Oregon Governor Tina Kotek has asked the state’s environmental regulator to stop processing air and water pollution permits for new or expanded data centres until 1 July 2027. Her letter to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is dated 9 October 2026 and became public on 13 October.
The letter is a request. DEQ has not said publicly whether or how it will carry it out.
What the letter asks
“I am asking you to exercise your existing administrative authority and discretion to pause processing and issuance of air or water discharge permit applications until July 1, 2027 that involve new or expanded data center facilities within Oregon,” Kotek wrote to DEQ Director Leah Feldon.
The request covers four kinds of permit: two for water discharges (NPDES and WPCF) and two for air quality (ACDP and Title V). Kotek also asked DEQ to stop processing applications from cities and counties that want to change their wastewater plant permits to take waste water from data centres.
“This time limited pause will provide an opportunity for me to evaluate and digest recommendations forthcoming from the Advisory Committee, and to provide space for policy and/or regulatory reforms that may be considered in the upcoming 2027 session of the Legislature with my support,” she wrote. The Advisory Committee is a data-centre panel Kotek set up.
Why it matters
Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), which obtained the letter from Kotek’s office, said the move “would effectively pause most data center development in Oregon until next summer”, because large data centres need these permits to build. OPB said it expands an earlier pause on data-centre development on state-owned land. The letter was first shared by Oregon Rural Action, a campaign group in Eastern Oregon.
Amazon is the biggest player affected. It has more than a dozen huge “hyperscale” data centres in Morrow and Umatilla counties, according to OPB, and an Amazon executive told OPB the move could cost Oregon thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in planned investment.
“This directive was issued abruptly, without meaningful stakeholder engagement of the workers, businesses, and municipalities it will affect,” said Shannon Kellogg, vice president of Amazon Web Services public policy for the Americas, in a statement reported by OPB.
The politics
Data centres have become an issue in Oregon’s race for governor. OPB reported that both Kotek, a Democrat, and her Republican challenger, state Senator Christine Drazan, say they favour a moratorium. The state legislature meets again in January.
DatacenterDynamics reported that neither Kotek’s office nor DEQ had commented publicly on the request.
What this means
- Oregon is moving to slow data centres. If DEQ follows the letter, most big new projects would stall until mid-2027.
- It isn’t in force yet. The governor has asked; the regulator has not announced anything.
- Lawmakers decide what’s next. The pause is meant to give the 2027 legislature time to write new rules.
Sources
- Office of Governor Tina Kotek, letter to Oregon DEQ Director Leah Feldon, 9 October 2026 (published by OPB). https://www.opb.org/pdf/100926_GovernorLettertoDEQDataCenterPermitting_1791931532928.pdf
- OPB, “Gov. Kotek expands Oregon data center moratorium”, 13 October 2026. https://www.opb.org/article/2026/10/13/oregon-data-centers-technology-amazon-tina-kotek/
- DatacenterDynamics (Dan Swinhoe), “Oregon Govenor Tina Kotek asks state environmental regulator to pause permits, introducing de facto data center moratorium”, 14 October 2026. https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/oregon-govenor-tina-kotek-asks-state-environmental-regulator-to-pause-permits-introducing-de-facto-data-center-moratorium/
