Gov. Janet Mills (D-Maine) vetoed a bill on April 24 that would have suspended construction of new artificial intelligence (AI) data centers in her state.
The landmark legislation that was rejected would have banned data centers larger than 20 megawatts until November 2027.
Mills supported the concept of a moratorium, but criticized how the final legislation was written inside of the bill, titled An Act to Establish the Maine Data Center Coordination Council and Place a Temporary Limitation on Certain Data Centers.
“A moratorium is appropriate given the impacts of massive data centers in other states on the environment and on electricity rates,” the Democratic governor wrote in a press release that explained her decision. “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.”…