A version of this story first appeared in the Morning Update newsletter. Sign up here to receive the Morning Update and other BDN newsletters directly in your inbox.
Happy Tuesday!
We’ve got temperatures today ranging from the low 40s up north to the low 50s down south. Don’t be surprised if you encounter scattered showers. Great uncertainty remains over a coastal storm that could hit Maine late Thursday into the weekend. So stay tuned for more on that.
A developer is reviving a push to convert the former Jay paper mill into an artificial intelligence data center. JGT2 Redevelopment is filing an amended site location permit and an air emission license application with Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection.
That move comes as the AI industry faces uncertainty over the regulatory landscape after last week’s election. New Democratic majorities in Augusta and Washington could presage limits and restrictions on AI and the data centers that power it. Eight Maine towns passed some form of a ban on data center developments, while dozens of others passed in other communities across the nation. Jay does not have a ban.
Gov. Janet Mills vetoed a statewide data center ban, citing its potential impact on this project in Jay. But the plan was still put on hold earlier this year after one of JGT2’s partners backed out. Mills’ successor, Democrat Hannah Pingree, has said she would sign a data center ban into law.
But it remains to be seen how the seismic shifts in the political landscape will play out with projects like this as we enter 2027.
See which parts of Maine flipped hardest in last week’s historic election
Republicans looking for a bright spot after the midterm election won’t get much comfort from Maine’s legislative races.
The Bangor Daily News analyzed 154 contests and compared the winning candidate’s margin with their party’s margin in the same district in 2024.
The conclusion: It’s not Democrats all the way down, but almost.
Nearly all of the Democrats who won competitive races ran ahead of their party’s 2024 margin, typically by about 8 points.
The widest swing came in a western Maine Senate district, where the Democratic challenger prevailed by just 50 votes. But the Republican incumbent had won by 29 points two years earlier.
An interactive chart in today’s story helps put the blue wave into perspective.
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From the Opinion Page
“Without clear, enforceable commitments to PFAS treatment, expanded storage at Hampden could become a pathway for untreated waste to reach the Penobscot River.”
Opinion: Proposed landfill leachate facility raises a lot of questions about PFAS contamination