Maine Gov. Janet Mills on Friday vetoed a bill that would have established the country’s first statewide moratorium on data centers, preventing their construction until November 2027.
In a letter to the Maine legislature, Mills (D) wrote that she broadly supports the idea of a moratorium due to the impacts of data centers on electricity prices and the environment in other states. Yet she said she could not sign off on the bill because it does not include an exemption for a data center project in Jay, a town in the southern part of the state that has weathered economic hardship after the closure of a local mill in 2023.
“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,” Mills wrote, adding that she would issue an executive order establishing a council to examine the impact of data centers in Maine.
The legislation would have made Maine the first state to block the construction of new data centers, as both political parties grapple with how voters view them ahead of the midterm elections.
In a statement accompanying the letter, the governor said she had signed a separate bill that would prohibit data center projects from receiving Maine’s business development tax incentive programs
The buildout of data centers across the country has led to emerging political fights in both parties. Some Democratic candidates in crucial battleground districts across the country have embraced data center moratoriums, forcing some incumbents to consider more aggressive postures toward them amid concerns over the environment and energy prices.
That trend comes as several Democratic candidates were able to successfully campaign against rising utilities costs in elections last year, including Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger and New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill. The tech industry has spent millions of dollars on campaigns to improve public opinion on data centers ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
A spokesperson for Mills referred POLITICO to the governor’s letter to the legislature when asked for comment.
