Salem, Oregon – Oregon’s data center boom has run into a new boundary: state-owned land. Governor Tina Kotek has ordered agencies to stop moving forward with unapproved property requests tied to new data center projects while Oregon studies what their rapid expansion could mean for communities and public resources.
The pause is broad and immediate. It covers pending easements, rights-of-way, leases, rentals, land-use permits, and proposed sales or transfers of state property. Unless another statewide policy replaces it sooner, the directive will remain in place through July 1, 2027.
“Data center corporations are asking communities to absorb enormous demands on our water, energy, infrastructure, and natural resources, and we need to know what that means for Oregonians,” Kotek said.
“I am taking this action because the state should not be moving forward with new data center projects on public land while we are still working to understand and address those impacts.”
The order expands on Kotek’s earlier decision to halt the planned sale of roughly 32 acres at Salem’s Mill Creek Corporate Center for a proposed data center. State officials say the wider pause will create time for Oregon to examine infrastructure capacity, water use, environmental sustainability, job creation and the effect large facilities could have on nearby communities.
Oregon does not currently have authority to impose a statewide moratorium on data center development. The new directive instead applies controls the state can exercise over its own land and property decisions.
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The move is also part of a broader effort to reshape how Oregon handles the industry’s growing electricity needs. Kotek signed the Protecting Oregonians With Energy Responsibility, or POWER, Act in 2025. According to the governor’s office, the law has already produced a 29% increase in electricity rates charged to data center corporations while lowering rates for other Portland General Electric customers.
More policy changes could follow.
In January, Kotek formed the Oregon Data Center Advisory Committee to study the industry’s growth and recommend ways to manage utility costs, infrastructure investments and environmental effects, with particular attention to working and low-income households.
The committee is expected to deliver its final recommendations by the end of 2026. Kotek plans to use that work to shape legislation for Oregon’s 2027 legislative session.
Until then, the message to state agencies is clear: Oregon will not commit additional public land to data center projects before deciding what rules should govern the industry’s next phase of growth.
