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• September 2026 Interim Legislative Days

• Governor Kotek's Office Executive Actions

• Clean Energy

• Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction

• Clean Buildings

• Transportation

• Public Health

• Environmental Justice and Climate Equity

• Natural and Working Lands

• Data Centers and Oregon's Energy Future

• 2027 Long Session

  
  

The summer of 2026 was defined by Oregon's worst wildfire season on record (2.5 million acres), a voter-rejected transportation funding package, and a fast-moving political consensus that data centers need statewide rules. With the Legislature out of session, nearly all climate and energy action came from Governor Kotek's office, state agencies, the Public Utility Commission, the courts, and the September 8–10 Interim Legislative Days. This report covers those developments by the six Climate Emergency (CE) subject areas — Clean Energy, GHG Emission Reduction, Clean Buildings, Transportation, Public Health, and Natural & Working Lands — plus a Data Center special focus and a 2027 outlook. Water, fisheries, land use, and other Natural Resources topics appear in the separate LWVOR Natural Resources report.

September 2026 Interim Legislative Days (Sept. 8–10)

Informational hearings only (no bills); data centers dominated the climate-energy agenda. Agendas, presentations and video: OLIS.

• House Interim Committee on Climate, Energy & Environment (Sept. 8, Chair Rep. Mark Gamba): A packed, three-hour "fact base" hearing on Data Centers in Oregon. ECOnorthwest counted roughly 144 facilities statewide, nearly twice as many east of the Cascades as west. Legislative Revenue Officer Chris Allanach confirmed property-tax exemptions of about $450 million per year. ODOE (Edith Bayer) presented regional load-growth scenarios of 500–5,000 aMW by 2030, with Oregon's investor-owned utilities carrying most of the in-state increase; the PUC (Caroline Moore) reported on POWER Act implementation (see Clean Energy). The Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) and DEQ described agency oversight of water withdrawals, discharge and diesel backup-generator air permits.

• Senate Interim Committee on Energy & Environment (Sept. 8): Heard the FORGE Act (Fund for Oregon Resilience, Growth and Energy) — a state green bank concept presented by Oregon Business for Climate and the Washington State Green Bank, likely to return as a 2027 bill; Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on data center water-use provisions in its 2025 H.F. 16; PFAS in drinking water; and 2026 Bottle Bill updates.

• Senate Interim Committee on Natural Resources & Wildfire (Sept. 9): 2026 Wildfire Season Update from Doug Grafe (Governor's Wildfire Programs Director), State Forester Kacey KC and State Fire Marshal Mariana Ruiz-Temple; also an update on rural land use with Rep. Pam Marsh and DLCD.

• House Interim Committee on Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources & Water (Sept. 8): Managing wildfire smoke impacts on agriculture (OSU's Dr. Elizabeth Tomasino); regulatory barriers to woody biomass (ODOE, Sustainable Northwest) — a wildfire-fuels and bioenergy topic.

• Senate & House Interim Transportation Committees (Sept. 8–9) and Joint Transportation Oversight (Sept. 9): Status report from the Governor's Rebuilding Our Transportation Vision Workgroup; "Prioritizing Rail in the 2027 Session" (AORTA, Amtrak); wildlife crossings (Rep. Ken Helm, ODFW); ODOT on the construction season and I-5 Rose Quarter.

• House Interim Committee on Emergency Management & Veterans (Sept. 9): State Resilience Officer Jonna Papaefthimiou on the Plan for a Resilient Oregon (PRO) under EO 25-26; strategies to prevent wildfire spread (Rep. Breese-Iverson, Sen. Nash).

• House Revenue (Sept. 9): Legislative Revenue Office briefing on data center tax treatment and a preview of 2027 committee bills. House Economic Development (Sept. 8): Governor's Prosperity Council recommendations, with reaction panels that included LWVOR. Meeting recording begin at 1:43:25.  

