Columbia Riverkeeper has been hard at work developing and implementing a multi-pronged campaign to engage various levels of government to address climate, water, salmon recovery, and other impacts of data centers.
It’s hard to escape news about AI and data centers, and the enormous amount of energy and water Big Tech is demanding to build more facilities. Data center expansion tn the Pacific Northwest is driving demand for fossil fuels, including new gas pipelines, power plants, and even small modular nuclear reactors. The data center industry’s rising water use threatens water availability in drought-prone areas and places additional stress on the power system during critical periods. Such stress increases the chance that dam operations designed to protect fish will be interrupted, risking harm to Tribal treaty-protected salmon and steelhead. Unless we act soon, an unprecedented buildout of data centers in Oregon and Washington will derail some of the nation’s strongest clean energy laws and undermine historic efforts to restore the Northwest’s iconic salmon and steelhead.
Columbia Riverkeeper has identified over 100 data center campuses at various stages of development and operation in 12 Washington and Oregon counties bordering the Columbia River. Existing and planned data center capacity in these 12 counties alone could require 4 GW of energy, according to data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. To put that into perspective, 4 GW of data center capacity would consume 24.5 million MWh electricity per year, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of nearly 2.3 million households.
In this exclusive Q&A with Columbia Riverkeeper, learn more about how the organization is addressing data center proliferation in the Pacific Northwest and why they say “the political winds are blowing in our favor” for change.
What does Columbia Riverkeeper want to see as more data centers are proposed and developed? How does this intersect with the other work Columbia Riverkeeper has been long known to do?
Laws designed to protect communities, clean water, and our climate have not kept pace with the rapid growth of data centers. The most practical step right now would be to institute a moratorium on data center development. In 2025 Columbia Riverkeeper joined over 230 local, state, and national organizations across the country calling on Congress to pass a nationwide moratorium on the approval and construction of new data centers. The letter cites massive and unsustainable consumption by data centers of energy and water resources, and skyrocketing utility costs for families and small businesses, among other impacts of unchecked data center growth.
Until a moratorium is in place, Columbia Riverkeeper will advocate for commonsense laws to protect impacted communities, Tribes, and the Columbia River. Columbia Riverkeeper stands in solidarity with Columbia River Basin Tribal Nations that continue to voice deep concern about the unprecedented scale of energy demand anticipated from new data center development. For example, at peak use, data centers require millions of gallons per day, and proliferation of facilities across Washington and Oregon strain water supplies in drought-prone areas and endangers fish and wildlife. Many Tribal fisheries are protected by treaties. In a 2025 report to the Washington Governor’s Data Centers Advisory Group, the Yakama Nation details how data center impact could stress river systems relied on by communities, fish, and wildlife, and shares actions lawmakers can take to protect water, air, and the climate.
The bottom line is clear: Elected officials and regulators must take meaningful steps to address the wide-ranging impacts of data centers. Some of the possible action items they could work toward include:
What is something you wish everyone knew about data center proliferation in the PNW? Why is this particular issue top of mind for Columbia Riverkeeper?
Oregon and Washington can create the playbook for states around the country to address data center expansion. Columbia Riverkeeper has been hard at work developing and implementing a multi-pronged campaign to engage various levels of government in both states to address the climate, water, salmon recovery, and other impacts of data centers. We are actively working with community members, Tribal governments, and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, which represents the four Columbia River Treaty Tribes.
We understand that achieving a just energy future will require substantial changes to our region’s regulatory and physical infrastructure. This will include regulating how, if, and where data centers are sited and operated. That’s why we are calling for a moratorium on new data center development until commonsense laws are in place to address their impact. In the meantime, we are advocating for new laws to improve transparency, accountability, and oversight. Check out our “Closer Look” report for more details on the regulatory reforms we stand behind.
Tell me more about the impact of data centers on dam removal.
Energy load growth from data centers — a staggering magnitude of load growth — exceeds what the region’s utilities are able to meet with current capacity. Washington and Oregon utilities have long depended on hydroelectricity from dams along the Columbia River and the Lower Snake River, which produce roughly half the region’s electricity. But regional hydropower production has reached its limits and is increasingly unreliable due to climate change and changing water availability.
Overreliance on hydropower presents its own set of challenges. Dams along the Columbia and Snake rivers have decimated salmon populations over the course of the last century. Now, additional data center electricity loads threaten to prolong operation of the Lower Snake River dams and exacerbate hydropower’s impacts on salmon and other tribal fishery resources.
Moreover, research shows hydropower is not 100% clean. Dams and the reservoirs behind them emit methane gas and other potent greenhouse gases when artificially trapped organic material decomposes underwater. The four dams on the Lower Snake River in Washington produce about 1.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, the equivalent of burning 2 billion pounds of coal each year.
Some data center developers are proposing small modular nuclear reactors (SMNR) as a power source for the future, while using gas until SMNRs would theoretically come online in years to decades down the road. SMNRs are an unproven and costly technology, likely with significant polluting impacts, and the “gas as a bridge to SMNRs” scenario may extend methane gas use beyond current projections.
Given the limits and drawbacks of hydropower and nuclear, and the existing demand for solar and wind, Washington and Oregon utilities turn to the open market to purchase electricity from elsewhere at high prices during periods of high power demand. Much of the electricity sourced from the open market is generated from fossil fuels. Additional data center demand is likely to increase fossil fuel energy use in the region.
If you support free-flowing rivers and salmon recovery, you should take a hard look at the impact of data centers. Now is a critical time to take a stand to address the impact of data centers and ensure the additional electricity demand does not torpedo salmon and steelhead recovery efforts.
How are various stakeholders and communities involved in the effort to curb data center development? What does that partnership look like and how would you like to see it grow in the future?
Along with Tribes, impacted community members, and nonprofit partners, we are working to convince elected officials and regulators to curb irresponsible data center expansions and the tremendous amount of energy and water use that come with them. Our team is gearing up for the 2027 legislative sessions in both Oregon and Washington, which are primed for action on data centers. We are also taking a hard look at new proposals for data centers along the Columbia, and supporting community members to take on Big Tech.
Nonprofits require sustained and increased support to engage in multiple venues, from legislatures to utility commissions to rural counties, to address the sprawling and rapidly-increasing impacts of data centers.
How can philanthropic groups like the Water Foundation and other funders be supportive at this moment?
Public opinion on data centers has undergone a seismic shift. Funders should seize this opportunity to support nonprofits working to address the rapid buildout of data centers. Regardless of why funders are drawn to the issue — from water impacts to climate change to energy affordability and beyond — they have an opportunity to embrace the creative, rapid-response work playing out across the country. What might have seemed impossible five years ago (think: a conservative, rural community stopping a multi-billion dollar tech company project promising jobs) is now an achievable reality. The political winds are blowing in our favor. Now is a time for funders to step up and rapidly deploy funding to the communities and coalitions fighting back.
To learn more about Columbia Riverkeeper’s work to address the growing threats from data centers and find out how to take action, visit https://bit.ly/data-center-expansion. Photos featured above are by Paloma Ayala, courtesy of Columbia Riverkeeper.