ORA Data Center Petition Launch

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July. 28, 2026

ORA Launches Petition Calling for Eastern Oregon Data Center Moratorium

Calls to Rein in Runaway Growth Mount as Big Tech Plans Massive “Exascale” Project, Expansion of State’s Largest Data Center Hub

BOARDMAN – Oregon Rural Action launched a petition this week calling for an immediate halt to data center expansion in northeast Oregon, citing ongoing harm to rural communities in the state’s largest data center hub.

The petition calls for an immediate moratorium to stop the “runaway boom” of the data center industry across eastern Oregon, particularly in Morrow and Umatilla Counties. Oregon’s largest and fastest-growing data center hub is in the Lower Umatilla Basin region, which is also one of the most polluted places in the Pacific Northwest and the state’s worst sacrifice zone.

ORA said a moratorium was especially necessary as the trillion-dollar tech giant Amazon plans a massive “exascale” data center near Boardman, which would likely be the largest in the state.

“Data center growth in rural Oregon is out of control, and it’s built on a foundation of secrecy, extraction, and exploitation,” said Kristin Ostrom, ORA’s executive director. “It’s time to pull the emergency brake. Our communities shouldn’t sacrifice one more acre of farmland or a single drop of water until we’ve solved the problems data centers are already causing.”

Data centers in northeast Oregon consume extraordinary amounts of water and power, though precisely how much of each is generally hidden from public view. Amazon’s proposed exascale project would demand a gigawatt of electricity – enough power for more than 800,000 homes – and would consume up to 1,300 gallons of water every minute during peak summer heat. 

Other Amazon data centers in the area are already having significant impacts on the region’s natural resources and public health. Front of mind for many northeast Oregon residents is the potential for data centers to exacerbate groundwater pollution issues in the Lower Umatilla Basin. Evaporative cooling, which is widely used by Amazon to keep its data centers from overheating, has been shown to significantly concentrate contaminants, and many of the area’s data centers dispose of wastewater from cooling operations by spreading it on farmland. The region’s soils are highly prone to contaminants reaching groundwater, and the drinking water of thousands of people in the area has already been polluted and is unsafe to drink due to worsening groundwater contamination.

Additionally, an ORA analysis of water consumption by the data centers at the Port of Morrow revealed that just three data center facilities consumed more than 40 million gallons of water in 2025. Those three account for just a fraction of the data centers in northeast Oregon. Backup diesel generators at data centers in Morrow & Umatilla Counties are also permitted by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to spew nearly 30,000 pounds of hazardous air pollutants – such as lead, arsenic, formaldehyde, chromium-6, and others – every year. 

The AI-driven runaway growth of data centers statewide is also fueling concerns about looming energy shortages in the near future. As data centers consume more and more power with continued buildout, reports have warned of a potential 6 to 9 gigawatt energy shortage across the pacific northwest by 2030. This could mean rolling blackouts and increased energy prices in the near future, particularly for people who get their energy from rural electric cooperatives like Umatilla Electric, which are not covered by the ratepayer protections in the POWER Act of 2025. 

“Northeast Oregon is ground zero for this runaway data center boom - this isn’t a hypothetical debate; it’s our home,” said Jim Doherty, an Eastern Oregon Land & Water Advocate. “We are being turned into a corporate sacrifice zone, drained dry for billionaire profits. Governor Tom McCall famously warned Oregonians to guard against ‘grasping wastrels’ who would plunder our resources for private gain, and his warning is actively coming true in our backyards. We refuse to sit by while our water is depleted and our air is polluted. It is time for rural Oregon to stand up, demand change, and sign this petition.

A link to the petition and resources explaining the data center situation in northeast Oregon are available on Oregon Rural Action’s website.  

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