Oregon has paused every unapproved state-land transaction or permit tied to a new data center, temporarily closing one route for projects while state officials study how the industry’s rapid growth affects power bills, water supplies and public infrastructure.
Gov. Tina Kotek’s directive applies to easements, leases, rentals, land-use permits, and sales or transfers of state property. The pause runs through July 1, 2027. It does not amount to a statewide halt on private development; Oregon’s governor cannot impose that broader moratorium administratively. Instead, the order uses the state’s authority over its own land while a policy review continues.
The action follows Kotek’s July decision to cancel the proposed sale of roughly 32 state-owned acres at Salem’s Mill Creek Corporate Center for a data center. She said state asset decisions must serve the public interest and protect natural resources. The canceled sale turned one disputed project into a wider rule for pending requests involving state property.
The stakes are growing. A new analysis by ECOnorthwest and University of Virginia researchers estimates that Oregon had 111 data centers using more than 14 terawatt-hours of electricity last year—about 71% of the electricity sold to all Oregon homes. The report says consumption has nearly quadrupled since 2020, 32 additional centers are planned or under construction, and the sector could account for roughly one-third of statewide electricity demand by 2030. Those projections make transmission, generation and who pays for upgrades central questions for state policymakers.
Oregon has already tried to separate large-load costs from ordinary household bills. The 2025 POWER Act changed utility treatment for major data-center customers. Kotek also convened a Statewide Data Center Advisory Committee in January to study utility and environmental impacts; recommendations are due by year’s end and are expected to shape proposals for the 2027 legislative session. The immediate land pause therefore functions as a bridge, not a final regulatory framework.
Data centers have also become a campaign issue. Republican challenger Christine Drazan has criticized tax breaks awarded during Kotek’s tenure, while Kotek’s campaign has pointed to Drazan’s vote against the POWER Act. Axios reported that Kotek now supports a statewide moratorium and that polling shows more than 70% of Oregonians hold negative views of data centers. The disagreement is increasingly about the terms of growth rather than whether the industry is consequential.
That concern is not confined to Oregon. An August survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center found 61% of U.S. adults opposed a new data center in their area, up 12 percentage points from the spring. The nationally representative poll of 1,320 adult citizens carried a 3.5-point margin of error and found majorities opposed across Democratic, Republican and independent respondents.
For developers, the near-term consequence is narrow but concrete: projects needing state-owned land or state property rights cannot advance until the pause expires or policy changes. Projects on private land remain subject to existing local and state rules. For lawmakers, the next decision is whether to convert the temporary boundary into broader statewide standards for siting, water use, energy costs and public disclosure.
