L.D. 307, An Act to Establish the Maine Data Center Coordination Council and Place a Temporary Limitation on Certain Data Centers

The 132nd Legislature of the State of Maine State House Augusta, Maine

Dear Honorable Members of the 132nd Legislature:

By the authority vested in me by Article IV, Part Third, Section 2 of the Constitution of the State of Maine, I am hereby vetoing L.D. 307, An Act to Establish the Maine Data Center Coordination Council and Place a Temporary Limitation on Certain Data Centers.

L.D. 307 would establish a 13-member council to study data center siting considerations and prepare a report with its findings and recommendations by February 1, 2027. The bill, as amended after the public hearing, would also place a moratorium on municipal and state permitting of data centers with a load of 20 megawatts or more until November 1, 2027.

The bill establishes the council for the purpose of "…protecting ratepayers, maintaining electric grid reliability, minimizing environmental impacts and maintaining responsible and appropriately sited economic development." I support these goals and I intend, by executive order, to establish a commission to pursue this important work.

A 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.

The 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 - and how challenging it has been - to promote reinvestment and job-creation at the former mill which is a brownfield site. 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.

This project - which is now under contract and which has received several permits - is expected to create more than 800 construction jobs, at least 100 high-paying permanent jobs, and would contribute substantial property tax revenue to the Town of Jay. 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.

Of course, any proposed data centers would be subject to federal and stateenergy interconnection requirements and Maine's stringent and comprehensive environmental permitting standards. The Jay project - as well as any other proposed data center in Maine - would be required to comply with those standards to prevent harm to natural resources and water quality, as well as other existing regulations on traffic, noise, utility services, and more.

Even so, 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. Given the serious conversations about data centers here and around the country, I believe this work should commence without delay.

However, I also believe we must consider the perspective of the Town of Jay, the Franklin County Commissioners, and the regional Chamber of Commerce, among others, which have each written to me expressing their strong support for the Jay project and asking that it be exempted from any moratorium, given the significant economic opportunity it presents for the region.

I supported the exemption and would have signed this bill if it had included it.

For these reasons, I return L.D. 307 unsigned and vetoed, and I urge the Legislature to sustain this veto.

Sincerely,

Janet T. Mills Governor