‘Secrecy, extraction and exploitation’: Petition calls for Eastern Oregon data center moratorium

Photo of PDX 178 - Data Center. Photo Credit: Oregon Rural Action

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A nonprofit is starting a petition, calling for a moratorium on data center development in eastern Oregon.

On Tuesday, Oregon Rural Action launched the petition urging officials to immediately halt data center expansion, claiming ongoing harm to rural communities in the state’s data center hub.

The petition focuses on creating a moratorium in Oregon’s Morrow and Umatilla counties in the Lower Umatilla Basin region. ORA claims this growing data center hub is among the worst-polluted places in the Pacific Northwest and calls the area the “state’s worst sacrifice zone.”

ORA told KOIN 6 News that the organization is calling on all public officials – city, county, port and state – to pause data center development “until people have the information they need.”

“The pause is critical. We must hit the emergency brake, so that we can understand the impact of this expansion – the good and bad, short-term and long-term,” ORA Executive Director Kristin Anderson Ostrom said.