PORTLAND, Maine — Gov. Janet Mills on Monday defended her veto of a landmark bill that would have made Maine the first state to put a hold on data center development, a decision that prompted criticism from Democrats and environmentalists.
Mills, who is far behind oyster farmer and military veteran Graham Platner in Democratic U.S. Senate primary polls, unsuccessfully pushed for an exemption in the bipartisan bill for a $550 million project at the shuttered Androscoggin Mill site in Jay. Lawmakers passed a measure without the carveout that would have barred large data centers until late 2027.
The first-in-the-nation posture of the bill was a national news story that could further complicate her Senate campaign. However, the key Democratic constituencies of environmentalists and unions are split on the issue. Platner has declined the opportunity to criticize Mills on the issue even as some of her own supporters have.
In an interview with the Bangor Daily News after a Portland campaign event Monday, Mills emphasized what she told lawmakers in a letter last week: While a temporary ban makes sense given rising questions around electricity rates and environmental impacts, the project in Jay would rejuvenate a community hit by a devastating paper mill closure three years ago.
“It uses water from the Androscoggin River, it doesn’t pose the same problems many data centers out of state have posed, and it doesn’t burden the ratepayers,” she said.
She added that the project was already partly permitted and would boost an area “absolutely in need of jobs.” Developers say the project would create at least 800 construction jobs and more than 100 ongoing jobs. A national company, Sentinel Data Centers, has an agreement to occupy 1 million square feet on two floors of the former International Paper-owned mill.
Lawmakers return to Augusta on Wednesday to take up vetoes from Mills. She has never lost a veto override in the Legislature, which requires a two-thirds vote in both chambers. An attempt to carve the Jay project out of the bill failed earlier this month in a 115-29 vote, but Republicans and a small number of Democrats are likely to provide the votes Mills needs.
Democratic-leaning interest groups including Maine Conservation Voters have championed the bill. House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, who is supporting Mills’ campaign, called her veto a “disastrous decision.” Rep. Valli Geiger, D-Rockland, a Platner backer, said it was “a final act of betrayal.”
But Platner has not criticized the governor on the measure. The ban was opposed by Maine Building Trades, a union that has been instrumental in his political rise. He appeared at the national affiliate’s legislative conference last week.
He has called for federal standards for AI development that include protections for labor, recently telling NBC News that the moratorium bill was only a “Band-Aid” given the 18-month timeline.
“In every moment in human history where a new, transformative technology arises that increases productivity, when it’s left in the hands of corporate power, it is always used to disenfranchise people,” he said. “It is always used to, frankly, impact workers negatively.”
Five-term Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who will face either Platner, Mills or former Senate candidate and government official David Costello, was part of a group of bipartisan senators leading an effort to kill a provision in a budget bill last year that would have banned state-level AI regulations for a decade.
While Collins typically doesn’t take a position on state legislation,” spokesperson Blake Kernen said the senator “recognizes that data centers can benefit certain communities like Jay that generate their own electricity by providing critical revenue and jobs.”
“She believes decisions around new data centers should be made at the local level and take into account potential ramifications on electricity costs, which are already far too high in Maine under [Mills],” Kernen said.
State Rep. Melanie Sachs, D-Freeport, added that the veto rejects the advice of Mills’ own AI task force established in 2024, which called for a “playbook for responding to new data center development.” Mills has said she will issue an executive order establishing a council to study the effects of data centers.
The veto came after Lewiston and Wiscasset stopped proposed data centers due to concerns over safety and the use of water and other resources. Other projects that may have been impacted by the moratorium included a $300 million development proposed in Sanford and another at Loring Air Force Base in northern Maine.
Bangor city councilors earlier this month said they planned to enact a local ordinance barring data centers for the next six months, with concerns about water use and the relatively low number of long-term local data center jobs.