Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has appointed a new committee intended to help address the effects of the rapid growth of new data centers in the state — with a particular focus on the electricity system.

The new Data Center Advisory Committee will be “tasked with developing a set of policy recommendations and actions to address issues of statewide significance associated” with that growth, according to a Jan. 20 press release from the governor’s office.

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

The committee’s overarching goal: to come up with recommendations that help Oregon “take strategic advantage of the economic development opportunity” created by new data centers and other large industrial consumers of electricity “while striving to keep utility costs, infrastructure upgrades and environmental impacts sustainable for all Oregonians.”

The recommendations are due to the governor by October 2026.

The release reiterates Kotek’s phrasing, saying the committee will engage in a public process to understand the “challenges and opportunities” related to siting data centers and will develop recommendations that “support responsible economic development, create jobs and increase long-term revenue that will strengthen our rural communities,” which are the site of many large data center operations in Oregon.

The committee is also tasked with exploring how data center development affects — and can help — Oregon’s efforts to meet its climate, clean energy and natural resource management goals, including those related to water use. The press release points to a potential competition for water between agricultural users and data centers in rural areas.

The recommendations should also help the state “ensure data centers have reliable energy without burdening Oregon’s ratepayers,” the release said.

Kotek appointed as committee co-chairs Margaret Hoffmann, a member of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, and Michael Jung, executive director of the ICF Climate Center.

“The challenges we currently face are complex,” Hoffmann said in a statement. “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.”

“To have been tapped by Oregon Gov. 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,” 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.”

Other committee members include:

• • Dan Dorran, Umatilla County Commission chair;
  • Greg Dotson, associate professor and leader of the Energy Law and Policy Project at the University of Oregon;
  • Bill Edmonds, adjunct professor at the University of Portland;
  • Tim Miller, director of Oregon Business for Climate; and
  • Jean Wilson, operating partner at Sandbrook Capital.

Oregon lawmakers in 2025 passed a law directing the state’s Public Utility Commission to create a new retail rate class for large electricity consumers such as data centers in an attempt to shield residential ratepayers from the costs incurred to integrate those loads. (See Oregon Governor Signs Bill to Create Data Center Rate Class.)