Spokane Data Center Moratorium Fight Is About Water, Power, And Public Rules

BadPD source-check, June 19, 2026; source dates June 10-16, 2026: Spokane has not enacted a data-center moratorium yet. That distinction matters. What Spokane does have is an introduced emergency ordinance, a delayed council vote, a potential 500 MW Avista-linked data-center request, and a public fight over water, power, ratepayers, and local rules.

The city’s June 10 release says Councilmembers Paul Dillon, Sarah Dixit, and Kate Telis introduced an immediate one-year citywide moratorium on accepting, processing, reviewing, and approving building-permit applications for new computer data centers. The same release says the pause would give Spokane time to evaluate its preparedness through the Comprehensive Plan, Water Conservation Plan, Water System Plan, and economic-development strategy.

That is the correct frame. A moratorium is not a plan by itself. It is only useful if it produces the rules Spokane lacked before the power request arrived.

What Changed

Avista announced June 12 that it paused processing an energy service request from a potential 500 MW data-center developer. Avista said the pause was meant to allow broader policy and community alignment after public concern. The utility also said future large-load decisions should be grounded in customer protection, reliability, regulatory review, and responsible growth.

Then the Spokane City Council did not move forward with the emergency vote on June 15. The Spokesman-Review reported the council delayed action at least a week while members debated how to draw the line without accidentally harming desired projects such as an aerospace tech hub. KHQ similarly reported that the vote to add the ordinance to the agenda failed after some members said they needed more information.

That means the public record is clear: proposed moratorium, delayed vote, active policy gap.

The Missing Rules

Spokane’s question is not whether data centers are good or bad as a category. The question is whether a project can show the receipts before residents carry the risk. A 500 MW electric request is not ordinary commercial load. It raises grid-planning, cost-allocation, generation, transmission, reliability, water, land-use, and emergency-service questions.

BadPD’s build-it-right standard is direct: bring your own power where feasible, pay the full cost of grid upgrades, publish cooling and water plans, protect residential ratepayers from stranded costs, disclose backup generation, use waterless or closed-loop cooling where the watershed requires it, and set clawbacks or guarantees if promised public benefits do not appear.

If Spokane wants to pause, the pause should produce enforceable standards. If Spokane wants to approve, the approval should require the same standards before permits, water service, or utility commitments move forward.

Confirmed, Alleged, Pending

Confirmed: Spokane councilmembers introduced a one-year data-center moratorium ordinance on June 10. The city release tied the proposal to water-conservation, water-system, comprehensive-plan, and economic-development readiness. Avista paused processing a potential 500 MW data-center energy request. Local reporting says the June 15 emergency path did not move forward and the issue was delayed.

Alleged or disputed: whether a specific site would use Spokane city water, whether the unnamed customer can protect existing ratepayers, and whether the proposed moratorium would interfere with desirable technology or aerospace projects remain unresolved policy and fact questions.

Pending: the next council vote, the final ordinance text, energy-use thresholds, water-service disclosures, customer identity, state-regulator review, Avista engineering studies, cost-allocation terms, and any county or state planning framework for large-load data centers.

BadPD Bottom Line

Spokane is not anti-compute for asking for rules before a 500 MW load lands in the region. It would be reckless to approve first and discover the water, grid, and ratepayer terms later.

The useful outcome is not panic and not booster fog. It is a public standard: no cheap public water, no hidden residential grid subsidy, no undisclosed backup-power plan, no vague community-benefit math, and no permit path without enforceable receipts.

Source Trail

• City of Spokane: councilmembers introduce data-center moratorium ordinance (June 10, 2026) – Official city receipt for the proposed immediate one-year citywide moratorium on accepting, processing, reviewing, and approving new computer data-center building permits.
• Spokesman-Review: Spokane council delays data-center moratorium (June 15, 2026; updated June 15, 2026) – Local reporting that the council delayed action after questions about thresholds, the aerospace tech hub, and the 500 MW Avista-linked data-center concern.
• Avista: 500 MW data-center energy request paused (June 12, 2026) – Company/investor receipt saying Avista paused processing an energy service request from a potential 500 MW data-center developer while seeking broader policy and community alignment.
• KHQ: Spokane City Council delays vote on data-center moratorium (June 15, 2026; updated June 15, 2026) – Local corroboration that a vote to add the ordinance to the agenda failed after some councilmembers said more information was needed.