Gov. Mills vetoes moratorium on new data centers in Maine

Governor Janet Mills has vetoed a bill passed by the Maine Legislature that sought to implement a first-in-the-nation moratorium on most new data centers in the state. The bill's sponsor, Representative Melanie Sachs, and other supporters argued the state needed time to assess the environmental and infrastructure impacts of data centers before further development. The proposed legislation also included the creation of a Maine Data Center Coordination Council to study these effects, with an exception for data centers with smaller energy footprints. In her veto letter on Friday, Governor Mills stated that while a moratorium might be appropriate, this specific bill would halt a data center project in Jay that she has supported. Jay, she noted, has faced economic hardship since the closure of the Androscoggin Mill in 2023. Mills had previously advocated for this particular project to be excluded from the moratorium. Overturning the governor's veto would require a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers of the Maine Legislature.