Pro-data center industry group behind ad campaigns
A pro-data center industry group, Oregon Connects, launched ad campaigns in Oregon to counter growing public pushback against data centers' resource demands and tax breaks. In response to these concerns, the Oregon Legislature passed a one-year pause on a data center tax incentive, and the Hillsboro City Council enacted a 120-day moratorium on new data center approvals, following a lawsuit against the city regarding tax abatements.
The Data Center Coalition, an industry group comprising members like Microsoft, Google, Meta, QTS, and Equinix, established Oregon Connects to launch an ad campaign promoting data centers and countering common criticisms. Similar campaigns are active in at least six other states, aiming to improve public opinion amidst growing legislative and local government efforts to slow data center growth due to their significant demands for water, energy, and land, and the debate over tax breaks.
In Oregon, these efforts by Oregon Connects coincide with legislative and local actions. The Oregon Legislature recently passed a one-year pause on the Standard Enterprise Zone tax abatement program for data centers, after Governor Tina Kotek backed down from expanding the program following reports that most benefits flowed to data centers. The Oregon Center for Public Policy criticized the industry, stating that data centers receive hundreds of millions in tax abatements annually.
Further community pushback led the Hillsboro City Council to unanimously approve a 120-day moratorium on new data center and battery energy storage system approvals. This decision came after an environmental advocacy group, 1000 Friends of Oregon, joined a lawsuit against the Hillsboro city government regarding its approvals of property tax waivers for data centers. Community leader Dirk Knudsen described the moratorium as a result of grassroots activism, contrasting it with what he perceives as a sophisticated, out-of-state public affairs blitz by the data center industry.