Yves here. Go Maine! If you are a citizen, please ASAP call or e-mail Governor Mills to press her to sign the data center moratorium, LD 307. It’s always good to offer a short reason, here as to why data centers are a bad idea. Sadly her office will be unlikely to be receptive to a particularly good argument, that both AI and data centers are a massive bubble about to collapse and Maine does not want to be stuck with abandoned, partly built facilities on otherwise usable real estate. Recall that shuttered development is worse than no development, since someone has to spend additional hard dollars to clear the plot.
By Jessica Corbett, staff writer at Common Dreams. Originally published at Common Dreams
Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills is facing pressure to sign what would be the nation’s first statewide moratorium on artificial intelligence data centers after state legislators passed the bill on Tuesday.
The Maine House of Representatives approved the bill 79-62, and then the state Senate sent it to Mills’ desk with a 21-13 vote.
“The bill, LD 307, would create a limitation on data centers with electric loads of at least 20 megawatts by preventing the state, local governments, and quasi-governmental agencies from issuing permits or other approvals until November 2027,” according to the Portland Press Herald. “In the meantime, a new Data Center Coordination Council—also created in the bill—would get time to study the centers’ potential impact in Maine and issue policy recommendations.”
In addition to calling for a national moratorium on constructing new AI data centers, the advocacy group Food & Water Watch (FWW) has fought for related proposals in not only Maine but also California, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
“Great credit to the people and state legislators of Maine for being at the forefront of a large and swelling national movement to put a halt to the reckless, unchecked explosive growth of hyperscale AI data centers,” Mitch Jones, FWW’s managing director of policy and litigation, said in a Tuesday statement.
“These massive facilities suck up unimaginable amounts of water and electricity, and wreak havoc on the everyday Americans in nearby communities that are forced to foot the bills for this irresponsible, profit-hungry industry,” Jones stressed. “Gov. Mills should listen to the people and legislators of Maine, and sign this smart, nation-leading bill into law immediately.”
However, as Maine Public detailed on Monday:
Mills has said the measure needs to have an exemption for a proposed $550 million project at the former Androscoggin paper mill in Jay to get her support.
“The people of Jay need those jobs, with appropriate guardrails on preserving water resources, electricity resources, local generation and all those things,” Mills told reporters during an event in Bangor last week.
Mills’ office did not respond to an email Monday asking if the governor intends to veto the bill.
After the votes on Tuesday, The Washington Post similarly noted that legislators had rejected an amendment for the exception sought by Mills, and a spokesperson for the governor “did not immediately respond to a query about whether she plans to approve the legislation.”
4/11 The Maine legislature may pause the development of large data centers for 18 months to give the state time to develop a strategy for them. Gov. Janet Mills on Friday said she's concerned the bill doesn't have a carve-out for a proposed project in Jay. #maine #MEpolitics pic.twitter.com/ofXvrvKMth
— Maine Newsroom (@MaineNewsroom) April 11, 2026
Mills is locked in an intense US Senate primary race with combat veteran and oyster farmer Graham Platner, who has been leading her in various polls. While the governor has released attack advertisements targeting her opponent, Platner has largely focused on his platform—which prioritizes the needs of the working class—and Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican trying to keep her seat in November.
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It appears that Mills has scaled back her Senate campaign, pulling out of the first two debates with Platner due to “scheduling conflict” and halting all ad buys. Given the dire polling, can’t really blame her.
She held a digital town hall recently attended by Democrats, some of whom knew her personally and had worked with her in the past, and it did not go well for her. When she was called out on her lack of support for Maine First Peoples and failure to show up to important events, she cited “scheduling conflicts” for that too.
She also promoted the awful CMP corridor, which brings power not to Maine, but from Canada through Maine to Massachusetts. While we do like Massachusetts money here in Maine to an extent, most people aren’t real big on tearing up the scenery to provide cheaper power to people from away. https://www.nrcm.org/programs/climate/proposed-cmp-transmission-line-bad-deal-maine/ VT and NH had already told the power company to pound sand, but Janet was more than happy to oblige.
And now she’s claiming “The people of Jay need jobs”. Well there are hardly any people there FFS, which is likely why the project was sited there in the first place – not enough people to mount any substantial opposition. And of the 4,000 or so hearty souls there, I doubt many currently have the training to run a data center. I’m sure they much prefer to have water come out of their spigots and not see their electric costs skyrocket.
Since she now getting killed in the polls, my guess is she will try to do one last favor for her corporate donors before she rides off into the sunset.
Side note: she showed up to a baseball game and sat in front of me a couple years ago, and tried to join in the between-innings entertainment. She dances with the grace of a crippled ostrich.
Time to go Janet, and don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya!
That she has the dancing chops of Elaine from Seinfeld may be the best thing I’ve heard about her.