Oregon Froze Data Center Permits. Umatilla Declared an Emergency Oct. 20.

Oregon has stopped issuing the environmental permits that large data centers need to break ground, and one of the state's biggest data center hosts has declared an emergency over it. Gov. Tina Kotek directed the Department of Environmental Quality on Oct. 9 to pause air and water pollution permits for new and expanding data center projects until July 1, 2027. On Oct. 20, the Umatilla City Council voted 5-1 to declare a state of emergency over what its resolution called the threat of widespread financial loss.

The pause covers National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits, Water Pollution Control Facility permits, Air Contaminant Discharge Permits and Title V air permits. It also stops DEQ from processing city and county applications to renew or modify wastewater treatment plant permits that would accept data center wastewater. Umatilla County holds 22 of Oregon's more than 100 data centers. The city of Umatilla has four facilities operating and one under construction, with two more anticipated from Amazon and Sabey Data Centers under tax incentive agreements already signed. City Manager Dave Stockdale put the regional exposure at more than $5 billion in private industrial development, $6 million in direct losses to the city, and up to $12 million in anticipated water infrastructure investments and community benefit contributions.

The directive is aimed at new and expanded facilities, so a building that already holds every DEQ permit it needs and will operate within those permits is not directly affected. The reach into modifications is what stalls work. Adding backup generators, raising permitted emissions or operating hours, adding cooling water discharges or increasing process wastewater volume all require DEQ approval, and those approvals are now on hold. Later phases of a phased campus may be treated as an expansion and need a new or modified permit. Generator yards, paralleling switchgear and the next building on a multiphase site are electrical scope, and they sit behind permits DEQ is not issuing.

Licensing itself does not change. Oregon licenses electricians through the Building Codes Division of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, and a general journeyman electrician license renews every three years on Oct. 1 with 24 hours of continuing education. What a permit freeze changes is hours on the job, not credentials. Shannon Kellogg, vice president of AWS public policy for the Americas, said the directive was issued abruptly and without meaningful stakeholder engagement, and that it could cost Oregon thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in planned investment. That estimate is the company's, not the state's.

Umatilla's Resolution No. 15-2027 asks Kotek to withdraw or modify the directive, to order a comprehensive economic impact assessment, and to let DEQ resume processing permits. It also authorizes Stockdale to coordinate with other local governments on possible legal action, on the argument that the suspension exceeds DEQ's statutory authority, violates Oregon's Administrative Procedures Act or infringes municipal home rule. Asked at the meeting whether other jurisdictions were weighing similar declarations and whether legal precedent supported one, the answers were no. Public comment on the governor's Data Center Advisory Committee report closed Oct. 24.

Kotek has said she will bring a data center policy proposal to the Legislature when it convenes in January. Until then, Oregon's permit counter is closed.