Data Center Moratorium Tracker Update: August 31, 2026

The U.S. Data Center Moratorium Tracker was refreshed on August 31, 2026. This is the record of what changed since the previous refresh on August 24, 2026. Every entry below links to the primary source behind it.

Where the count stands

Of the 39 states with a state-level measure on the tracker, 19 have a restriction in force, 3 are under an active administrative pause, 9 have a measure pending, and 8 saw their most advanced measure fail or be vetoed.

New state measures this period

• Oregon, Announced bill (2027 session): Proposed three-year moratorium on new large data centers. Sens. Jeff Golden and Courtney Neron Misslin and Reps. Lesly Munoz and Farrah Chaichi announced on Aug. 4, 2026 that they will introduce a three-year moratorium on new large data centers when the 2027 session convenes in January. Gov. Kotek said on Aug. 24, 2026 that she will introduce a competing bill built on her advisory committee’s recommendations. Kotek has said the state lacks authority to impose a statewide moratorium administratively and has voiced support for local pauses. Source

Newly verified state measures from earlier periods

These actions were taken before this reporting period and were added once a primary source was confirmed. They are research gains, not new activity.

• Oregon, HB 4084: Pause on Enterprise Zone property-tax breaks for new data centers. Effective June 5, 2026. An amendment to the Governor’s enterprise-zone bill makes new data centers ineligible for Oregon’s largest property-tax incentive program, the Standard Enterprise Zone. The pause runs until 90 days after the 2027 legislative session adjourns sine die, giving the Governor’s Data Center Advisory Committee time to report before the 2027 session. It restricts incentives rather than construction. Source

New local measures this period

• Anniston, AL: Twelve-month moratorium on data center permitting and licensing. The City Council adopted Resolution No. 26-R-97 on Aug. 18, 2026, effective immediately, directing the city to withhold permits, approvals and licenses for the location, development, expansion or operation of a data center within its regulatory jurisdiction. The pause runs 12 months and may be shortened or extended; the planning commission is to report recommendations within six months on utility demand, cooling, stormwater, transportation and separation from residential areas. Source
• Pinson, AL: One-year moratorium on data centers. The City Council approved a 12-month moratorium at its first meeting of August 2026, following a first reading on July 16. No data center had been proposed in Pinson; Mayor Hoyt Sanders said the pause gives the council time to research zoning and confirm that infrastructure costs would fall on applicants rather than homeowners. Source
• Madison County, AR: Three-year moratorium on data centers and digital asset mining. The Quorum Court approved an ordinance on Aug. 17, 2026 imposing a moratorium on data centers, digital asset mining businesses and other large-scale computer or server operations through Aug. 31, 2029. An emergency clause made it effective immediately. The county has no known project in development; the pause is the second longest in Arkansas after Independence County’s. Source
• Tallahassee, FL: Rejected proposal to define and prohibit AI data centers. The City Commission rejected a motion 3-2 on Aug. 26, 2026 to define and prohibit AI data centers in the city land development code. Commissioners in the majority relied on staff advice that the use is not currently permitted, so no ordinance was needed. Commissioner Jeremy Matlow, who brought the motion, argued the code does not define data centers at all. Source
• Savannah, GA: 155-day moratorium on large-scale data centers. The City Council voted unanimously on Aug. 27, 2026 to pause new development or conversion activity for large-scale data centers inside city limits for 155 days. The ordinance covers facilities with electrical capacity of 10 MW or greater and industrial buildings of 200,000 square feet or more being built or converted for data center use. Staff are to study grid, water, wastewater, stormwater and road impacts along with zoning and noise rules. Source
• Salix, IA: Rejected one-year data center moratorium. The City Council voted 3-2 on Aug. 20, 2026 against a one-year moratorium, clearing the way for MidAmerican Energy and Google to continue exploring a project on roughly 900 acres the city annexed in April 2026. Council member Denise Burkhart, who had supported a pause the previous month, changed her vote after Google was identified as the prospective customer. The meeting had been delayed more than a week after death threats were posted on social media. Source
• Eastport, ME: Moratorium on the DeepGreen underwater data center proposal. The City Council voted unanimously on Aug. 14, 2026 to adopt a temporary moratorium covering the proposed DeepGreen Holdings subsea data center in the Bay of Fundy. Following a special public hearing on Aug. 24 on citizen-initiated ordinances, the Planning Board unanimously recommended a permanent ban on data centers across all zoning districts; the council takes up that recommendation at a special meeting on Sept. 9, 2026. Source
• Garfield Township, MI: One-year moratorium on data centers and cryptocurrency mining. The Township Board in Grand Traverse County voted unanimously on Aug. 25, 2026 to stop processing or considering data center and cryptocurrency mining applications for 12 months, with a permitted six-month extension. Residents raised water use and noise. The moratorium halts a proposal to repurpose a Cass Road building for a small-scale data center. Source
• East Brunswick, NJ: Ordinance banning data centers. The Township Council unanimously adopted an ordinance prohibiting data centers on Aug. 25, 2026, after a clerical correction changing ‘primary use’ to ‘principal use’ to match the land use code. East Brunswick acted the same night as North Brunswick and Stafford Township. Source
• Stafford Township, NJ: Ordinance banning data centers. The Township Council unanimously adopted Ordinance No. 2026-22 on Aug. 25, 2026, adding data centers to the Additional Prohibited Uses section of the township code and barring them anywhere in Stafford. The ordinance defines a data center as a facility used to store and manage digital data. Source
• Town of Orangetown, NY: Six-month moratorium on data centers and battery energy storage. The Town Board adopted a six-month moratorium on applications for new data centers and battery energy storage systems on Aug. 25, 2026, after a public hearing. Town Supervisor Teresa Kenny confirmed the moratorium does not reach DataBank’s proposed second facility, which is already before the planning board under a full environmental impact study, a carve-out that drew resident objection. Concerns centered on noise, generator emissions, energy and water use and proximity to Lake Tappan. Source
• Davidson County, NC: Failed six-month data center moratorium. A proposed six-month pause on new data center applications failed on Aug. 24, 2026 when the Board of Commissioners split 3-3, so no action was taken. Commissioners debated whether a pause would forgo opportunity or provide needed planning time, and discussed distinguishing hyperscale facilities from smaller operations serving hospitals and colleges. Source
• Durham County, NC: Nine-month moratorium on new large data centers. County commissioners voted 4-1 on Aug. 24, 2026, after a public hearing at which 63 residents signed up to speak, to bar new hyperscale data centers in unincorporated Durham County through May 2027 while staff draft permanent rules. Facilities under 100,000 square feet that use closed-loop cooling and no diesel backup generators are exempt. Commissioner Nida Allam dissented on the ground that the measure did not go far enough. The county action matches the City of Durham’s existing pause. Source
• Pataskala, OH: Rejection of a 200 MW Aligned Data Centers campus. City Council voted 7-0 on Aug. 25, 2026 to reject the site plan for a proposed three-building, 200 MW Aligned Data Centers campus in the city’s industrial park, citing unresolved questions about how the project would be powered given that final siting decisions would fall to the Ohio Power Siting Board. Nearly 60 residents filled council chambers with overflow viewing in the city hall lobby. A separate ballot measure that could ban large data centers goes to Pataskala voters in November 2026. Source
• Salem, OR: Move to impose a temporary data center moratorium. After hearings on July 27 and Aug. 3, 2026, the City Council voted unanimously on Aug. 3 to begin the process of imposing a temporary moratorium on data center applications and to start rewriting the city’s zoning code. The vote started the process rather than enacting the pause: staff were to send the required 45-day notice to the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development by Aug. 10. Gov. Kotek separately terminated the state’s contract to sell about 32 acres in Salem for a proposed data center. Source
• Gallatin, TN: Proposed twelve-month moratorium on new data centers. The Gallatin Planning Commission recommended that the City Council adopt a 12-month moratorium on new data centers, with a council vote expected in September 2026. Council Member Pascal Jouvence first proposed a two-year pause in June 2026; the council deferred that vote and later directed the planning commission to draft the measure. Gallatin hosts a Meta campus of more than 900 acres, one of the largest data centers in Tennessee. Source
• Lubbock, TX: Citizen-petitioned 18-month data center moratorium. The City Council unanimously accepted a citizen petition on Aug. 25, 2026 seeking an 18-month moratorium on high water use and high energy use data centers inside the city limits. The group Save Lubbock submitted more than 3,000 signatures against a 2,410 requirement. A public hearing and council vote are set for Sept. 8, 2026. Councilman Tim Collins has said the 18-month length may conflict with state law. Source