• Joint Emergency Board (Sept. 10): Approved nearly $123 million for the 2026 fire season ($108M ODF, $15M State Fire Marshal) plus authority for up to $150M in State Treasury interfund borrowing; also approved federal grant limitation for ODOT Low- and No-Emission Transit Buses and Community Wildfire Defense grants. (Lookout Eugene-Springfield)

• Revenue & Finance (Aug. 26 joint hearing): The September 2026 Economic & Revenue Forecast raised General Fund revenue only $55M; personal-income revenues are $526M below the kicker threshold (no personal kicker), federal H.R. 1 cut corporate collections about $191M, and the 2025-27 ending balance is roughly $400M. Ways & Means leaders continue to warn of a tight 2027-29 budget — the fiscal backdrop for every climate bill next year.

Upcoming: Joint I-5 Bridge Committee with Washington legislators, Sept. 17 (Vancouver); Energy Facility Siting Council, Sept. 18; DEQ CPP-EITE advisory committee, Sept. 15 and Oct. 21; December Legislative Days, Dec. 1–3, with the Q4 revenue forecast Dec. 17; pre-session bill filing deadline Nov. 11.

Governor Kotek’s Office Executive Actions

Wildfire & Drought Emergencies

• EO 26-10 (June 16) declared a statewide wildfire emergency through Dec. 31, 2026, citing record-low snowpack and drought in nearly half of counties. The emergency posture was downgraded Aug. 23 as fire activity eased, though the Governor warned "September will likely present more wildfire challenges."

• Drought emergencies reached 21 counties in 2026 — Josephine and Wasco added June 24; Curry and Union added July 13 (EO 26-12) — unlocking OWRD emergency water tools.

Data Centers

• July 30: Halted the state's sale of 32 acres at Salem's Mill Creek Corporate Center for a proposed $5B data center, saying "growth has to make sense for the community, for our infrastructure, and for our natural resources." (OPB)

• Sept. 8: Directed all agencies to pause approvals of easements, leases, land-use permits, and sales of state-owned property for data centers through July 1, 2027, with agency status reports due Sept. 14. Kotek said she "supports a moratorium until… data center development is done on our terms," but that she "currently lacks authority to enact a statewide moratorium." (Oregon Capital Chronicle) She has also endorsed local moratoriums and previewed 2027 legislation on energy use, water, and labor standards. Data centers have become a defining issue in the Kotek–Drazan governor's race; a July DHM poll found 71% of Oregonians view them negatively.

EO 25-26 / EO 25-29 Implementation

• ODOE's two EO 25-29 reports — Reducing Barriers to Clean Energy Deployment and Siting & Permitting Large-Scale Electricity Infrastructure — closed public comment July 2 and are due to the Governor in mid-September. Draft findings: typical interconnection now takes 55 months (vs. 36 in 2015); network upgrades are 85% of interconnection cost; tech loads could raise Oregon electricity demand ~40% by 2030. Draft recommendations lean on existing agency authority (an annual siting/interconnection coordination forum, a state transmission-entity study, more agency staffing) rather than new 2027 legislation — a gap advocates may want to fill.

• The EO 25-26 "Climate Resilience for Natural & Working Lands and Waters" workplan was briefed to the Environmental Quality Commission Sept. 11; the State Resilience Officer briefed legislators on the Plan for a Resilient Oregon Sept. 9. The Governor's Transportation Vision Workgroup (see Transportation) reports by year-end.

Clean Energy

POWER Act (HB 3546, 2025) — first rates in effect. On July 2 the PUC unanimously approved PGE's Schedule 96 (Order 26-154), effective July 7: a 29.7% increase for data centers, crypto miners and other loads over 20 MW, offset by a 1.3% residential decrease (about $1.91/month), –3.7% for small business and –2.2% commercial. New large loads must show sufficient emissions-free supply consistent with HB 2021, sign 10–30-year contracts, and pay a 1¢/kWh surcharge (facilities over 100 MW) that funds low-income energy assistance and efficiency. (OPB, PUC) PacifiCorp's data center class is being set in its general rate case (UE 470), with rates expected April 2027 — later than the November 2026 date reported in June. PGE separately requested a further 3.9% residential increase for 2027 on July 31.

