HERMISTON– La semana pasada, en medio de la creciente oposición pública a los centros de datos en Oregón, la gobernadora Kotek ordenó al Departamento de Calidad Ambiental (DEQ por sus siglas en inglés) suspender todos los nuevos permisos de contaminación para centros de datos hasta julio del próximo año.

Oregon’s Governor, Tina Kotek, has ordered the state’s environmental regulators to temporarily stop issuing pollution permits to data centers, effectively pausing data center development in the Beaver State.

Governor Kotek has 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 2027. As well as air quality permits, the requested pause includes applications from municipalities seeking to renew or modify wastewater treatment plant permits to accommodate wastewater discharge from data centers.

Kelly Doherty had been in elected office for less than a month when Amazon reached out.

In a July 2023 email, an Amazon representative congratulated Doherty on winning a seat on the commission that oversees the Port of Morrow in Eastern Oregon and offered to introduce her to Sheena Sharma and Courtney Lee.

Sharma and Lee weren’t just any Amazon employees. Three years after Doherty received the email, Amazon selected the pair of executives to make the case for data centers to legislators in Salem during a September public hearing.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has ordered a halt to new air and water permitting for data centers until July, an action that could halt construction of new projects across the state.

The order will “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 in an Oct. 9 letter to Department of Environmental Quality Director Leah Feldon.

The governor’s order marks a milestone, putting a halt -- for now -- to the data center industry’s 20 years of uninterrupted growth across Oregon.

SALEM, Ore. (KPTV) — Gov. Tina Kotek ordered the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to pause processing and issuing air and water permits for new or expanded data centers until July 1, 2027.

Kotek issued the directive in an Oct. 9 letter to DEQ Director Leah Feldon, asking her to use existing administrative authority and discretion to implement the pause.

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.

Oregon’s governor has effectively issued a moratorium on new data centers and data center expansions in the state by ordering environmental regulators to pause approving new state and federal air and water pollution permits for data center projects until next July.

Kotek issued the order Friday in a letter to Leah Feldon, director of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The La Grande-based nonprofit Oregon Rural Action, which has called for a statewide three-year data center moratorium, shared the news in an email on Tuesday.

Tech companies have built gigantic data centers in Oregon for over 20 years. Now, even the rumor of a new data center coming to a community leads to packed city council meetings, rallies against their construction and calls for moratoriums on new ones.

Data centers are water and electricity hogs, and a new study provides details on what it costs Oregon to continue to seek them out. OPB's Kyra Buckley joins the show to explain.

Gov. Tina Kotek this week embraced growing calls in Oregon for a statewide moratorium on data centers, joining a rally of close to 200 industry opponents on the Capitol steps in Salem. It wasn’t enough for some of the Democratic governor’s allies, though, who want her to move faster.

As the debate over data centers heats up in Salem, the industry is poised to grow 200 miles away in Eastern Oregon, where more than 50 facilities are already online with another in the works. Morrow and Umatilla counties were among the first places in Oregon to welcome data centers, as Amazon Web Services began building the facilities in the area 15 years ago. Amazon has since turned the region into one of the biggest hubs in the state.

Gov. Tina Kotek said Tuesday she now supports a statewide moratorium on new data centers. In a significant escalation of her position on an issue that is prompting voter outrage around the country, Kotek appeared at an anti-data center rally outside the Capitol building in Salem, lending her support to calls for lawmakers to pass a temporary data center ban when they convene next year.

Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek and her Republican opponent, Sen. Christine Drazan, both called for statewide moratoriums on data centers Tuesday, converging on the same position within hours of each other after years of more cautious stances on the hot-button issue.

Roughly 100 people showed up outside the Oregon State Capitol on Tuesday to call for a three-year pause on new data center development in the state.

Last week, a $6.2 million settlement was made between Madison Ranches and residents living in Morrow and Umatilla Counties whose wells were polluted with nitrates. The Lower Umatilla Basin has been grappling with high levels of nitrates for decades, affecting drinking water in wells in various communities. Food processors and farms using fertilizers are regarded as the source of the problem. J.R. Cook is the founder and director of the Northeast Oregon Water Association. He joins OPB’s Think Out Loud to share an irrigator’s perspective on the issue and solutions they would like to see.

Earlier this year, Amazon purchased more than 1,000 acres near Boardman, Oregon. As reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive.com, it could be the site for the state’s first “exascale” data center. Listen to OPB’s Think Out Loud Broadcast to learn more.