Verrus Data Center, Salem, Oregon

Verrus cannot build its planned data center campus in Salem, in Marion County, Oregon, while the city's new data center moratorium lasts, the city attorney told councilors before they passed the 120-day ban on September 21, 2026. The Verrus data center, called Oakline at Mill Creek, is planned for the Mill Creek Corporate Center at Turner Road SE and Deer Park Drive SE. The ban runs until January 19, and during it the city cannot approve any data center application.

Verrus, backed by the Alphabet spin-out Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, first described three buildings and a substation on 75 acres, starting at "dozens of megawatts," with closed-loop cooling and battery backup instead of diesel generators. The city had been under a non-disclosure agreement with Verrus since March 2025, and the project became public only in July 2026 after details surfaced on social media.

On July 30, Gov. Tina Kotek directed the state to cancel its contract to sell Verrus about 32 acres of state land at Mill Creek, about half the land the project needed. "This decision is about my responsibility to make sure state actions reflect Oregon's values and serve the public interest," Kotek said. Verrus spokesperson JP Newmann said the decision "was made unilaterally and without consultation."

Within days, an applicant filing on Verrus's behalf, Alderstone, LLC, submitted plans for two one-story buildings with a combined 600,000-square-foot footprint on 100.2 acres owned by Capstone Mill Creek Logistics LLC and Scannell Properties, valuing the project at $394 million. Verrus says the campus would bring 75 permanent jobs.

Residents packed the July 27 council meeting in outrage over the project, and public comment at the August 3 meeting ran more than four hours. "We do not want your data center in our town," one resident said; others warned the Santiam River, the city's drinking water source, could be threatened.

City Attorney Dan Atchison told councilors that "there is a potential that our water supply will be imperiled" by pending drawdowns of the Detroit Reservoir. State Sen. Deb Patterson, a Salem Democrat, said the project had moved "under a cloak of secrecy" and said she would bring legislation on public officials' use of NDAs.

Salem joins Hillsboro and Woodburn in pausing data centers, and Kotek has told state agencies to hold off on unapproved requests for data centers on state land until next year. A statewide study found Oregon's 111 data centers in operation used more than 14 terawatt-hours last year, about 71% of all electricity sold to Oregon households.

The council can extend the moratorium by six months before the end of the year, and it will reconsider the freeze in January. A nine-member city Data Center Task Force is due to recommend data center policy to the Salem City Council by the end of 2026, and the council decides what follows.