Morrow County officials and Amazon representatives set up displays in Boardman this past Thursday to walk residents through how data centers get approved in the region, even as farmers and neighbors in nearby Irrigon pressed county leaders the same day over water use, air pollution and a lack of transparency. The dueling gatherings captured a county trying to sell the benefits of a booming industry while some residents wonder who actually benefits from it.
The Boardman event paired Amazon representatives with Morrow County planning department staff, who set up separate displays explaining data centers and the approval and zoning process, according to OPB. Morrow County Commissioner Gus Peterson helped organize the event to help residents understand how projects move through the approval pipeline. Peterson described turnout as neither as few as he feared nor as many as he had hoped for, OPB reported.
Morrow County has become one of Oregon's biggest hubs for data center development, with companies including Amazon investing heavily in the region, the outlet's reporting shows. That growth has made the county a focal point for a broader statewide debate over whether rural communities are reaping enough reward for hosting the infrastructure that powers the nation's artificial intelligence boom.
A Battery Project Still Under Review
One of the more closely watched proposals comes from Copia Power, which has proposed a 237-megawatt standalone battery storage facility about six miles from Irrigon that would connect to a substation in Boardman. The site would sit outside both Irrigon and Boardman city limits on land currently zoned for agriculture, per the same account. Copia Power has also taken separate steps to build a data center on federal land near Hermiston, though that is a distinct project from the battery proposal.
Large-scale battery parks like the one Copia Power has proposed are designed to store electricity when power is abundant so it can be released during local demand spikes. Peterson said that if the county approves the battery site, he hopes it creates a path for data centers to rely less on diesel generators, which can contribute to air pollution. Avoiding those generators, he said, would be a major win for the county and its residents. As of the article's publication, Copia Power's application remained under county review, and the company could not be reached for comment, the station noted.
Residents Press for Answers in Irrigon
At the Irrigon Planning Commission meeting, three residents used public comment to question whether local benefits justify further data center growth, according to OPB. Farmer Barrett Dash, who opposes adding more local data centers or supporting infrastructure, questioned the value of having 11 data centers around a town of 2,000 people that has no grocery store.
Dash said water remains a central concern for him and that residents' health should come before profits, calling for more transparency from county officials. Irrigon resident Gary David echoed those worries, warning that data centers could release pollutants into the air and likewise calling for greater transparency about the industry's footprint in the county.
A Survey Still Taking Shape
In response to that pressure, Irrigon officials discussed issuing a draft survey asking residents directly about data centers, with questions expected to cover potential benefits, community concerns, and which regulations or restrictions residents consider most important. Phil DeVries, a Portland State University master's student helping develop the survey, did not announce a timeline for when it might be distributed but said he remains open to community feedback as the project takes shape.
Rules for who pays to serve large electricity loads also depend on the utility. The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that Oregon’s Power Act applies to customers of privately owned utilities, but not municipal systems or electric cooperatives, including those that power Amazon data centers in Morrow and Umatilla counties.
The friction in Morrow County mirrors a wider shift playing out statewide and nationally. A Stateline analysis found that voters delivered dozens of rebukes to data centers in Tuesday's midterm election, with at least 44 ballot measures imposing new development restrictions passing nationwide and two more holding significant leads in ongoing vote counts. Those measures ranged from outright bans and temporary moratoriums to energy-use limits, voter-approval requirements and advisory questions, including efforts in 21 Ohio municipalities where residents turned to local ballot measures to try to block proposed projects.
Oregon voters have shown similar unease in recent polling. A DHM Research survey found that 66% of Oregon voters supported temporarily blocking construction of AI data centers, while 73% said they would not support tax breaks to attract them, according to OPB's polling report. That same survey found 71% of voters held negative feelings about data centers powering major tech companies' AI ambitions. A separate DHM poll commissioned by The Oregonian/OregonLive, surveying 600 Oregon voters by phone and text from late September through early October, found 58% backed a statewide data center moratorium and 29% opposed one.
The stakes tied to that debate are significant. A September report cited by OPB counted 111 operational data centers statewide with 32 more planned or under construction, and projected that data centers' share of Oregon's electricity demand could climb to 31% or 32% by 2030. The report also found that development has so far concentrated in eastern Oregon, with more future growth expected on the west side of the state. A separate March report from The Oregonian/OregonLive described Oregon communities maneuvering to make roughly 9,100 acres available for new data center development, enough, the outlet reported, to quadruple the industry's footprint in the state.
