The Ellsworth City Council is poised to vote Monday on a proposed preemptive AI data center moratorium following a public hearing on the matter.
Amy Kenney, the city’s communications director, told the Bangor Daily News that the city has not yet received any data center construction applications.
Although state lawmakers approved a bill that would have temporarily halted construction of AI data centers across Maine during the most recent legislative session, Gov. Janet Mills vetoed the measure in April.
Lawmakers attempted to override the veto but fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to advance the legislation over the governor’s opposition.
In a letter explaining her veto, Gov. Mills said she was concerned about the potential negative impact a data center moratorium could have on a project slated for the former Androscoggin Mill in Jay.
Mills added that she would have signed the legislation if it had included an exemption for the Jay project.
The vote to uphold Mills’ veto fell largely along partisan lines, with Republicans broadly supporting the veto and Democrats seeking to overturn it. However, a few lawmakers broke with their party’s majority.
[RELATED: Maine Lawmakers Uphold Mills’ Surprise Veto of AI Data Center Moratorium]
“There is growing resistance across the country, and some data centers are being canceled primarily because of a lack of transparency in the planning process,” Councilor Nancy Smith, who supports the Ellsworth moratorium, said, according to the Bangor Daily News.
“Rather than respond to a developer pursuing the path of least resistance in gobbling up productive open space,” Councilor Smith added, “the city could consider possible industrial or brownfield locations.”
Smith explained that a preemptive ban like the one under consideration would give the city time to establish policies regulating the location and scale of any future data center projects, particularly given “the potential for negative environmental impacts.”
“The drawdown of power required by a significantly sized data center is beyond the scope of what a single municipality can address,” Smith said. “I encourage state-level regulators to take this on. I look forward to guidance from the state since so many towns are raising similar concerns.”
Smith also noted the potential economic benefits of a data center but emphasized the need for guidelines to ensure it has a net positive impact on the city.
“While a data center would likely contribute significantly to Ellsworth’s tax base, it’s also important that we outline a community benefit agreement to ensure that Ellsworth residents, business owners and visitors would see benefits to balance likely downsides,” Smith said.
Ellsworth is not the first Maine municipality to consider temporarily banning data center construction. Several cities and towns have already enacted moratoriums, while others are still debating the idea.
In mid-April, the Bangor City Council approved a six-month hold on data center construction, reportedly because the city was experiencing “increased development pressure from data centers.”
Eastport also recently considered a policy that would prohibit construction of an underwater data center in Passamaquoddy Bay, but the citizen-initiated ordinance, which would block facilities larger than 25,000 square feet in Eastport and its surrounding waters, faces an uncertain future.
As reported by the Maine Monitor, lawyers for the town have said the ordinance would be “unenforceable and unlawful.”
The Portland Press Herald has reported that bans similar to the one on the table in Ellsworth have already been implemented in Westbrook, Gorham, Scarborough, Brunswick, and Gray.
