanimous. Mayor urged surrounding counties to follow suit | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Skagit County | Local | Enactedexpires 2026-12-01 | 6-month moratorium in rural/unincorporated areas on data centers >2,000 sq ft or >2 MW. Planning Commission advancing code changes to make it permanent. Farmland and water protection | SourceNews read 2026-08-13 |
| Pasco | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-01-20 | 6-month moratorium, 6-0. Extendable if officials don't have satisfactory answers. Developing data-center-specific land-use regulations | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Cle Elum | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-01-31 | 6-month moratorium, unanimous. Prompted by Blue Fern Development's 20 MW / 100,000 sq ft plan within Bullfrog Flats community near I-90. Site may be exempt via preexisting development agreement | SourceNews read 2026-08-13 |
| Renton | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-08-17 | One-year moratorium on filing, acceptance, processing, and approval of applications/permits for siting or expansion of large data centers; unanimously approved | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Kittitas County | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-02-12 | 6-month moratorium on acceptance of data center applications, voted 2-0 without discussion. Public hearing Sep 15 to consider extending another six months | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Mount Vernon | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-02-12 | 6-month moratorium, 4-1, with no data center yet proposed. Planning staff to draft rules on electricity and water demand, stormwater and building in the Skagit River floodplain | SourceNews read 2026-08-23 |
| Pierce County | County | Enactedexpires 2027-08-25 | Emergency ordinance prohibiting new/expanded data centers over 10 MW in unincorporated Pierce County; one year unless extended or lifted | SourceOfficial read 2026-09-11 |
| Spokane County | County | Enactedexpires 2026-12-15 | Unanimous four-month pause on new permits for large-load data centers; county developing permanent zoning regulations during pause | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| La Conner | City | Enactedexpires 2027-01-29 | Six-month moratorium on data center permit applications within town limits; no applications received; town reviewing whether any form of data center is appropriate | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Lincoln County | County | Enactedexpires 2027-03-10 | Six-month moratorium on data centers and battery energy storage systems; covers facilities over 2,000 sqft or 2+ MW | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Moses Lake | City | Enactedfixed term, end date not recorded | Moratorium on new data center development; listed by MRSC (WA state municipal research service) among cities with moratoriums | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Thurston County | County | Enactedexpires 2027-08-20 | One-year moratorium on data center applications; county commissioners voted to pause new proposals. | SourceRoundup 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 Washington
| Operator | Location | Tenant | Filing LLC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | Quincy (Central Washington) | Microsoft | Project-name / generic 'Holdings LLC'; less consistently codenamed |
⏳ 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 Washington
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 Washington.
Browse the Washington directory →
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.
5Your regulator
Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission — website · file a complaint
Official state energy data: EIA Washington electricity profile — generation, prices, and consumption from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
6Where the Washington paper trail lives
Air & environmental permits: Washington Dept. of Ecology (with local clean air agencies)
No searchable register. Washington 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.
7Your 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | Bob Ferguson Democratic · Governor | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Maria Cantwell Democratic · Senator · next on the ballot 2030 | No documented action on data centers located Accelerate Dismissed environmental groups' call for a data-center moratorium, saying they should instead push an all-of-the-above energy plan that builds renewables to meet demand. sources | site · contact |
| — | Patty Murray Democratic · Senator · next on the ballot 2028 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Suzan K. DelBene Democratic · Representative 1 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Marilyn Strickland Democratic · Representative 10 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Rick Larsen Democratic · Representative 2 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Marie Gluesenkamp Perez Democratic · Representative 3 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Dan Newhouse Republican · Representative 4 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Michael Baumgartner Republican · Representative 5 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Emily Randall Democratic · Representative 6 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Pramila Jayapal Democratic · Representative 7 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Kim Schrier Democratic · Representative 8 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Adam Smith Democratic · Representative 9 | 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 →
82026 U.S. Senate
Neither Washington Senate seat is on the 2026 ballot. Your senators are still the people who vote on federal siting and tax policy — their records are in the delegation table above.
92026 U.S. House races in Washington (10)
A documented data-center record exists in 8 of 10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| WA-1 | D+15 | Suzan DelBene | Suzan DelBene ★ Mary Silva |
| WA-2 | D+12 | Rick Larsen | Rick Larsen ★ Edwin Feller |
| WA-3 | R+2 | Marie Gluesenkamp Perez | Marie Gluesenkamp Perez ★ John Braun |
| WA-4 | R+10 | Dan Newhouse | Amanda McKinney John Duresky |
| WA-5 | R+5 | Michael Baumgartner | Michael Baumgartner ★ Carmela Conroy |
| WA-6 | D+10 | Emily Randall | Emily Randall ★ Teresa Fox |
| WA-7 | D+39 | Pramila Jayapal | Pramila Jayapal ★ Nirav Sheth |
| WA-8 | D+3 | Kim Schrier | Kim Schrier ★ Spencer Meline |
| WA-9 | D+22 | Adam Smith | Adam Smith ★ Doug Basler |
| WA-10 | D+9 | Marilyn Strickland | Marilyn Strickland ★ Chris Chung |
The documented records (8 districts)
WA-1
Suzan DelBene (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.
WA-2
Rick Larsen (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.
WA-3
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (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.
WA-5
Michael Baumgartner (Republican) · 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.
WA-6
Emily Randall (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.
WA-7
Pramila Jayapal (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.
WA-8
Kim Schrier (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.
WA-10
Marilyn Strickland (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.
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