Proponents say House Bill 2816 would compel big tech companies to comply with Oregon’s clean energy targets. But government leaders in rural cities and counties say it could stifle construction of new data centers in eastern and central Oregon and warn it sets a dangerous precedent by setting emissions targets for specific industries rather than for utilities.
“A bill like this could easily scare potential new businesses or drive existing businesses away,” Republican Sen. Bill Hansell testified Monday. His district includes Morrow and Umatilla counties, where Amazon has spent billions of dollars building large data centers.
Oregon’s largest data centers operate in eastern and central Oregon, regions that were largely exempted from carbon emissions standards the Legislature established for big private utilities three years ago.
Lawmakers exempted consumer-owned utilities serving those regions from the 2021 greenhouse gas limits because they have historically relied on Bonneville Power Administration hydroelectric projects for the bulk of their energy, and hydropower doesn’t contribute to climate change.
The Legislature is revisiting the breadth of those exemptions because of rapid growth in Oregon’s data center industry, with electricity demand far outstripping BPA hydropower capacity. HB 2816 would set emission standards for newly built data centers beginning in 2030, with strict limits taking effect in 2040.
In dollar terms, data centers are now among Oregon’s biggest industries. Big tech companies have spent several billion dollars building data centers in Hillsboro and in small towns east of the Cascades.
Oregon awards huge property tax breaks to the industry – more than $180 million last year alone, according to a tally by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Data centers aren’t major employers. Even the biggest facilities rarely have more than a few hundred workers at each site.
But data centers provide a big economic boost in small communities, where even a few hundred jobs can make a big difference. They provide temporary construction jobs and boost local tax coffers. While data centers save far more in taxes than they actually pay, though some may eventually go onto the tax rolls after 15-year exemptions expire.
Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon operate huge installations in The Dalles, Prineville, and Morrow and Umatilla counties. Each of those companies has established their own clean energy targets, some of which would move faster than those in HB 2816.
Apple and Facebook, which also goes by the name of its parent company, Meta, have built their own clean energy projects in the Northwest to reduce the carbon footprint from their data centers. But Amazon hasn’t said what, if anything, it’s doing to reduce its regional carbon emissions.
Carbon emissions by the Umatilla Electric Cooperative have soared 543% since 2010, according to state data, shortly before Amazon began opening its first data centers in Morrow and Umatilla Counties. Amazon now plans to shift some of its Morrow County data centers to fuel cells powered by natural gas, a major contributor to climate change.
“We believe that these large energy users should be held to the same standards of greenhouse-gas emissions as our investor-owned utilities,” testified Jennifer Hill-Hart, policy manager for the Oregon Citizens Utility Board.
The bill’s backers have amended their proposal to exempt existing data centers and other big energy users from the emissions requirements and to allow pauses in the regulations during short-term constraints. They’ve also eliminated hefty fines originally proposed for violators, leaving it to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to determine any penalties.
“HB 2816 is a simple and commonsense solution that puts all data centers and cryptocurrency operations on a 100% clean energy pathway,” testified Joshua Basofin of Climate Solutions Oregon.
Supporters include the Oregon Environmental Council, the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon and the Oregon League of Conservation Voters. The bill’s sponsors include Rep. Pam Marsh, D-Ashland, who chairs the energy and environment committee that hosted Monday’s hearing.
Oregon’s biggest business organizations are all opposed. That includes Oregon Business & Industry and the Technology Association of Oregon, and the national trade group TechNet. They say HB 2816 sets a dangerous precedent by regulating power users, rather than the companies supplying the power.
HB 2816 has also attracted fierce opposition from lawmakers and county officials in eastern and rural Oregon, who say they feel targeted by the proposed rollback in clean power exemptions for their region.
“This bill directly attacks economic development in eastern Oregon,” said Dawson Quinton, legislative director for Republican Rep. Greg Smith, R-Heppner.
Umatilla County commission Chairman Dan Dorran blamed “activists and special interests” for pushing a bill that he said has already derailed one economic development project his county spent months pursuing and is threatening another.
Speaking after the hearing, Dorran said a solar industry supplier pulled out of talks with Umatilla County because it felt “singled out” by HB 2816. And he said a supplier to the communications and semiconductor industry is reconsidering a possible investment for the same reason.
“This bill has had an immediate and outsized effect on all of Oregon,” said Dorran, who traveled to Salem to testify in person on the bill.
No major tech company has taken a position on the bill. Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google did not respond to questions Monday about whether they intend to.
The House climate and energy committee plans a work session on HB 2816 next Monday and could vote on the bill then.