Also: ODOE's Grid Resilience grants now total $29.5M over two rounds; its 2027-29 request budget asks to roll over unspent incentive funds and add an EFSC compliance officer (Governor's Recommended Budget due December).

Greenhouse Gas Emission (GHG) Reduction

Climate Protection Program (CPP) — litigation and rulemaking

Court of Appeals expedites review. In late July the Oregon Court of Appeals granted expedited review of the petition filed April 16 by Oregon Farm Bureau, Oregon Business & Industry, NW Natural and allied groups, reasoning that compliance costs "cannot be recouped" if the rules are later invalidated. The court also admitted Beyond Toxics, Climate Solutions, Oregon Business for Climate, OEC, Rogue Climate and Verde as intervenors defending the program. Briefing: petitioners' opening brief mid-September; state/intervenor response mid-November; reply mid-December — a decision is plausible in the first half of 2027, squarely during the long session. (Capital Press)

EITE rulemaking. DEQ's advisory committee on emission-intensity benchmarks for emissions-intensive, trade-exposed manufacturers met July 29 and Sept. 15, with a final meeting Oct. 21; draft rules are due December 2026, hearings Jan.–Feb. 2027, and EQC adoption spring/summer 2027 before the 2028-29 compliance period. OBI and 17 regulated entities are pressing for more "flexibility"; watch for benchmark weakening. (DEQ)

Other GHG developments

• Oregon Climate Action Commission: met July 17 (adopted natural & working lands sequestration goals — see NWL), Aug. 14 (NWL Fund annual report preview) and Sept. 11; its Transportation, Energy and Natural Climate Solutions committees met through August to shape the 2026 OCAC Report to the Legislature, due before the 2027 session.

• Federal Endangerment Finding repeal: Oregon AG Rayfield's March 19 suit with 36 other jurisdictions remains pending; the repeal also eliminates federal vehicle GHG standards that underpin Oregon's Clean Cars program. DEQ is already exercising enforcement discretion for model year 2026 under Advanced Clean Cars II and paused Advanced Clean Trucks enforcement in 2025.

• Make Polluters Pay / Climate Superfund (SB 1541, 2026): No interim hearing, but the coalition is organizing a 2027 relaunch;

• County of Multnomah v. Exxon Mobil et al. ($51.5B heat-dome damages suit) continues in Multnomah County Circuit Court after surviving removal and stay motions.

Correction to the June report: Juliana v. United States is no longer active — the U.S. Supreme Court declined review on March 24, 2025, ending the case. Our Children's Trust has shifted to state-court and new federal filings.

Clean Buildings

• 2026 Oregon Residential Specialty Code takes effect Oct. 1, 2026. Adopted by the Residential & Manufactured Structures Board in February, the code makes new homes about 27% more energy-efficient and requires builders who install cooling to use heat pumps rather than AC-only units (BCD; OEC). Expect 2027 proposals for a state appliance-efficiency standard to backfill rolled-back federal standards.

• Heat pumps: ODOE has installed more than 8,000 heat pumps in 33 of 36 counties through its rental and community programs; a federally funded $2,000-per-unit incentive for rentals and new construction launched this summer toward the statutory 500,000-heat-pump goal. The 25C/25D federal home-energy tax credits expired Dec. 31, 2025, shifting the burden to state and utility incentives.

• Heat resilience in housing: The House Housing Committee's June 16 hearing on Home Cooling & Heat Resilience (OHA, ODOE, Energy Trust, CUB, Community Energy Project) previewed 2027 asks: renewed AC/heat-pump funding for renters and closing the "green wall" gap outside Portland Clean Energy Fund boundaries.

• Low-income efficiency funding: PGE's new Schedule 96 surcharge on 100 MW+ data centers (see Clean Energy) is the first dedicated data-center-funded efficiency stream for low-income households. Upgrade & Save on-bill financing and the FORGE Act green bank are both positioned as 2027 bills.

