Maine Bill Blocks Construction Of Data Centers Of More Than 20 MW Capacity Until October 2027
Maine is now the first state to pass a moratorium on the development of large data centers, and others may follow. The Maine House and Senate this week passed LD 307, which prohibits state and local governments from approving data centers with at least 20 megawatts of electricity demand until at least October 2027. The bill awaits a signature from Gov. Janet Mills, who has not commented on whether she will sign it.
Maine is one of about a dozen states with legislative proposals this year to pause or ban data centers amid rising concerns about the projects’ size and energy and water consumption. Community opponents of data centers are grappling with what they view as intrusive development as the broader public worries that the rise of artificial intelligence—fueled by data centers—will lead to mass job losses.
Analysts who follow state-level discussions of data centers say Minnesota is also a good candidate to pass a bill on this subject, along with Illinois, even though there is not yet a bill pending in Illinois. U.S. data centers had more than 50 gigawatts of electricity demand as of last year, which, for context, is about double the peak demand of the entire New England grid, which covers six states, including Maine. And this is before some super-sized data centers that are still in early planning stages. It’s not clear how the electricity grid will build enough power plants to meet demand, or how residential ratepayers can be shielded from high electricity bills driven by data center demand.
The debate in Maine gives a sense of how this topic interacts with partisan politics. It passed the House, 79-62, and the Senate, 21-13.The Democrats who control the House and Senate described the bill as providing breathing room to write rules to regulate data centers. The opponents, mainly Republicans, said the bill would discourage investment and harm the economy.
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