Data centers

Humboldt County supervisors directed staff to draft a ban on ICE detention facilities and a one-year moratorium on new data centers.

People showed up to the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors meeting to oppose an AI data center near Mount Shasta, despite the topic not being on the agenda.

Mount Shasta officials say they'll reject a proposed AI data center at the former Crystal Geyser site, citing concerns about water use and limited economic benefits.

Oregon has more than 120 data centers, and is among a handful of states that are creating laws to protect ratepayers from higher electric bills as more come online.

Recent studies show that data centers are creating uncertainty for the Pacific Northwest’s power grid, potentially creating massive gaps in energy leading to blackouts.

The committee will deliver a report to the governor no later than October.

A new report estimates that California’s data centers are driving increases in electricity use, water demand and pollution even as lawmakers stall on oversight.

Nuclear is mostly absent from a new energy strategy outlining how the state will meet growing power demand, reduce greenhouse gas pollution.

A boom in data centers and the end of federal vehicle emissions standards means Oregon will fail to meet its 2035 greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal by two years, according to an analysis completed this month. But state officials pushing to drastically cut carbon emissions say it’s not too late to get back on track.

A secretive appropriations process killed or reined in three bills regulating the use of pricing algorithms. A bill to monitor data center electricity use was also culled.

Data centers, electrifying transit and buildings and producing hydrogen will drive demand, according to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

Oregon lawmakers are considering a bill that would require certain large energy users, like data centers and cryptocurrency businesses, to pay their share for electricity use.