Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has directed environmental regulators to temporarily stop issuing pollution permits to data centers, which would effectively pause most data center development in Oregon until next summer.
Amazon — which has more than a dozen hyperscale data centers in Morrow and Umatilla Counties — said it was disappointed by the directive, with an executive at the company saying Kotek’s move could cost Oregon thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in planned investment.
Data centers have played a growing role in the race for governor, with both Kotek, a Democrat, and her opponent Republican state Sen. Christine Drazan, saying they favor a moratorium on the high-tech developments. Both candidates have attacked one another for not doing more to crack down.
Kotek directed Oregon Department of Environmental Quality Director Leah Feldon to pause all air and water pollution permits for new or expanding data centers until July. The governor sent the directive in a letter to Feldon Friday, in response to an update on the agency’s air pollution permitting process.
Kotek also told the agency to stop processing applications from cities and counties seeking to renew or modify wastewater permits to accommodate data centers.
“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.
The letter was obtained and shared widely by Oregon Rural Action, a grassroots nonprofit that advocates for social justice and environmental sustainability in Eastern Oregon. OPB obtained Kotek and Feldon’s interchange from Kotek’s office.
“What this pause means is that everything — assuming it is implemented the way we think it will be — data center development will pause until the legislature has a chance to act over the course of the first half of next year,” said Kaleb Lay, Rural Action’s director of policy and research.
The environmental permitting freeze would expand a previous moratorium that paused data center development on state-owned land. Without air or water pollution permits, most large data centers known as “hyperscalers” wouldn’t be able to build in Oregon, whether on public or private land.
“This directive was issued abruptly, without meaningful stakeholder engagement of the workers, businesses, and municipalities it will affect,” said Shannon Kellogg, vice president of Amazon Web Services Public Policy for the Americas, in a statement. “Amazon has been a committed partner in Oregon for over 15 years, and we will continue to advocate for policies that protect communities and support responsible growth.
Lay, with Oregon Rural Action, hopes the pause gives Oregon policymakers time to implement new laws regulating data centers, from the immense amount of water and electricity they consume to issues involving transparency and nondisclosure agreements.
Pausing permits is not enough, Lay said. “What needs to happen at the Legislature, we need new laws to protect all of Oregon from these massive corporations.”
Oregon’s next legislative session convenes in January. Lawmakers are expecting a wide range of bill proposals, particularly in response to policy directives from Kotek’s Data Center Advisory Committee.