Newly verified local measures from earlier periods

These actions were taken before this reporting period and were added once a primary source was confirmed. They are research gains, not new activity.

• Leon County, FL: Eighteen-month moratorium on large-scale data centers. County commissioners voted unanimously on July 14, 2026 for an 18-month moratorium on large-scale data centers, saying they needed time to understand water use and other impacts and to write local regulations before considering projects. The Tallahassee City Commission declined to adopt a parallel measure. Source

Status changes, local measures

• Palm Springs, CA: Proposed to In force. The City Council adopted an urgency ordinance on Aug. 26, 2026 temporarily barring acceptance, processing or approval of any application, permit or entitlement for a data center while the citywide zoning code update proceeds. The initial term is 45 days, running to about Oct. 10, and the council may extend it for up to two years. Source
• Coweta County, GA: Failed / vetoed to In force. The Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a 180-day moratorium on May 12, 2025, halting acceptance of permit, land use amendment, rezoning, conditional use and variance applications and all public hearings related to data centers while the county drafted an ordinance. It was set to expire Nov. 3, 2025 or earlier if zoning guidelines were adopted first. Projects already filed under the prior ordinance held vested rights and were exempt. Source
• Jackson, NJ: Proposed to In force. The Township Council voted 4-1 on Aug. 26, 2026 to prohibit data centers township-wide, making Jackson the 38th New Jersey municipality to adopt a ban. Councilman Ken Bressi cast the dissenting vote. Residents cited electric grid and water supply strain and the township’s location partly within the Pinelands National Reserve. Source
• North Brunswick, NJ: Proposed to In force. The Township Council adopted an ordinance prohibiting data centers on Aug. 25, 2026, the same night East Brunswick and Stafford Township adopted their own bans. The three became the 35th, 36th and 37th New Jersey municipalities to ban the use. Source

Removals

No entries were removed. The tracker merges forward: a sourced entry stays on the list unless a new source shows its status changed or it was formally repealed.

How this tracker is maintained

The tracker is refreshed weekly. Every entry requires a verifiable primary source: a legislature page, a governor’s office, a local government record, or established news reporting. Entries are merged rather than replaced, so a measure verified in an earlier week is not dropped because a later pass did not resurface it. Where a measure is single-sourced or a date could not be independently confirmed, the entry says so.

The full dataset, with a filterable map and all 298 citations, is at the U.S. Data Center Moratorium Tracker. The complete source list is at the tracker’s sources page.