Oregon City Commissioners Adopt 120-Day Moratorium on Data Center and Battery Storage Development, After Clackamas County's Own Moratorium

Oregon City commissioners on Wednesday, Nov. 4, passed a 120-day moratorium on data center and battery energy storage development. It blocks applications in five industrial and mixed-use zones while staff audit city codes and draft new regulations. The city had no open applications or inquiries from data centers. Mayor-elect Adam Marl, a sitting commissioner, said that without new rules a proposed data center would get no public input, because city code “does not contemplate the existence of data centers.”

The vote follows a countywide Clackamas County moratorium that took effect Oct. 22. Gov. Tina Kotek has also directed the Department of Environmental Quality not to issue environmental permits for new or expanding data centers through July of next year.