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.

As the industry rises to the forefront of Oregon politics in an election year, its corporate leaders are defending infrastructure they say has become “critical to the way we live and work,” while politicians respond to public outcry over data center tax breaks, power costs and environmental trade-offs.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek announced Tuesday that she supported a statewide moratorium on the construction of new data centers, hardening her stance as she campaigns for reelection. She also issued an executive order pausing any new developments on state-owned land. Kotek delivered the news to a cheering crowd at an anti-data center protest on the steps of the state capitol, calling on state lawmakers to take action.

Kotek’s announcements are unlikely to slow projects already planned near Boardman in Morrow County, local officials said. David Sykes, the chair of the Morrow County Board of Commissioners, said the state can do what it wants with its land, but decisions over data centers on private property are up to local government.

“This should be left to the counties to decide what to do,” he said.

Another prominent leader from his community is leading a charge for the state to clamp down on the industry. One of Sykes’ predecessors on the board of commissioners, Jim Doherty, made the trek from Boardman to Salem to speak at the protest where Kotek made her announcement. Doherty, a Republican who made an unsuccessful primary bid for a state House seat this year, said he saw the push to regulate data centers as a unifying moment between rural and urban Oregon.

“The honeymoon is over,” he said. “It’s over in Oregon for data centers because I think come November, you’re going to be looking at 80% of the populace on both sides saying, ‘This is the most salient thing in Oregon right now.’”

Amazon makes its case

Protestors were in Salem ahead of a mild-mannered hearing on data centers hosted by the House Interim Committee On Climate, Energy, and Environment.

Rep. Mark Gamba, a Democrat from Milwaukie who chairs the committee, opened the meeting by saying it was about “information gathering” rather than going into “political mode.” Gamba and his colleagues heard from state environmental regulators and a few representatives from the data center industry.

Legislators quickly learned about the state’s uneven data center geography. There are more data centers east of the Cascades, and these facilities tend to be large. Terry Wirkkala, a project manager for research firm ECOnorthwest, said data centers took up 15.7 million square feet in the region, the equivalent of 270 football fields.

“That includes endzones,” she said.

Morrow County and neighboring Umatilla County have more than 50 data centers. That growth has been largely fueled by Amazon, which continues to expand in the area.

One of the largest companies in the world, Amazon is currently proceeding with another data center project in the Boardman area. Earlier this month, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality opened a public comment period for a proposed air quality permit for the proposed facility.

An Amazon spokesperson did not return a request for comment on the governor’s call for a moratorium but, at the hearing, a couple of company representatives spoke with lawmakers about Amazon’s operations in Eastern Oregon.

They focused on the popular streaming services and apps that data centers power, and the billions of dollars Amazon has invested in rural communities by building its data centers in them.

“This isn’t abstract infrastructure,” Courtney Lee, a senior manager for state and local policy at Amazon Web Services, said. “This is critical to how we live and work.”

Lee’s presentation eventually pivoted to environmental issues. She claimed that an Amazon data center uses less water than the local agriculture industry. She said the company has invested in new solar and wind projects in the region to help power their operations with low-carbon energy, while paying for electrical system improvements to protect customers from utility rate hikes.

While some locals are growing more concerned over data centers’ use of diesel generators for back-up power, Lee said the company only ran them about 12 hours per year for testing and maintenance.

One of the few things testimony at the hearing didn’t cover was generative AI, the technology largely driving recent data center growth. Prompted by a question from Gamba, Sheena Sharma, an economic development manager for Amazon Web Services, said Amazon’s presence in Eastern Oregon predated the “latest generative AI craze” but she wouldn’t comment on how many data centers in the state were dedicated to the technology.

After the honeymoon

Doherty, the former Morrow County commissioner, wasn’t persuaded by Amazon’s pitch.

He said in an interview that he was worried the company’s water use would worsen the region’s longstanding nitrate crisis by concentrating nitrate-contaminated groundwater, and that it was running its generators far more than 12 hours per year.

He also dismissed Amazon’s efforts at community investment in light of the tax breaks it receives through the state’s enterprise zone program. Kotek signed a bill this year that pauses state tax breaks for data centers.

“When they’re paying you 10 cents on the dollar and giving you another 10 cents, that’s not philanthropy,” he said.

He was also skeptical that the governor’s executive order would have any effect on his home in Morrow County.

Morrow County Planner Tamra Mabbott said she didn’t think any of the data centers in the pipeline involved state land. Sykes, the current Morrow County commissioner, declined to say whether he supported or opposed more data center developments in the county, but later added that they could continue as long as they went through the proper channels.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/09/10/eastern-oregon-data-centers-expansion-unlikely-to-slow/