Maine Gov. Janet Mills vetoed a bill that would have temporarily suspended permits for new data centers.
If it had become law, LD 307 would have imposed the country’s first state moratorium on new data centers, lasting, in this case, until Nov. 1, 2027. The bill also called for the creation of a 13-person council to study and make recommendations on data center construction.
With public opposition to data centers on the rise, other states including New York have considered similar moratoriums.
In a letter In the state legislature, Mills (a Democrat currently running for the U.S. Senate) said that suspending new data centers would be “appropriate given the impacts of massive data centers in other states on the environment and on electric rates” and that she “would have signed this bill” if it had included an exemption for a data center project in the city of Jay.
That project, Mills said, “enjoys strong local support from its host community and region.”
Melanie Sachs, a Democratic state representative who sponsored the bill, Mills veto said “It raises significant potential consequences for all ratepayers, our electric grid, our environment and our shared energy future.”
