Make Big Tech Pay Its Share — and Protect Our Climate

Across the country, artificial intelligence is driving a massive boom in data centers — and an equally massive increase in electricity demand.

That surge has serious consequences for both our electric bills and the climate. 

Meeting enormous new loads can require utilities to build additional generation and grid infrastructure at the same time states are trying to rapidly cut greenhouse gas pollution. 

Oregon, for example, requires major electricity providers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% below baseline levels by 2030, 90% by 2035, and 100% by 2040.

And they are already seeing the pressures created by rapid data-center growth. The state has roughly 125 data centers, and communities are increasingly raising concerns about their impacts on resources. 

Two Oregon cities are already pushing back against unchecked data-center growth: Hillsboro recently imposed a temporary moratorium on new facilities, Salem is considering similar restrictions, and Gov. Tina Kotek has convened a statewide advisory committee to recommend new rules for the industry.

At the same time, Oregon regulators are deciding a question that states across the country will increasingly face: Who should pay for the enormous new electricity infrastructure these facilities require — and how can utilities meet that demand without undermining the clean-energy transition?

In 2025, Oregon passed a law aimed at making big data centers pay more of the costs they create for the electric grid instead of passing those costs on to other customers.

Now the Oregon Public Utility Commission is deciding how those protections will apply to major new power users served by Pacific Power.

The stakes extend far beyond Oregon. As tech companies race to build more power-hungry data centers, regulators nationwide will face mounting pressure to provide huge amounts of new electricity while meeting climate commitments and keeping consumer bills affordable. 

In some states, surging data-center demand is already contributing to plans to keep fossil-fuel power plants running longer or build new gas-fired generation — threatening to lock in more climate pollution for years to come.

Oregon can set a powerful precedent that other states can follow: Big Tech must pay the costs its data centers create — without forcing families to subsidize new infrastructure or slowing the transition away from fossil fuels.

Please sign the petition and tell the Oregon Public Utility Commission to protect ratepayers, require large data centers to pay the costs of their enormous electricity demand, and make sure new data-center growth does not drive investments that lock Oregon into more fossil-fuel pollution or make its clean-energy goals harder to reach.

The petition to the Oregon Public Utility Commission reads: Ensure that the costs and financial risks of serving large data centers are borne by those customers, not shifted onto households and small businesses. Adopt strong protections for Pacific Power customers that discourage unnecessary fossil-fuel dependence, keep Oregon on track toward a clean, affordable electricity system, and set a model for other states confronting rapid data-center growth.
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Sources:

https://www.opb.org/article/2026/08/04/oregon-data-centers-advisory-committee-to-propose-statewide-regulations/

https://apps.puc.state.or.us/edockets/Docket.asp?Child=calendar&DocketID=24856