  
  

Transportation

Post–Measure 120 funding crisis. Voters rejected Referendum/Measure 120 on May 19, repealing HB 3991's gas-tax, title/registration and transit-payroll increases (~$4.3B over a decade). ODOT now faces a $200 million gap for 2027-29 — its fifth straight cycle of cuts — and plans to eliminate nearly 200 maintenance positions, or a third of its 80 statewide crews, even as crews were diverted this summer to close highways as firebreaks and manage evacuations. Transportation remains Oregon's largest emissions source (about 35%). (Oregon Capital Chronicle)  See also Transportation in Natural Resources Report

Public Health

• Wildfire smoke: On Aug. 5 all but two Oregon counties were under air-quality advisories; Prineville hit an AQI of 439 (hazardous) and Portland ranked among the worst major cities worldwide. Bend has logged 97 unhealthy-smoke days in the last decade versus 10 in 2000–2015; hospitals statewide reported increased smoke-related visits. DEQ's air administrator: "wildfire seasons are starting earlier and lasting longer." (OPB) OHA issued updated youth outdoor-activity smoke guidance June 8; DEQ briefed EQC Sept. 10 on Smoke Management Program rule revisions; the House Agriculture committee examined smoke damage to crops and wine grapes.

• Extreme heat: Multnomah County was investigating four suspected heat deaths before summer began (mid-June), and the fifth anniversary of the 2021 heat dome (June 29) prompted review of what has changed: 11,400 OHA emergency AC units (funding exhausted), ~25,000 Cooling Portland units, ODOE's heat-pump programs, and Oregon OSHA's heat rules — with gaps for renters and communities outside Portland.

• Air toxics and diesel: DEQ opened 2026 Diesel Mitigation & Infrastructure grant applications Sept. 9; Cleaner Air Oregon's toxics review continues (OBI is seeking to exclude 11 chemistries). DEQ's bulk fuel terminal financial-assurance rulemaking (up to $300M certificates, HB 4100 follow-on) held its first advisory meeting Aug. 28, next Oct. 9.

  
  

Environmental Justice & Climate Equity

State EJ policy advanced by inches this summer while the federal framework was dismantled; the gaps are as notable as the progress.

• EJ Mapping Tool — four years after HB 4077 (2022), still not launched. The Environmental Justice Council took up adoption of the tool's statewide and community-designation indices at its Aug. 12 meeting and held a Sept. 4 retreat; no launch date is posted, two council seats (including the Commission on Indian Services appointee) are vacant, and agencies' annual EJ reports are uneven. Until the tool is final, no statute requires agencies to use it in siting, permitting or funding decisions — an obvious 2027 fix.

• CPP Community Climate Investments move forward, under legal cloud. DEQ named CALSTART provisional administrator of the CCI program on July 9; polluter payments will fund rooftop solar, storage, heat pumps and Tribal resilience projects in "communities hit first and worst." (Climate Solutions) The entire stream disappears if the Court of Appeals voids the CPP.

• Outdoor workers and smoke. Oregon OSHA reminded employers July 25 of the 2022 heat and smoke rules, but reporting during August's hazardous-air days found PCUN members working through headaches and vomiting and unions describing weak enforcement and retaliation. (Street Roots) Advocates want 2027 bills adding anti-retaliation protections, hazard-pay or shutdown thresholds, and OSHA inspection funding.

• Energy burden. Federal LIHEAP (~$40M/yr, 70,000+ Oregon households) remains crippled after its staff was eliminated in 2025 (CUB); Solar for All's $86.6M for 8,000 low-income households is still frozen in litigation. The only new money is PGE's Schedule 96 data-center surcharge; expanding the Oregon Energy Assistance Program is a 2027 ask.

• Data centers and host communities. The DCAC's own finding that Morrow, Umatilla and Crook County residents were nearly absent from 700+ comments (70% were Portland form letters) underscores an equity gap; Verde's Water Justice Principles and the Sept. 8 rally by Oregon Rural Action and Columbia Riverkeeper press rural water and health impacts. PFAS in drinking water drew hearings in both chambers.

