Since 2011, nearly 40 data centers have been built in Washington County, primarily in the City of Hillsboro. Data centers are known to use significant amounts of power to run their servers and water to cool them. In fact, data centers in Washington County used over 117 million gallons of water last year alone. In the Tualatin watershed, the data center industry has also filled wetlands and paved over thousands of acres of prime farmland.
TRK is active in the data center opposition work happening across Oregon. We work closely with several coalitions of citizen advocates and partners to better understand the harmful effects of data centers and to advocate for regulations that protect water and ecosystems against the unchecked growth of the industry.
Most recently, TRK joined as a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the City of Hillsboro. This suit challenges the legality of over a dozen Hillsboro Enterprise Zone (EZ) applications approved by the City of Hillsboro before a property tax break moratorium, passed by the state legislature during the 2026 session, went into effect. The initial filing for this suit is a Writ of Review filed at the Washington County Circuit Court. A writ of review asks the court to review a decision or determination by any inferior court, officer, or tribunal for error. Upon this review, the court may review any intermediate order involving the merits and necessarily affecting the decision or determination sought to be reviewed (ORS 34.020).
TRK chose to join this suit for several reasons. The foremost reason is that these tax agreements pave the way for the construction of more data centers in our watershed, which in turn threatens water quality, water quantity, and wetland and riparian health. Secondarily, these actions by the City of Hillsboro exemplify a pattern of closing the public out of important land use decisions. The residents of the Tualatin watershed have shown that they are actively opposed to the unchecked growth of the data center in Hillsboro. We support these residents and are committed to our mission—to protect and restore the Tualatin River watershed.
