Janet Mills vetoes moratorium on data center development in Maine

Maine Governor Janet Mills has vetoed legislation that would have imposed an 18-month moratorium on the development of large-scale data centers using more than 20 megawatts of power. The bill, which had bipartisan support in the state Legislature, would have been the first of its kind in the U.S. Governor Mills had sought an exception for a $550 million data center planned for Jay, Maine, but an amendment to include this exemption was defeated in the Legislature. In her veto letter, Governor Mills acknowledged the appropriateness of a moratorium given environmental and electricity rate impacts in other states. However, she emphasized the importance of the Jay project, stating it enjoys strong local and regional support and would provide hundreds of jobs and millions in tax revenue to the town, which is recovering from the closure of a paper mill in 2023. Bill sponsor Democratic state Rep. Melanie Sachs criticized the veto, calling it "simply wrong" and counter to the advice of a state task force on artificial intelligence. Maine Conservation Voters also expressed disappointment, arguing the governor sided with AI data center developers over the will of the Legislature. Despite the veto, Mills stated she intends to establish a commission to develop guidelines and regulations for future data center development in Maine.