After Maine data center moratorium veto, one project expected to move forward

A first-in-the-nation data center law in Maine, vetoed by Gov. Janet Mills on April 24, wasn’t saved by the state legislature, marking the end—for now—of a major regulatory push to institute a moratorium on large data center projects.

Mills vetoed the legislation, which would have applied to projects 20 megawatts and over, due to her concerns over a lack of carve-out for a planned $550 million project in the town of Jay. During the bill’s journey through the legislature, lawmakers introduced an amendment allowing for an exception to existing and planned projects like the one in Jay, but it was soundly defeated in the State House.

Lawmakers on April 29, also known as “Veto Day,” when the legislature can override such decisions by the governor, did not achieve the two-thirds majority needed to overturn it.

Conflicting reports. According to the governor, the Jay data center will provide valuable jobs to the community, which has been in a downturn since its paper mill closed in 2023.

“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,” Mills said in a statement accompanying the announcement of her veto. She issued an executive order establishing an advisory council after the veto override failed.

“I think, initially, this thing’s probably going to run at 50 to 55, something like that,” McDonald said. “And then, as business grows, we’ll creep up some—but it’s limited to 82.”

Bill sponsor Rep. Melanie Sachs told IT Brew that she has doubts about that power limit. She told IT Brew that McDonald told her in February the project would be between 150 and 225 megawatts, much larger than the 82 megawatt restriction. But McDonald pushed back, telling IT Brew that the megawatt numbers were a reference to what CMP said it could handle without grid upgrades.

“We currently have a customer service agreement for 82 megawatts and [CMP] said that they could probably serve up to 200 to 225 megawatts,” McDonald said. “We don’t have any current plans to pursue that—there’s an approval process.”

How the data center market in Maine will play out after the veto is a tricky question, Pado AI CEO Wannie Park said, adding that any of the benefits of a ban on data centers, like conserving energy and the environment, could be offset by a loss of opportunity and advancement.

“There are so many factors that actually play into it, both in terms of economic growth, security, that would leave the potential of not just the state, but for citizens and from an economic development standpoint,” Park said.

Taking stock. Sachs told IT Brew that she sees the vetoed bill as a missed opportunity for regulators and data center developers alike. By restricting data center projects, she argued, the bill made the market for such infrastructure clearer than Mills’s executive order.

“More than 300 data center bills were filed in state legislatures in the first six weeks of 2026 alone, Maine is not an outlier in that,” Sachs said. “What Maine was looking to do was to give these developers regulatory certainty.”

No surprise that McDonald sees it differently. To him, data centers are part of the progress of tech infrastructure in Maine, and opponents are getting over their skis.

“People might not like [data centers] because people don’t like change, but there are very few instances where the electrical grid has been negatively impacted, or the water system negatively impacted,” McDonald said.

Moving forward, developers are unconstrained by statewide regulation—but that’s not the only concern about the industry in Maine, Park said. The legislature passed the bill because there was popular skepticism on data centers, and that’s concerning for developers who will have to navigate public approval for projects and access to energy and land.

“From a developer’s perspective, they’re trying to de-risk this,” Park said. “They’re going into an environment where it could be perceived as anti-data center, even hostile to a certain extent.”