Data Center Registry

Blue Fern Cle Elum Data Center

Cle Elum, Kittitas County, Washington

ProposedContestedRecord updated October 12, 2026

Blue Fern Cle Elum Data Center is a proposed data center in Cle Elum, Washington (Kittitas County), operated by Blue Fern Development. The public record puts it at announced July 28, 2026, 20 MW planned, a reported $200 million investment. It is the subject of active public debate, with hearings, petitions, or organized opposition on record.

Every line on this page traces to a public source listed at the bottom. Where a figure was looked for and not found, the row says so. A blank is never a zero.

Facility record

Proposed

Operator: Blue Fern Development
Facility type: Data center
Location: Cle Elum, Kittitas County, WA
Coordinates: 47.1800, -120.9700 (approximate)
Power capacity: 20 MW planned
Land: Not established from a public source
Investment: $200 million
Announced: July 28, 2026
Utility: Puget Sound Energy
Power source: Grid
Cooling: Closed loop
Water use: Not established from a public source
Jobs: Not established from a public source
Public subsidy: Not established from a public source
Community reception: Contested
Source confidence: Reported by at least one credible outlet or filing

Timeline from the record

Newest first. Record entries come from the filings and reports the registry cites. Coverage entries are headlines from publisher feeds we monitor daily, linked to the outlet; last checked September 14, 2026.

July 28, 2026
Proposed
Blue Fern Development publicly proposed a 100,000 sq ft, 20 MW data center near Interstate 90 in Cle Elum. Source: The Spokesman-Review

Opposition and litigation at this site

Yes. Blue Fern Cle Elum Data Center in Cle Elum, Kittitas County, Washington is contested. Hearings, public comment, petitions, or organized opposition are on record, and no lawsuit has been filed so far. Cle Elum's city council voted unanimously to introduce a six-month data-center moratorium and scheduled a Sept.

How the community has taken it

Reception is a sourced signal, not an editorial judgment: contested means active public debate is on record, with hearings, petitions, or organized opposition, without litigation.

Cle Elum's city council voted unanimously to introduce a six-month data-center moratorium and scheduled a Sept. 8, 2026 public hearing plus an advisory committee to study power, water, wastewater, tax and jobs impacts; council members said the developer's claims needed verification.

Source: The Spokesman-Review

Power and water

PSE determined the facility can be reliably served; Blue Fern agreed to fund needed infrastructure upgrades.

Developer describes a closed-loop cooling system using about 80,000 gallons in the first year and significantly less thereafter because the water recirculates.

Notes on the record

Roughly 100,000 sq ft near Interstate 90, inside a residential and commercial development already under construction in Cle Elum. Developer projects 20 to 40 full-time positions. Because the site is covered by a pre-existing development agreement with the city, it may proceed despite the moratorium. Single-source; coordinates are an approximate geocode of the described location.

What the record does not establish, and the document that would

In every fight on our tracker the decisive fact came out of a public records request. These are the requests for this site.

Tax abatements or other public subsidy
Permanent jobs promised
Land area

Which document closes each gap

Tax abatements or other public subsidy: The abatement, PILOT, or development agreement approved by the county, city, or development authority, and the state's data center sales tax exemption certificate if one was issued.
Permanent jobs promised: The economic development application or incentive agreement, which usually states a job commitment and a clawback.
Land area: The rezoning application, the plat, or the deed recorded with the county.

Have one of these documents? Send it to us and we will add it to the record with attribution.

Tell us about your situation

Living near Blue Fern Cle Elum Data Center?

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Questions people ask about this site

Is there opposition to the Blue Fern Cle Elum Data Center in Cle Elum?

Has anyone filed a lawsuit over the Blue Fern Cle Elum Data Center?

No lawsuit over Blue Fern Cle Elum Data Center appears in the record we track as of October 12, 2026. Residents most often reach a lawyer over water supply, well drawdown, noise from cooling plant, property value, or a rezoning approved without the notice the ordinance required. If any of that is happening near this site, it is worth a review whether or not a case has been filed yet.

How much water does Blue Fern Cle Elum Data Center use?

No water withdrawal figure for Blue Fern Cle Elum Data Center is on record here. Cooling is recorded as closed_loop, which is the strongest available clue: closed loop and air cooled plant draw far less than evaporative cooling. We leave the number blank rather than estimate one.

Who operates Blue Fern Cle Elum Data Center, and how big is it?

Blue Fern Development is the operator on record. Capacity on record is 20 MW.

How to cite this page

SueDataCenters.org Data Center Registry, "Blue Fern Cle Elum Data Center," updated October 12, 2026, https://suedatacenters.org/data-centers/blue-fern-cle-elum-data-center-wa.

Facility data from Compute Atlas (E. Kubiak), version 1.34.1 (October 4, 2026), licensed CC BY 4.0, record https://www.compute-atlas.com/facilities/blue-fern-cle-elum-data-center-wa, retrieved October 29, 2026.

Corrections with a public source are welcome at the Compute Atlas record or through our contact page. The whole registry is available as CSV and JSON under CC BY 4.0.

Sources for this record

As compiled and cited by Compute Atlas, with our own reporting appended. Archived links are used where the original has moved.

1.Cle Elum passed a data center ban. One might be built there anyway · The Spokesman-Review · retrieved September 5, 2026
2.Hoodline: Cle Elum outlaws data centers, but this $200M project could slip through (Aug 2026) · Hoodline · retrieved October 12, 2026

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