As massive amounts of land are being acquired for AI data center expansion across the US, one state was hoping to slow down the construction boom after numerous protests and calls from politicians.
Earlier this month, Maine lawmakers passed a bill that would have put a moratorium on the building of new data centers that require more than 20 megawatts of power until October 2027. The pause would have given the state time to determine the effects that large data centers have on the energy grid, local utilities and the surrounding environment.
However, Gov. Janet Mills announced her decision Friday to veto the bill, giving the reason that it did not include an exemption for a project that’s already underway at the former Androscoggin Mill, which closed in 2023, pointing to the local jobs it will provide.
“A moratorium is appropriate given the impacts of massive data centers in other states on the environment and on electricity rates,” Gov. Mills wrote in a letter to the Legislature. “The project developers are committed to revitalizing the mill site by utilizing its existing industrial buildings, water and electrical infrastructure to avoid the adverse impacts cited in the bill, including impacts to ratepayers.”
However, Gov. Mills said she would issue an executive order to establish a council “to examine the impact of data centers in Maine.”
“I 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,” she wrote on Friday.
As artificial intelligence continues to find its way into every part of our lives, data centers are on the rise — and they’re getting bigger. Meta is spending $27 billion to build a data center in Louisiana on more than 3,600 acres. Amazon is spending $25 billion to build more in Mississippi. And that’s just a drop in the bucket.
The size of the data centers isn’t the only concern, though. It’s also the colossal amount of electricity they consume to run the centers and the water used to cool them.
Residents living near data centers have also complained about noise and light pollution.
With the exponential growth, public outcry has erupted from communities where data centers are still being built, as well as from politicians like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders, who previously proposed a bill that would pause all data center construction. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley have also called for greater transparency surrounding data centers.
A state law like the one vetoed Friday could have set a precedent for other US states grappling with how to regulate the rapid development of AI instruction, especially given that the Trump Administration has pushed for an acceleration of data center construction.
