Overview
- The Legislature passed a bill for an 18-month statewide pause on large data centers, with final funding steps and the governor’s decision still pending.
- Gov. Janet Mills voiced reservations about the freeze and said Jay needs an exception because the town is counting on the project for work at the former paper mill site.
- Lawmakers rejected exemptions for projects already underway, which means planned builds in Jay, Sanford, and Loring would be put on hold if the bill becomes law.
- Mills cited electricity bills as a key worry, and a Bloomberg review found power costs near some data centers rose as much as 267% from 2020 to 2025, though California’s largest utility reports rates fell where data centers helped fund the grid.
- The pushback reflects a wider national rethinking of AI infrastructure, with critics on the left and right and even activists using AI tools to organize local bans and moratoria.