🔒Mills vetoes data center ban, backs $550M Jay redevelopment plan

Gov. Janet Mills nixed a proposed temporary statewide data center ban, throwing her support behind a $550 million plan to transform a shuttered paper mill in the Franklin County town of Jay into a data center. The measure, sponsored by state Rep. Melanie Sachs, D-Freeport, would have prohibited state and municipal permitting of data centers 20 megawatts and larger until Nov. 1, 2027. The measure, which comes amid proposed projects in Jay and Sanford, would have been the first of its kind in the nation. “A moratorium is appropriate given the impacts of massive data centers in other states on the environment and on electricity rates,” Mills wrote in a letter to lawmakers. “But the final version of this bill fails to allow for a specific project in the town of Jay that enjoys strong local support from its host community and region.” In a statement issued after the veto, Sachs criticized Mills for going against a state task force recommendation that Maine should develop a playbook for responding to new data center development projects. “While a veto might protect the proposed data center project in Jay, it poses significant potential consequences for all ratepayers, our electric grid, our environment and our shared energy future,” said Sachs, who chairs the House’s Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee. “This decision is simply wrong.”

Jay redevelopment plan

In Jay, at the site of the former Pixel Androscoggin Paper Mill, which closed in 2023, a proposed data center is already under contract and has received several permits. Mills said the project is expected to create more than 800 construction jobs, at least 100 high-paying permanent positions, and generate substantial property tax revenue for the 4,674-population town in the governor’s home county. In her letter, Mills noted that she intends to issue an executive order establishing a council to examine the impact of data centers in Maine, as called for in the bill she vetoed. In a related move last week, Mills signed a bill sponsored by state Rep. Daniel Sayre, D-Kennebunk, that will bar new data center projects from receiving certain state tax exemptions. Maine’s governor, in office since 2019, is running in the Democratic Senate primary in June with the ultimate goal of unseating U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in November's election.

'Meaningful opportunity'

The Maine State Chamber of Commerce applauded the governor’s veto of the data center moratorium and support for economic development in Jay. “For communities seeking investment, jobs and renewed tax base growth, projects like this can represent meaningful opportunity,” the group said in a statement emailed to Mainebiz. The chamber said it is open to working with the administration and Legislature on developing data centers in Maine, including managing peak energy demand, using on-site energy generation and maximizing benefits for all electric ratepayers.