Oregon

Energy/Power is the dominant stress domain: Oregon’s debate is driven by grid capacity, transmission upgrades, and the question of which customers pay for new infrastructure (OPB, OPB). Water/Geology is the secondary stress domain in The Dalles and eastern Oregon, where Google-linked growth intersects with reservoir expansion and aquifer concerns (OPB).

No clear Oregon 2026 race has emerged where data centers are a defining campaign issue. OPB’s midterm analysis did not identify Oregon races centered on data centers, though county and local growth debates are adjacent: Washington County chair candidates Nafisa Fai (D) and Pam Treece (D) are running in a growth-heavy county shaped partly by Silicon Forest expansion, and Deschutes County commissioner candidate Jamie Collins (nonpartisan) has emphasized infrastructure, affordability, and grid resilience themes that overlap with data-center concerns (OPB, OPB, Ballotpedia)).

No statewide moratorium or ban on data centers is in place as of May 2026. The main statewide restraint is a temporary pause on new data center projects receiving enterprise-zone tax breaks, advanced in House Bill 4084, which OPB reported would block such incentives until summer 2027; the bill was still moving through the Legislature and had been approved by a budget subcommittee, not yet enacted in that report (OPB, Oregon Legislature HB 4084). Separately, Gov. Tina Kotek created a seven-member Data Center Advisory Committee in January 2026 to recommend statewide policy on siting, affordability, water, and economic development rather than impose a freeze (OPB).

Oregon’s biggest data-center cost-allocation change is the POWER Act, enacted in 2025, which requires utilities to create a separate rate class so data-center and other large-load customers pay the costs they drive rather than shifting them to residential customers (OPB). In 2026, the key implementation fight has been over Portland General Electric’s compliance plan: PGE proposed a “Peak Growth Modifier” that would directly charge data centers for only the first three years of a roughly 50-year infrastructure investment, drawing criticism from the Citizens’ Utility Board and utility watchdogs as a workaround that still leaves some long-run costs on other customers (OPB). Separately, SB 1582 on virtual power plants was described as an affordability-and-reliability bill; it was not a direct data-center ratepayer law, but it reflects the broader grid-pressure context (OPB).

None identified. Ballotpedia’s 2026 data-center ballot-measure tracker lists measures in California, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin, but not Oregon (Ballotpedia).

1) The Dalles / Google campus and water system expansion, The Dalles, Wasco County — contested because Google’s growing water use and city reservoir expansion plans have triggered public criticism and forest-water concerns; status: contested and under continued scrutiny (OPB). 2) Hillsboro Reliability Project, Hillsboro / Washington County — a major PGE transmission project tied to serving new data-center load; status: contested at the rate-setting and cost-allocation level rather than a siting cancellation (OPB). 3) Hermiston / Amazon expansion corridor, Umatilla County — Amazon has two data centers under construction and the city has annexed additional land for more; status: expanding but facing local water-and-power concern rather than formal cancellation (OPB).

Citizens’ Utility Board (CUB); Oregon Public Utilities Commission staff; environmental groups cited in the The Dalles reporting; Columbia Riverkeeper; Data Center Coalition as the main industry counterweight (OPB, OPB, OPB, OPB).

Inclusion criteria satisfied: Construction labor. Prineville and Hillsboro buildouts; Oregon AFL-CIO positions; Crook County and Morrow County trades record. Primary-source verification pending — full content in v1.2. Sub-state and labor-market analysis available in the full RAIL briefing.

Major hub. Oregon hosts 121 data centers, with concentrations near Hillsboro and in eastern Oregon around Boardman and Hermiston; OPB notes Oregon is the fifth-largest U.S. data center market (OPB, OPB).

“Oregonians have made their concerns about rising utility bills clear. As our state faces rapid growth of data facilities, we must have frank conversations about the challenges and opportunities ahead.” — Gov. Tina Kotek, as quoted by OPB (OPB).

OPB — Oregon Gov. Kotek to create statewide data center advisory committee, OPB — Utility watchdogs accuse PGE of skirting new law meant to make data centers pay for rising demand, OPB — Data centers are cut for now from a bill expanding Oregon tax breaks, OPB — The Dalles' mayor called OPB's data center story inaccurate, Ballotpedia — Data center-related ballot measures, 2026, OPB — Data centers are expensive, unpopular and could be a tipping point in the midterms