Just a month after saying that Clackamas County “can and should” have data centers, a county commissioner running for re-election has changed her tune.

“I’ve gotten calls. I’ve had a couple of really good phone calls with people, interestingly, who have been in the AI and data center businesses, who highly recommend we don’t allow them in Clackamas County,” Commissioner Diana Helm said at a board of commissioners meeting Tuesday.

Helm said at Tuesday’s meeting that it was her goal to enact a countywide moratorium on data centers to last until state lawmakers have a chance to take up the matter in the 2027 legislative session.

That’s a far cry from the tune she sang last month when she suggested welcoming data centers to the county.

“Just saying ‘data center,’ people get up in arms — ‘Oh, we can’t have those here,’” Helm said during a July 7 meeting. “Well, we can and we should.”

For now, however, it seems the tech industry is not interested in building data centers in Clackamas County. Currently, state and county officials are only aware of one data center in the county, operated by the tech company Siemens on its Wilsonville campus. County Administrator Gary Schmidt told commissioners on Tuesday that the county still has not received any land use applications for a future data center.

Oregon’s existing data centers are primarily concentrated in clusters around Washington County, Central Oregon and the Umatilla Basin. The Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development has focused on these areas as Oregon’s primary “data center growth markets.”

During Tuesday’s meeting, the commission indicated they will vote on a moratorium — or a temporary prohibition on new data centers — next week. Details of the moratorium will be discussed at next week’s meeting.

Clackamas County’s consideration of a moratorium comes after the cities of Hillsboro and Salem passed their own moratoriums related to data centers.

Commissioner Paul Savas said national concern about data centers has taken on a life of its own.

“I’m more anxious to do something rather than sit back and get an application that we’re not prepared for,” Savas said.

Clackamas County’s discussion of the data center moratorium next week comes less than three months before November’s election.

Helm, who was appointed to the commission in 2025, is running to keep her seat in the upcoming election. Savas is also seeking re-election.

Helm’s opponent, environmental consultant R.W. Smith, notes opposition to data centers among his top priorities on his campaign website.

Data centers have proved to be a thorny political subject this year. In May’s primary, data centers played a key role in the defeat of a longtime Democratic senator from Hillsboro, a hotbed for data center backlash in recent months.

Polling recently released by DHM Research found that more than 70% of registered voters feel negatively about data centers.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/08/05/clackamas-county-to-consider-data-center-moratorium/