North Dakota local moratoria
Every local infrastructure moratorium in the inventory for North Dakota, current through August 19, 2026.
8 instruments — 4 in force, 0 pending, 4 past.
State policy is tracked separately: 2 actions (2 bills) in state_legislation.csv. These are not included in the local count above.
| Jurisdiction | Type | Enacted | Sectors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barnes County | County | 2026-05-19 | data center | 🟢 Active |
| Dunn County | County | 2026-03-18 | data center, solar, battery storage | 🟢 Active |
| Mercer County | County | 2026-03-03 | data center, cryptocurrency mining | 🟢 Active |
| Morton County | County | 2024-09-12 | data center, cryptocurrency mining | 🟢 Active |
| Oliver County (Phase 1) | County | 2024-12-12 | data center, cryptocurrency mining, solar | 🔴 Rescinded |
| Oliver County (Phase 2) | County | 2025-05-06 | data center | ⚪ Expired |
| Oliver County (Phase 3) | County | 2026-03-13 | data center | 🔴 Rescinded |
| Williams County | County | 2023-06-20 | data center | ⚪ Replaced |
Detailed entries
Barnes County
- Type: County
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-05-19, Barnes County Commission (Valley City, ND), motion by Pete Paulson, seconded by Mike Schwehr, passed 5-0.
- Normalized date:
2026-05-19(exact) - Duration: Six months from adoption (to approximately 2026-11-19).
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
nd-barnes-county-2026 - Legal basis: Barnes County Commission motion adopting a six-month moratorium on new data center building permits/applications countywide, per official commission minutes; no separately numbered resolution/ordinance was cited in the minutes.
- What prompted it: Preemptive: no data center project was formally pending, but the board acted on rumor of a possible project in southern Barnes County to allow time to draft zoning/ordinance regulations before any application could be filed. Several citizens asked the board to extend the pause to a full year, but the motion that passed and was recorded was for six months.
- Affected projects: None formally pending; rumored project in southern Barnes County cited as the impetus.
- Detailed status: Active as of 2026-07-31 (expires approximately 2026-11-19). No extension vote found in records reviewed.
- Outcome: Commission unanimously approved a six-month moratorium on new data center building permits/applications countywide effective 2026-05-19.
Dunn County
- Type: County
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-03-18
- Normalized date:
2026-03-18(exact) - Duration: 12 months
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center, solar, battery storage
- Moratorium ID:
nd-dunn-county-2026 - Legal basis: County Commission motion (no numbered resolution issued). Per the signed official March 18, 2026 minutes: "Planning and Zoning Board would like to put a 12-month moratorium on data centers, solar energy and battery facilities. This would help the board to get the ordinances updated. Motion by Commissioner Pelton, seconded by Commissioner Kleemann to accept the moratorium as presented up to one year." All members present (Heiser, Olson, Pelton, Dolezal, Kleemann) voted aye. Preceded by a March 10, 2026 Planning & Zoning Board recommendation to the Commission on the same terms.
- What prompted it: Need for county staff to draft permitting ordinances for data centers, solar energy, and battery facilities.
- Affected projects: No data center project identified; KFYR reported solar farms and battery storage facilities had been proposed in nearby counties.
- Detailed status: Active
- Outcome: Pending. County staff are working on permitting ordinances; wind ordinances are also under development.
Mercer County
- Type: County
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-03-03
- Normalized date:
2026-03-03(exact) - Duration: 1 year
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center, cryptocurrency mining
- Moratorium ID:
nd-mercer-county-2026 - Legal basis: Motion-based moratorium (no resolution number assigned); per signed March 3, 2026 Approved Minutes, "Folk moved to put a 1-year moratorium on data centers being permitted. Guenthner seconded. Folk, Guenthner, and Voigt voted aye. Wolf and Bauman voted nay. Motion carried."
- What prompted it: Proposed River Run Energy Center and associated data center activity; Michael Berg, Wes Klein, and ND State Rep. Bill Tveit and other residents asked the Board to put a moratorium in place "until zoning ordinances and public policy were better established to ensure that local control could be maintained."
- Affected projects: River Run Energy Center and associated multi-gigawatt data center campus in Mercer County; Basin Electric and NextEra describe the project as a 1,450 MW combined-cycle gas generation facility with an associated multi-gigawatt data center campus and over $18 billion in expected total investment.
- Detailed status: Active
- Outcome: Pending. Planning and Zoning continued data center ordinance work in March and April 2026; the March 3 meeting included second-reading public hearing on adding Data Center / Digital Asset Mining definitions and listing Data Center as a conditional use in the Industrial District; the third reading was set for March 18, 2026.
Morton County
- Type: County
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2024-09-12
- Normalized date:
2024-09-12(exact) - Duration: Until siting and performance standards are developed and adopted; county page states a moratorium cannot continue indefinitely.
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center, cryptocurrency mining
- Moratorium ID:
nd-morton-county-2024 - Legal basis: Resolution 30-2024-03
- What prompted it: County findings cited Williams County impacts, lack of local standards, and need to protect health, safety, and welfare while drafting data center and cryptocurrency mining standards.