A legislative committee held its first hearing Monday on a bill that would require new Oregon data centers and cryptocurrency miners to meet clean-energy targets, a proposal opponents say could disrupt one of the state’s fastest-growing industries.
Proponents say House Bill 2816 would compel big tech companies to comply with Oregon’s clean energy targets. But government leaders in rural cities and counties say it could stifle construction of new data centers in eastern and central Oregon and warn it sets a dangerous precedent by setting emissions targets for specific industries, rather than for utilities.
“A bill like this could easily scare potential new businesses or drive existing businesses away,” Republican Sen. Bill Hansell testified Monday. His district includes Morrow and Umatilla counties, where Amazon has spent billions of dollars building large data centers.
Oregon’s largest data centers operate in eastern and central Oregon, regions that were largely exempted from carbon emissions standards the Legislature established for big private utilities three years ago.
Lawmakers exempted consumer-owned utilities serving those regions from the 2021 greenhouse gas limits because they have historically relied on Bonneville Power Administration hydroelectric projects for the bulk of their energy, and hydropower doesn’t contribute to climate change.
The Legislature is revisiting the breadth of those exemptions because of rapid growth in Oregon’s data center industry, with electricity demand far outstripping BPA hydropower capacity. HB 2816 would set emission standards for newly built data centers beginning in 2030, with strict limits taking effect in 2040.
In dollar terms, data centers are now among Oregon’s biggest industries. Big tech companies have spent several billion dollars building data centers in Hillsboro and in small towns east of the Cascades.
Oregon awards huge property tax breaks to the industry – more than $180 million, last year alone, according to a tally by The Oregonian/OregonLive. Data centers aren’t major employers – even the biggest facilities rarely have more than a few hundred workers at each site.
But data centers provide a big economic boost in small communities, where even a few hundred jobs can make a big difference. They provide temporary construction jobs and boost local tax coffers – though data centers save far more in taxes than they actually pay.
Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon operate huge installations in The Dalles, Prineville, and Morrow and Umatilla counties. Each of those companies has established their own clean energy targets, some of which would move faster than those in HB 2816.
Apple and Facebook, which also goes by the name of its parent company, Meta, have built their own clean energy projects in the Northwest to reduce the carbon footprint from their data centers. But Amazon hasn’t said what, if anything, it’s doing to reduce its regional carbon emissions.
Carbon emissions by the Umatilla Electric Cooperative have soared 543% since 2010, according to state data, shortly before Amazon began opening its first data centers in Morrow and Umatilla Counties. Amazon now plans to shift some of its Morrow County data centers to fuel cells powered by natural gas, a major contributor to climate change.
“We believe that these large energy users should be held to the same standards of greenhouse-gas emissions as our investor-owned utilities,” testified Jennifer Hill-Hart, policy manager for the Oregon Citizens Utility Board.
The bill’s backers have amended their proposal to exempt existing data centers and other big energy users from the emissions requirements and to allow pauses in the regulations during short-term constraints. They’ve also eliminated hefty fines originally proposed for violators, leaving it to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to determine any penalties.
“HB 2816 is a simple and commonsense solution that puts all data centers and cryptocurrency operations on a 100% clean energy pathway,” testified Joshua Basofin of Climate Solutions Oregon.
Supporters include the Oregon Environmental Council, the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon and the Oregon League of Conservation Voters. The bill’s sponsors include Rep. Pam Marsh, D-Ashland, who chairs the energy and environment committee that hosted Monday’s hearing.
Oregon’s biggest business organizations are all opposed. That includes Oregon Business & Industry and the Technology Association of Oregon, and the national trade group TechNet. They say HB 2816 sets a dangerous precedent by regulating power users, rather than the companies supplying the power.
HB 2816 has also attracted fierce opposition from lawmakers and county officials in eastern and rural Oregon, who say they feel targeted by the proposed rollback in clean power exemptions for their region.
“This bill directly attacks economic development in eastern Oregon,” said Dawson Quinton, legislative director for Republican Rep. Greg Smith, R-Heppner.
Umatilla County commission Chairman Dan Dorran blamed “activists and special interests” for pushing a bill that he said has already derailed one economic development project his county spent months pursuing and is threatening another.
Speaking after the hearing, Dorran said a solar industry supplier pulled out of talks with Umatilla County because it felt “singled out” by HB 2816. And he said a supplier to the communications and semiconductor industry is reconsidering a possible investment for the same reason.
“This bill has had an immediate and outsized effect on all of Oregon,” said Dorran, who traveled to Salem to testify in person on the bill.
No major tech company has taken a position on the bill – Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google did not respond to questions Monday about whether they intend to.
The House climate and energy committee plans a work session on HB 2816 next Monday.
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