{"id":591853,"date":"2026-04-27T00:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T00:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=591853"},"modified":"2026-04-27T00:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T00:05:00","slug":"maine-governor-vetos-data-center-moratorium-citing-job-creation-and-economic-growth-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=591853","title":{"rendered":"Maine Governor Vetos Data Center Moratorium, Citing Job Creation And Economic Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maine Governor Vetos Data Center Moratorium, Citing Job Creation And Economic Growth<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Maine Governor Janet Mills has vetoed a bill that would have temporarily limited the development of large data centers across Maine, despite expressing support for a broader pause on such projects, according to Maine’s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The governor said she would have approved the legislation if it had included an exemption for a $550 million data center redevelopment already underway at the former Androscoggin Mill in Jay, a project backed by local officials and seen as critical to economic recovery in the region.<\/p>\n

Mills emphasized that while a moratorium makes sense due to concerns about environmental impact and rising electricity costs seen in other states, the bill in its final form failed to account for the Jay project\u2019s potential benefits. The redevelopment is expected to bring hundreds of construction jobs, create at least 100 permanent positions, and restore a major portion of the town\u2019s lost tax base following the mill\u2019s closure in 2023.<\/p>\n

The site says<\/a> that Mills plans to move forward with an executive order to study the impact of large-scale data centers in Maine. She also signed separate legislation barring such projects from receiving state business tax incentives, signaling a cautious but measured approach to managing the industry\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cA moratorium is appropriate given the impacts of massive data centers in other states on the environment and on electricity rates. 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,\u201d she wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 2023 closure of the Androscoggin Mill dealt a devastating blow to the Town of Jay and its surrounding area. As a long-time resident of Franklin County, I know well how critical the mill was to generations of working families, and how important it is \u2013 and how challenging it has been \u2013 to promote reinvestment and job-creation at the former mill which is a brownfield site.\u00a0 After prior redevelopment efforts failed, the Town of Jay worked for two years on a $550 million data center redevelopment project to finally bring jobs and investment back to the mill site.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe it necessary and important to examine and plan for the potential impacts of large-scale data centers in Maine, as the use of artificial intelligence becomes more widespread. Given the serious conversations about data centers here and around the country, I believe this work should commence without delay,\u201d she concluded.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile we wrote last week<\/a> that\u00a0the outlook for the US AI revolution looks increasingly more dim.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

That’s because, as Canaccord Genuity analyst George Gianarikas writes,\u00a0“the American data center boom is hitting a formidable wall of logistical friction.” He is referring to the latest outlook by\u00a0Sightline Climate<\/a>, which is also reinforced by recent articles from\u00a0Bloomberg\u00a0<\/a>and others, and reveals a sobering reality for 2026:\u00a0nearly half of the nation’s planned 16-gigawatt capacity faces cancellation or delay, with only 5 gigawatts currently under construction.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This inertia stems from a volatile mix of local permitting hurdles, community resistance, and a desperate reliance on overextended global supply chains for critical components\u00a0like transformers and helium.<\/p>\n

That’s right:\u00a0half. Despite $700BN+ of expected 2026 hyperscaler capex, nearly half of the data centers scheduled to begin operations in the US\u00a0in 2026 “will either face delays or outright cancellations.”<\/p>\n

The data, which comes from\u00a0Sightline Climate’s 2026 Data Center Outlook<\/a>,\u00a0 suggests that just 30% – 50% of the ~16 GW of planned US capacity for the year will face risks,\u00a0with only ~5 GW currently under construction!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nSun, 04\/26\/2026 – 20:05<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maine Governor Vetos Data Center Moratorium, Citing Job Creation And Economic Growth Maine Governor Janet Mills has vetoed a bill that would have temporarily limited the development of large data centers across Maine, despite expressing support for a broader pause on such projects, according to Maine’s website. The governor said she would have approved the… Continue reading Maine Governor Vetos Data Center Moratorium, Citing Job Creation And Economic Growth<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":591846,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19,10,21,12,11,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-591853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancel-culture","category-censorship","category-civil-liberties","category-election-integrity","category-equal-justice","category-free-speech","category-religious-freedom","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=591853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/591846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=591853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=591853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=591853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}