- Affected projects: No specific application identified in captured county materials; the County's current page states no data center or cryptocurrency mining facility may be permitted until siting and performance standards are adopted.
- Detailed status: Active
- Outcome: Draft standards were presented in February, March, and April 2026, but the county page states a public hearing will occur at a future Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.
Oliver County (Phase 1)
- Type: County
- Status: 🔴 Rescinded
- Date enacted: 2024-12-12
- Normalized date:
2024-12-12(exact) - Duration: Until land use code amendments were developed and adopted
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center, cryptocurrency mining, solar
- Moratorium ID:
nd-oliver-county-2024-p1 - Legal basis: Resolution 2024-05
- What prompted it: County findings said data center and cryptocurrency mining uses were nascent locally and lacked established siting and performance standards.
- Affected projects: No specific project identified in captured county records.
- Detailed status: Lifted
- Outcome: March 13, 2025 Commission unanimously (Husfloen, Berger, Schmidt all aye) voted to lift the data center and solar moratoria after States Attorney Patrick Waters recommended the lift, in connection with HB 1279 coal-conversion-tax discussions; ordinance work continued.
Oliver County (Phase 2)
- Type: County
- Status: ⚪ Expired
- Date enacted: 2025-05-06
- Normalized date:
2025-05-06(exact) - Duration: 90 days
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
nd-oliver-county-2025-p2 - Legal basis: Resolution 2025-03 (companion to a parallel solar resolution; second reading and adoption at the May 6, 2025 Commission meeting; vote 2-1, Berger and Schmidt aye, Husfloen nay, per official minutes)
- What prompted it: Commission minutes reported that Planning and Zoning requested reinstatement to allow more time for ordinance drafting; Matt Wilkins, P&Z board member, stated the moratoriums would let the board pause without legal-ramification concerns while drafting.
- Affected projects: No specific project identified in captured county records.
- Detailed status: Expired (90-day term ran out on or about 2025-08-04 per Resolution 2025-03 timing; no captured records show a Phase-2 lift or Phase-3 reinstatement until the 2026 process began)
- Outcome: No final county data center ordinance adopted between Phase 2 expiration and the February 26, 2026 P&Z public hearing that triggered Phase 3 [VERIFY: between-phase Commission minutes from June 2025-January 2026 not yet pulled].
Oliver County (Phase 3)
- Type: County
- Status: 🔴 Rescinded
- Date enacted: 2026-03-13
- Normalized date:
2026-03-13(exact) - Duration: 180 days, with option to extend
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
nd-oliver-county-2026-p3 - Legal basis: Resolution 2026-02, adopted at the March 13, 2026 Commission meeting: a 180-day moratorium on data center and cryptocurrency mining facilities, with the option to extend; moved by Commissioner Dave Berger, seconded by Commissioner Lee Husfloen, all in favor. The Planning & Zoning Board had recommended a 36-month term at second reading, but the Commission set 180 days instead, directing the State's Attorney (with help from other counties' State's Attorneys) to draft the permanent ordinance.
- What prompted it: County minutes said ordinances needed to be written; KFYR reported commissioners wanted more study time after a five-hour meeting with comments for and against data centers.
- Affected projects: No specific project identified in captured county records.
- Detailed status: Rescinded as of 2026-04-30. At a special meeting that evening, the Commission voted 3-0 (Husfloen, Dahl, Schmidt) to lift the moratorium, reportedly after receiving a zoning-amendment application for a data center; two draft ordinances were presented at a Planning & Zoning meeting earlier the same evening but were not acted on and remain pending.
- Outcome: Pending. February 2026 minutes recommended looking to Stutsman County and McLean County language for local ordinance drafting.
Williams County
- Type: County
- Status: ⚪ Replaced
- Date enacted: 2023-06-20
- Normalized date:
2023-06-20(exact) - Duration: 6 months, then extended to 2024-02-22
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
nd-williams-county-2023 - Legal basis: Board of County Commissioners moratorium action documented in county materials; the current Williams County zoning page lists the January 2024 and August 2024 ordinance amendments that replaced it, but does not retain the original 2023 moratorium resolution number on the public site [VERIFY 2023 motion/resolution number from Williams County clerk's archived June 20, 2023 and November 7, 2023 minutes — not on current public page as of 2026-04-29]
- What prompted it: Existing code did not specifically regulate data centers; the permanent ordinance cites large water and electricity use, continuous sound, low-frequency noise, and off-site health impacts.
- Affected projects: Specific project list and MW not identified in captured county records.
- Detailed status: Replaced
- Outcome: Chapter 6-16 of the Williams County Zoning Ordinance now allows data centers only by conditional use permit in Heavy Industrial and Agricultural districts, with a 1 mile setback from dwellings, schools, religious institutions, and parks, a 3 mile separation from other data centers, noise study requirements, power purchase agreement disclosure, financial security, road agreements, and reclamation requirements.
Source: moratorium_inventory.csv · Methodology · Codebook.