Salem pauses data center projects for 4 months
The Salem City Council has approved a four-month moratorium on data center development and construction, halting all new applications until January 19. This decision follows similar temporary bans in other Oregon communities and is driven by concerns over the increasing electricity consumption by data centers statewide. The council plans to reexamine the issue in January.
Salem City Council has enacted a four-month moratorium on new data center development within the city limits, effective until January 19. The unanimous vote came during a public hearing, temporarily barring the approval of any new data center applications. The council intends to revisit the issue in January to consider a potential extension of the freeze.
This action by Salem follows similar temporary bans on data center construction in other Oregon communities like Hillsboro and Woodburn. Furthermore, Governor Tina Kotek has instructed state agencies to defer unapproved requests for new data centers on state-owned land until the upcoming year. The moratorium is influenced by a recent statewide assessment, funded by The Lemelson Foundation and conducted by ECONorthwest and the University of Virginia, which identified 111 operational data centers in Oregon. This study revealed that data centers consumed over 14 terawatt-hours of electricity last year, equating to approximately 71% of all residential electricity in Oregon, with power usage nearly quadrupling since 2020. Projections suggest the sector could account for one-third of the state's total electricity demand by 2030. Despite the high energy consumption, the study also noted that Oregon data centers generate about $60 million in state tax revenue and employ more than 2,600 on-site workers.