• Federal rollbacks compound vulnerability: EPA's EJ offices are gone, the endangerment finding is repealed, and H.R. 1's Medicaid eligibility changes (briefed to Health committees Sept. 9) hit the same households most exposed to heat and smoke. No EJ bill passed in 2026; OJTA, Verde and PCUN are expected to seek statutory EJ obligations for agencies in 2027.

  
  

Natural & Working Lands

Record wildfire season. By late August Oregon had burned 2.53 million acres in 1,667 fires — surpassing 2024's record 1.9 million — including the 578,635-acre Big Grass Fire (largest in state history), the Rowe Creek Complex (374,000 acres), Coleman Creek Complex and Hay Creek Complex. ODF alone handled nearly 800 fires; gross suppression costs reached $268.7M ($160.6M net) by Legislative Days, with the season projected at ~$350M versus 2024's $318M. FEMA still owes Oregon $92M from the 2020 fires; Rep. Gomberg warned the state is "taking general fund dollars away from our schools… while we're waiting for reimbursement." (Wikipedia summary; ODF E-Board presentation)

• Carbon sequestration goals adopted (July 17): OCAC voted to recommend net sequestration and storage goals for Oregon's natural and working lands of at least 57.6 MMTCO2e/yr by 2035 and 62.4 MMTCO2e/yr by 2050 — roughly doubling the 2021 target — under HB 3409 (2023) and SB 1525 (2024). The goals are non-binding; OCAC asks the Legislature for technical assistance, data, and landowner incentives within 3–5 years. (Oregon Capital Chronicle)

• EO 25-26 "10 by 10": Agencies briefed EQC (Sept. 11) and legislators on the climate-resilience workplan; the NWL Fund annual report was previewed at OCAC Aug. 14. Federal actions removing protections on ~2 million acres of Oregon national forest run directly counter to state sequestration goals.

• Wildfire policy for 2027: Legislative Days hearings on preventing fire spread, woody-biomass barriers, and Community Wildfire Defense grants, plus repeated E-Board bailouts, set up a 2027 debate over a durable wildfire funding source (the kicker set-aside and other concepts from the 2025 wildfire funding debate are likely to resurface).

• Drought: 21 counties under emergency (Union County 96% severe-to-extreme); water issues are covered in the Natural Resources report.

  
  

See also Wildfire report in Natural Resources.

Special Focus: Data Centers & Oregon's Energy Future

Advisory Committee slips to December. Rather than the October recommendations promised in June, the Governor's seven-member Data Center Advisory Committee released "Preliminary Learnings" on Sept. 10, opened a 45-day comment period (to Oct. 24), and will deliver final recommendations by year-end. Key findings: facilities grew from 8 (2000) to ~123 (2025), 80% inside UGBs; ~9,000 acres are in the development pipeline, 6,500 of them needing UGB expansion or rural rezoning; direct water use is a small statewide share but NDAs hide local, seasonal impacts; POWER Act and COU cost-containment "effectively protect" ratepayers; Oregon lacks any central accounting of tax incentives. Of 700+ comments, ~90% opposed expansion, but most came from Portland rather than host counties. Recommendation areas span water, land use, energy/affordability, tax incentives, transparency, workforce, cumulative impacts and equity.

• Local action & advocacy: Hillsboro (35 data centers) adopted Oregon's first 120-day moratorium July 28; Salem is weighing one after the Mill Creek reversal. Roughly 100 demonstrators (Food & Water Watch, Oregon Rural Action, Columbia Riverkeeper) rallied Sept. 8 for a three-year statewide moratorium and a Responsible Data Center Development Act in 2027.

