Mills has pushed for an exemption protecting a proposed $550 million project at the former Androscoggin paper mill in Jay, arguing it would reuse existing infrastructure without straining the grid. Lawmakers rejected that exemption.
Mills’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A national wave, an unanswered federal question
Maine is one of at least 12 states now weighing moratorium or restraint legislation, alongside more than 300 data center bills filed across 30-plus states in the current session, according to legislative tracking firm MultiState. The shared concern is energy cost. Data centers could consume up to 12% of total US electricity by 2028, according to the US Department of Energy.
On March 25, Senator Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced the AI Data Center Moratorium Act in Congress, which would impose a nationwide freeze on all new data center construction until Congress passes AI safety legislation.
The Trump administration has pursued a different path from the legislative approach being taken in states. On March 4, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and xAI signed the White House’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, a voluntary commitment by hyperscalers to fund their own power generation rather than pass grid costs to ratepayers.
The pledge, published in the Federal Register on March 9, carries no penalties for noncompliance or auditing requirements.
