Oregon's city sewage plants fall inside the data-centre permit pause Governor Tina Kotek requested on 9 October. She asked the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to pause processing and issuing air and water discharge permits for new or expanded data centres until 1 July 20271. The request also reaches cities: it covers municipal applications to renew or modify wastewater treatment plant permits so they can take data-centre discharge.
The letter names two water permits, the federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit and Oregon's Water Pollution Control Facility (WPCF) permit, and two air permits, the state's Air Contaminant Discharge Permit (ACDP) and the federal Title V permit. Air permits are what on-site gas turbines and diesel generators need, so the requested pause would also reach developers who planned their own power, as Texas's September freeze does. The letter sets no megawatt threshold and no exemption for applications already filed.
Oregon's water record sits behind the request. In March Amazon agreed to pay $20.5m to settle a class action over nitrate pollution linked to its Boardman, Oregon campus. The state has already moved grid cost onto large loads: in July Oregon's Public Utility Commission approved a 29% rate rise for Portland General Electric customers above 20 MW, cutting residential bills 1.3%.
The same letter praises the department for streamlining air permitting under a 2026 law, House Bill 4084. Kotek relies on the department's existing discretion rather than a new statute. The pause is meant to give the state's Data Center Advisory Committee time to report, so the 2027 legislative session would write the rules that follow it.
