Clackamas County commissioners just voted to start the process for a pause on new data center development — but it won't take effect for weeks, and developers can still apply in the meantime.

Oregon law requires the county to give the state 45 days' notice before commissioners can even schedule the hearing needed to adopt the moratorium. That gap is real: when Hillsboro's City Council passed its own data center pause with only one day's notice, a company still got a permit application in before the freeze began.

Commissioner Diana Helm, who proposed the pause, said she doesn't want the county to be "blindsided" by surging demand for data centers, adding, "We're just trying to put a pause on anything happening until we have done our research." Commissioner Ben West agreed: "We shouldn't wait or put our destiny in (the Legislature's) hands to control."

Residents across Oregon, from Hillsboro to Salem, are already raising concerns about what data centers could mean for water supplies, electricity demand, and utility bills. Clackamas County has a narrow window to close its loophole before a developer does the same thing here.

Sign the petition to demand Clackamas County finalize its data center moratorium now — before a developer beats the pause into place.