Graded Extensive and tightening. 12 laws, orders, rulings and local actions, each with its source, reviewed 23 October 2026.
PGE Schedule 96 (effective June 10, 2026) requires 10 to 30 year contracts and 100 percent payment of distribution upgrades before a 20 MW load is served.
The 2025 POWER Act mandates a separate class with direct cost assignment, and PGE's June 2026 tariff adds a 90 percent minimum and a 1 cent per kWh surcharge.
Hillsboro's 120-day moratorium (July 27, 2026) pauses a main market and the September 8, 2026 executive order pauses state-owned land; no statewide ban yet.
HB 4084 (effective June 5, 2026) closes the enterprise zone property tax exemption to new data centers until after the 2027 session.
The governor's October 9, 2026 letter halts all new DEQ air and water permits for data center construction or expansion until July 1, 2027.
Scored on rules in force, 1 to 5. 5 is the most regulated. Pending rules set the arrow.
Oregon has moved from recruiting data centers to restraining them. The 2025 POWER Act put loads of 20 MW or more in their own rate class, and the Public Utility Commission's Portland General Electric tariff took effect in June 2026 with 10 to 30 year contracts and a 90% minimum bill. HB 4084 closed the enterprise zone property tax exemption to new data centers until after the 2027 session, though the Strategic Investment Program remains open. On 8 September 2026 Governor Kotek, who is running for reelection, endorsed a statewide moratorium on new data centers and ordered a pause on data center development on state land, and on 9 October 2026 she directed the Department of Environmental Quality to stop approving new air and water permits for data center construction or expansion until 1 July 2027, an effective halt on new projects. Oregon has no sales tax, so there is no sales tax exemption.
The DEQ permit pause runs to 1 July 2027 and reaches the pending air permit for Amazon's proposed Boardman site; Amazon Web Services says it will halt billions in planned investment, Umatilla declared a revenue emergency on 20 October 2026, and the 3 November governor's race decides whether the pause holds. The PUC is expected to decide Pacific Power's POWER Act tariff settlement (UE 463) on 13 November 2026, with the Data Center Coalition expected to appeal. The governor's Data Center Advisory Committee is taking comment on its preliminary findings until 24 October 2026, with a final report and the governor's 2027 proposals to follow. Hillsboro's moratorium ends on 24 November 2026 unless the council extends it. Democratic legislators plan to introduce a three-year moratorium in the 2027 session, which also has to decide whether the enterprise zone pause becomes permanent.
Yes. Oregon has a statewide pause in force as of 23 October 2026: the governor's 9 October letter stopping new DEQ air and water permits until 1 July 2027. Local moratoria are also in force in Hillsboro.
Tightening. Oregon is graded Extensive, which means a statewide halt on permits or connections, or binding rules that stop most new projects. Governor halts data center air and water permits to July 2027. The outlook above says what is pending.
Oregon sits in The West outside California. The grid operator decides how a new large load is studied, what it must bring or pay, and whether it can be curtailed first; the state decides siting, permits, tariffs and incentives.
Yes. Oregon has paused, narrowed or ended a data center incentive in 2025 or 2026: HB 4084: enterprise zone tax break closed to new data centers.
On Genloop's five-line rubric (1 least regulated, 5 most) Oregon scores grid connection 3, power rates 5, siting and land use 3, tax treatment 4, permits and water 5, a mean of 4.0. The most regulated line is power rates: The 2025 POWER Act mandates a separate class with direct cost assignment, and PGE's June 2026 tariff adds a 90 percent minimum and a 1 cent per kWh surcharge.
12 items: each is a law, order, tariff, ruling, utility action or local decision that changes what a data center must do, pay or disclose, or where it may be built. Failed and pending measures are marked. Each links to its source.
In a letter sent Friday 9 October 2026 to DEQ director Leah Feldon, Governor Kotek directed the agency to stop approving new state and federal air and water pollution permits for data center construction or expansion until 1 July 2027, while she digests the Data Center Advisory Committee's recommendations and prepares proposals for the 2027 session. Oregon Rural Action said the pause reaches the pending air permit for Amazon's proposed hyperscale site in Boardman; Amazon Web Services said it would eliminate thousands of construction jobs and halt billions in planned investment. The Umatilla City Council declared an emergency on 20 October over lost revenue from the pause. No size threshold or exemptions were reported.
Source: oregoncapitalchronicle.comOn 8 September 2026 Governor Kotek, speaking at a Capitol protest, announced support for a statewide moratorium on new data center construction and issued an executive order pausing new data center development on state-owned land and in state buildings for about a year. She has said a statewide moratorium itself needs legislative action.
Source: opb.orgThe governor's committee released a Preliminary Learnings and Questions document on 10 September 2026 and opened a 45-day comment period that closes on 24 October 2026. Press reports say its advisers did not endorse a moratorium; no final report date is posted.
Source: oregon.govThe two counties host more than 50 data centers. Morrow County's commission chair said siting on private land should be left to counties, and Amazon is proceeding with another Boardman-area project that had an air permit out for comment in September 2026.
Source: opb.orgPacific Power has had a large-load tariff since its 2024 rate case. In mid-September 2026 it agreed a settlement with PUC staff, the Citizens' Utility Board and environmental and community groups under which new data centers pay for all new generation and storage built to serve them, grid upgrades, wires and poles, market energy purchases, and a demand-based share of transmission; existing data center customers are to be addressed in spring 2027. The PUC is expected to decide on 13 November 2026 and the Data Center Coalition is expected to appeal.
Source: oregoncapitalchronicle.comThe PUC's 2026 POWER Act report to the legislature says the PGE decision produces an average 29% increase for data centers and average decreases of 1.3% for residential, 2.1% for commercial and 1.4% for industrial customers. Idaho Power is covered by the Act but has no qualifying data centers in Oregon.
Source: oregon.govFour Democratic legislators said in August 2026 they will introduce a three-year moratorium on new data centers in the 2027 session. No bill text or size threshold has been published.
Source: ijpr.orgSalem's council voted unanimously on 3 August 2026 to move toward a data center moratorium after a $5 billion, 32-acre Verrus proposal, which had already filed plans and is not blocked by it. Hood River's council imposed a moratorium on data center construction through at least the end of 2026, prompted by an Amazon distribution center proposal in the orchard area south of town.
Source: oregoncapitalchronicle.comThe city council adopted a 120-day moratorium at a special meeting on 27 July 2026. It covers applications for new and expanded data centers and battery energy storage facilities and ends on 24 November 2026; the council could extend it for six more months. Code amendments were scheduled for a second council reading on 6 October 2026; the outcome was not confirmed. Residents are also suing Washington County and Hillsboro over data center tax breaks.
Source: hillsboro-oregon.govApproved 7 May 2026 and effective 10 June 2026 for loads over 20 MW; final rate schedules approved 10 July 2026. Contracts run 10 years rising to 30 years at 220 MW or more, generation and transmission are billed at no less than 90% of contracted capacity, customers pay 100% of distribution upgrades, and loads of 100 MW or more pay a 1 cent per kWh surcharge that funds residential bill relief.
Source: utilitydive.comEffective 5 June 2026. New data centers cannot get the standard enterprise zone property tax exemption until 90 days after the 2027 session adjourns; projects already approved keep their breaks and the Strategic Investment Program is unaffected.
Source: dwt.comEnacted in 2025. Requires a separate rate class for facilities of 20 MW or more served by investor-owned utilities, with costs directly assigned and contracts of at least 10 years, so that their costs are not spread to other customers.
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