Prineville leaders present at Oregon’s data center advisory committee session
Published 4:00 am Thursday, March 5, 2026
Local city leaders recently took an opportunity to speak with a newly formed state group tasked with developing policy for data centers in Oregon.
Prineville Mayor Jason Beebe, Councilor Steve Uffelman and City Manager Steve Forrester were invited to talk with the committee late last month to share local views. The city is home to both a Facebook and Apple data center, with each siting spurred by Enterprise Zone tax exemptions for property development. The 15-year-long exemptions will begin to expire next year, and a massive tax windfall is expected to follow.
“I feel it was important for someone from Prineville to present to the committee, because we have been very successful in bringing the data centers here and how we have incorporated them into our community,” Beebe said. “We are a true success story, and we had to learn the hard way how to make this all work together.”
Gov. Tina Kotek announced the new Data Center Advisory Committee in January and named seven members who will provide policy recommendations to her and the Legislature no later than October 2026.
Kotek and state lawmakers will use those to create regulations, most likely aimed at where data centers can be built. The regulations would aim to protect energy infrastructure and water supplies from being overburdened by the privately run data and AI processing centers, which require massive amounts of energy to run and water for cooling.
The Data Center Advisory Committee is the state’s first big foray into setting data center policy.
“I have talked with one of the committee co-chairs, and she explained that the committee is to get information about how to move forward with the data center industry in Oregon,” Beebe said. “The committee is made up of members who are not stakeholders within the data center industry, so they are unbiased. After the first meeting, I believe it is truly to gather information from the basics of data center infrastructure to how they incorporate themselves into communities and what benefits and issues arise from it.”
Beebe stressed that the Prineville perspective is unique, and the committee appreciated what he, Uffelman and Forrester had to say. Part of that message revolved around the substantial impact bringing Facebook and Apple has had on not just future tax revenue but current employment and economic diversity.
“I would first like to provide the perspective of a community that was the highest in unemployment and lowest wages in the state and show them how we were able to thrive by bringing in the data centers,” Beebe said. “I’m very happy that we have the data centers.”
In addition to his role as mayor, Beebe has worked in the data center field and was able to provide “perspective from all over the world and what data center issues are being presented everywhere – growing power needs, water usage and how companies are working to be more sustainable and better stewards of the natural resources.”
“I have also been researching the new technologies entering the data center industry, specifically AI infrastructure and how that is affecting power needs and cooling architectures.” Beebe noted that the newer systems cannot use water solely to cool the equipment. Consequently, data technology is moving toward Direct to Chip cooling, which uses no water.
“I just want to share my knowledge of these emerging technologies and how they could benefit the data center footprint that is already in Oregon and any future development,” Beebe said.
Following the committee meetings, Beebe believes the people of Oregon will see policies that pertain to issues like water usage, power, land development and environmental aspects of data centers throughout the entire state.
“My understanding is that the governor wants to know our current state and what the future might look like if data centers continue to be located in Oregon,” Beebe said, “and to just be prepared for it.”