U.S. News: Maine Poised to Halt New Data Centers

“Maine is poised to freeze large data-center construction, which would make it the first state to enact such a measure as communities across the U.S. grapple with fallout from the boom in artificial intelligence.

 

The Maine bill calls for a ban on major new data-center construction until November 2027, so the state can assess the impact of such development on the environment and electricity grid. The freeze would apply to data-center projects of at least 20 megawatts, which is enough energy to power more than 15,000 homes.

 

The bill passed a floor vote in the Democratic-controlled Maine House of Representatives in March, collecting a handful of Republican votes. It is expected to pass in the Senate, which is also majority Democratic. Gov. Janet Mills said she supports a freeze.

 

Maine has some of the country's highest residential electricity prices, and elected officials are concerned that a surge in data-center power demand might further inflate costs. The AI build-out is driving up electricity costs for consumers in some parts of the country, and at the same time generating large tax revenues for local governments that continue to court developers.

 

The bill's momentum will be watched closely by lawmakers in at least 10 other states that are advancing similar policies over concerns about straining local power sources and the cost. The effects of the artificial-intelligence race on the economy, energy costs and the environment is emerging as a major issue ahead of this year's midterm elections. In Maine, a U.S. senate seat is up for grabs in November.

 

"I think Maine is the canary in the coal mine," said Anirban Basu, chief economist for the Associated Builders and Contractors, a construction trade group that counts members who work on data centers. "Maine will be the first of many states to have such moratoria."

 

Legislators have introduced measures to temporarily ban or restrict data centers in New York, South Carolina, Oklahoma and other states. In Ohio, one of the top states for data-center development, a group of rural activists is collecting signatures to put a statewide ban of large data centers on a November ballot.

 

Many other municipalities and counties, especially small ones in Michigan and Indiana, already have imposed their own temporary pauses. Denver and Detroit are among major cities considering such bans.

 

Data-center developers are growing increasingly wary of community and political opposition as they hunt for powered land across the country. Proposed local laws restricting data centers are "a red flag," said Tracey Hyatt Bosman, a site selection consultant at BLS & Co. who works with data-center developers. "They do limit where we are looking," she said.

 

Tony McDonald, who is developing a data center in the western Maine town of Jay, said he is scheduled to begin construction in July. "All of a sudden we've been caught in this dragnet," he said.

 

Maine hasn't been a magnet for Alphabet's Google, Microsoft or other companies building hyperscale facilities for artificial intelligence. Recent data-center proposals in the Maine towns of Wiscasset and Lewiston were paused or failed at the local level, following resident opposition.

 

Some data-center developments in Maine have targeted defunct industrial sites, such as closed mills. One company recently proposed to build a $415 million underwater data center off Maine's coast.

 

While it is possible the Maine moratorium bill could stumble in the amendment process, that a version of it eventually becomes law is a foregone conclusion among some state political operatives.

 

"That's the political reality," said Tony Buxton, a climate and energy attorney at Preti Flaherty, a legal and lobbying firm in Maine. "There is a very strong voter fear of data centers and AI."

 

Buxton's firm has placed ads on social media advocating exemptions in the bill that would allow two already planned data-center projects to move forward in Jay and in Sanford, which is in southern Maine. These exemptions are being considered in the House.

 

Gov. Mills, a Democrat who is running for U.S. Senate, said she supports the data moratorium if it includes an exception for the Jay project.” [1]

 

1. U.S. News: Maine Poised to Halt New Data Centers. Parker, Will.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 03 Apr 2026: A3.