Governor Kotek Convenes Statewide Data Center Advisory Committee

Today, Governor Tina Kotek announced the convening of a statewide Data Center Advisory Committee, tasked with developing a set of policy recommendations and actions to address issues of statewide significance associated with the growing expansion of new data centers across Oregon. The Committee’s report will be due to the Governor no later than October 2026.

“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,” Governor Kotek said. “I expect the Data Center Advisory Committee to help ensure economic growth while protecting affordable power and Oregon’s critical water resources.”

The goal of the advisory committee is to develop policy recommendations that will help Oregon to take strategic advantage of the economic development opportunity created by new data centers and other large load industrial consumers of electricity, while striving to keep utility costs, infrastructure upgrades, and environmental impacts sustainable for all Oregonians, particularly low-income and working households and ratepayers. Margaret Hoffmann, Oregon Council Member on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, and Michael Jung, energy and climate policy professional, will serve as the co-chairs of the advisory committee.

“To have been tapped by Oregon Governor Tina Kotek to serve as a co-chair of the Data Center Advisory Committee is an honor that I humbly accept as a citizen volunteer,” co-chair Jung said. “The Governor has assembled an experienced committee to recommend priorities and actions to chart a path that balances existing priorities and new opportunities."

The advisory committee will conduct an open and public process to understand challenges and opportunities in key policy areas related to the siting of data centers in our state, and then recommend actions that the State of Oregon can take to:

• Encourage data center siting decisions that support responsible economic development, create jobs, and increase long-term revenue that will strengthen our rural communities;
• Understand how the development of data centers affects and can help Oregon meet its climate, clean energy, and natural resource management goals;
• Ensure data centers have reliable energy without burdening Oregon’s ratepayers;
• Protect Oregon’s limited water resources in the face of growing demand from data centers while recognizing available clean water is imperative to both existing economic sectors such as agriculture and the growth of new and more diversified local economies; and,
• Identify key issue areas needing to be addressed in order to develop a policy framework that will help guide the state in the responsible siting of data centers moving forward.

“I am honored to have been appointed by Governor Kotek as a co-chair of the Data Center Advisory Committee,” co-chair Hoffmann said. “The challenges we currently face are complex. I look forward to working with my fellow committee members to understand how we can co-create a vision for Oregon that supports healthy economic development, affordable energy, natural resource abundance, and a future in which all Oregonians can thrive."

The advisory committee is composed of the following members:

Margaret Hoffmann, Northwest Power and Conservation Council, Co-Chair
Michael Jung, Energy and Climate Policy Professional, Co-Chair
Dan Dorran, Commission Chair, Umatilla County
Greg Dotson, Associate Professor, University of Oregon
Bill Edmonds, Adjunct Professor, University of Portland
Tim Miller, Director, Oregon Business for Climate
Jean Wilson, Operating Partner, Sandbrook Capital

See an accompanying Frequently Asked Questions document here.

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