(PORTLAND, Oreg.) — Portland council adopts resolution urging the City Administrator to refrain from signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) related to data centers.
The Portland City Council meeting on September 17 held a discussion on the importance of being informed about offers from data center developers, along with remaining transparent and keeping Portlanders informed.
Council Policy Analyst and Staff to the Housing and Permitting Committee Claire Adamsick introduced the resolution by reading the committee staff summary.
Photo Credit: YouTube
“The resolution urges the city administrator and city leadership to refrain from signing any non-disclosure agreements related to the siting, permitting or development of data centers within the city. City of Portland officials are encouraged to engage in transparent public processes for all decisions related to data centers.” Adamsick said.
Following this, Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane outlined the value of discussing this issue.
Video Credit: YouTube / eGov PDX
Councilor Koyama Lane stated that the resolution is about responsible governance.
“It’s about transparency, and it’s also about building and keeping public trust. Secrecy erodes public trust, and it’s especially dangerous to have secrecy around an industry that touches our drinking water, our electric grid, and the air that we are breathing right now,” Koyama Lane said. “So, this step costs the city nothing $0. But what it gets us is the ability to look Portlanders in the eye, people who are here, and tell them that nothing is happening behind closed doors.”
Public testimony began with Morgan Glenn from District 2, who urged the Council to ban non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with data center developers. Referencing Salem's experience where an NDA led to unavoidable construction, Glenn stated that developers use closed-door tactics due to the unpopularity of data centers.
“We do not need tax-subsidized data centers when there are so many parts of our government that are completely underfunded. We need Trimet to be funded. We need actual affordable housing to be built, not a building that creates ugly art and mass surveillance,” Glenn said. “I’m also urging you to act in the interests of the public by, at the very least, requiring that all data center proposals be presented to the public, so that we have a say in what goes on in our communities.”
Jamie Bradley Kissel, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, argued that the resolution is fundamentally about whether city leadership should engage in secret deals that escalate living costs.
Photo Credit: YouTube
“Roughly two thirds of Oregonians support a moratorium on new data centers, and these companies want our city officials to make secret backroom deals that go against what the people want so they can get richer. They spend millions combating moratoriums and pushing NDAs like the ones that we’re here speaking against tonight, because they know that if the people learn about these projects early, we will organize. The people will take action and will fight each and every data center,” Kissel said.
Ultimately, the Portland council voted unanimously to urge city administrators not to sign nondisclosure agreements with possible data center developers.
The resolution also included an amendment indicating the council's intent to pursue a moratorium or zoning restrictions on hyperscale data centers.
If you would like to comment on this report, please email me at rory.h@lead4earth.org
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