Blue Fern data center at Bullfrog Flats, Cle Elum
Also called: Bullfrog Flats data center
Blue Fern Development wants to build a 100,000-square-foot, 20 MW data center costing about $200 million inside Cle Elum's Bullfrog Flats area. The city paused new data center applications three days later. Because the land has an older development agreement with the city, the pause may not stop this project.
Where things stand: Pitched July 28, 2026. City passed a 6-month pause, but an older development agreement may let it go ahead.
🕒 Latest update (Sept 8, 2026): City scheduled a public hearing on the pause.
What we know
- 📍 Whereinside the Bullfrog Flats development near Interstate 90, south of an existing power plant, Cle Elum, Kittitas County
- 🏢 CompanyBlue Fern Development
- ⚡ Power it needs20 megawatts (about as much as 16,000 homes)
- 🔌 Where the power comes fromPuget Sound Energy said it can serve the 20 MW load; the customer pays for needed upgrades.
- ❄️ Coolingclosed-loop cooling (developer says about 80,000 gallons in the first year, much less after)
- 💵 Cost$200 million
- 👷 Jobs promised40
❓ Still unanswered
Nobody has answered these in public yet. Can you help find out?
- Does the city's pause apply to the Bullfrog Flats site, or does the older development agreement allow it? 🙋 I'll find out
- What happened at the Sept. 8, 2026 public hearing? 🙋 I'll find out
- Who would use the data center? 🙋 I'll find out
What happened so far
- July 28, 2026Blue Fern Development presented a 100,000-square-foot, 20 MW data center plan to the city.
- July 31, 2026City Council unanimously passed an emergency six-month pause on new data center applications.
- Sept 8, 2026City scheduled a public hearing on the pause.
Local votes and rules
⏸️ Pause on new data centers
Cle Elum City Council voted unanimously at a special meeting for a six-month emergency pause on applications for data centers and high-intensity computing sites. It came days after Blue Fern Development floated a 20-megawatt, about $200 million data center at the Bullfrog Flats site. It is unclear if the pause applies, because that site has an older development agreement.
An aerial photo of the area.
Where this comes from
- Cle Elum passed a data center ban. One might be built there anyway (Seattle Times) · Yakima Herald-Republic / The Seattle Times · Aug 5, 2026
- Cle Elum adopts emergency moratorium as $200M AI data center plan stirs concerns · KOMO News · Aug 5, 2026
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