Highlight: The State's Own Data Centers

Public vs. private count: no state inventory distinguishes ownership, but every facility in this summer's tallies — ~123 (DCAC, from S&P Global 451 Research) to ~144 (ECOnorthwest, Sept. 8) — is a privately owned commercial data center (hyperscale, wholesale, retail colocation, telco or powered shell). Publicly owned facilities are not counted at all; there are roughly a half-dozen, all small: the State Data Center, OSU's Open Source Lab and Huang Complex, UO's Research Advanced Computing Services, and OHSU, PSU and Portland/Multnomah County IT rooms — none near the POWER Act's 20 MW line. So Oregon is a data center operator, not just a host, a point absent from the DCAC's preliminary learnings. The State Data Center in Salem, run by DAS Enterprise Information Services, provides colocation, managed hosting and cloud brokering for state agencies and some counties and cities. It is a Tier 3-equivalent facility whose "free cooling" design cuts cooling energy roughly 35%; OSU's Open Source Lab moved there in December 2025. In Corvallis, the largest new public computing load is OSU's Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex, a $200M building funded with $72M in state capital bonds plus $50M gifts each from Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang and the Valley Foundation, on track to open in the second half of 2026. Its NVIDIA SuperPOD (about 60 NVIDIA DGX/OVX systems) targets climate, clean-energy and water research, and its liquid cooling will heat more than 500,000 sq ft of campus buildings — a waste-heat model the state could require of private facilities. Neither agency publishes its power draw, and the Sept. 8 pause covers only private projects on state land. Gap to raise in 2027: public-sector data centers should meet the same reporting, efficiency and clean-energy standards the Legislature sets for industry, and EO 25-29's state-agency electrification mandate should explicitly cover state IT loads.

• Watch list for 2027: statutory siting criteria and cumulative-impact review; mandatory water/energy/tax reporting; enterprise-zone reform; community benefit agreements; emissions rules for consumer-owned utilities; and the fate of the ~$450M/yr property tax exemption.

Looking Ahead: 2027 Long Session

Likely climate-energy bills, based on interim hearings and coalition statements:

• Data center package (siting, water, transparency, tax incentives, labor) — the Governor's stated priority and the DCAC's December recommendations.

• Transportation funding reform following Measure 120, with the Vision Workgroup's December report; climate advocates will push for scoring (Measure What We Drive), transit and rail.

• FORGE Act green bank; Upgrade & Save on-bill financing; appliance efficiency standards (Clean Buildings/Clean Energy).

• Make Polluters Pay / Climate Superfund relaunch; CPP defense depending on the Court of Appeals' timing.

• Wildfire funding and resilience — a permanent suppression/mitigation funding source after a $350M season; PRO implementation; woody biomass.

• Transmission/siting reforms (EO 25-29 reports); NWL sequestration investments (OCAC report); statutory EJ obligations for agencies.

Budget reality: no personal kicker this biennium, H.R. 1 revenue losses, record fire costs and a $200M ODOT hole mean new General Fund climate appropriations will be scarce; expect fee-, surcharge- and bond-based designs. The November 2026 election (Governor, all House seats, half the Senate) will reshape committee leadership before any of this is filed.

LWVOR Natural Resources Team | Climate Emergency Legislative Report | September 2026 | Sources: OLIS, Governor's Office, ODOE, DEQ, PUC, OCAC, OEA, Oregon Capital Chronicle, OPB, Capital Press, KGW, Lookout Eugene-Springfield, OBI, Climate Solutions, OEC, CUB, Street Roots, ECOnorthwest. Bill tracking: olis.oregonlegislature.gov

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED:  What is your passion related to Climate Emergency ?  You can help. Volunteers are needed.  The short legislative session begins in January of 2026. Many State Agency Boards and Commissions meet regularly year-round and need monitoring.  If any area of climate or natural resources is of interest to you, please contact Peggy Lynch, Natural Resources Coordinator, or Claudia Keith Climate Emergency at peggylynchor@gmail.com Or climatepolicy@lwvor.org.  Training will be offered.

• Clean Energy Buildings

• Natural and Working lands, specifically Agriculture 

•  Transportation and ODOT state agency

•  Climate Related Lawsuits/Our Children’s TrustDA

•  Public Health Climate Adaptation (OHA)

•  Regional Solutions / Infrastructure (with NR team)

•  State Procurement Practices (DAS: Dept. of Admin. Services)

•  CE Portfolio State Agency and Commission Budgets

•  Oregon Treasury: ESG investing/Fossil Fuel divestment

• Environmental Justice

• Climate Migration

  
  

Interested in reading additional reports? Please see our Governance, Revenue, Natural Resources, and Social Policy report section