Maine becomes first US state to vote for data center moratorium
Maine became the first American state on Tuesday to vote for a moratorium on the construction of large data centers, an unprecedented measure driven by the surge in electricity prices and environmental concerns raised by the boom in AI-related infrastructure.
To take effect, the bill adopted on Tuesday by the state’s lawmakers must still be signed into law by Democratic governor Janet Mills. She has ten days to sign the bill into law, veto it, or let it become law without her signature.
In favor of the moratorium principle, she had requested an exemption for a project to convert an old paper mill, involving an investment of around $550 million, but officials did not follow her on this point.
Whether the bill is enacted or not, its adoption by the local legislative power sends a first signal to 11 other states whose officials are currently examining similar bills, illustrating the extent to which political opposition to the infrastructure projects of tech giants has taken hold in the country.
Large-scale infrastructures in the crosshairs
Construction spending on data centers in the United States has doubled in two years, with projections for 2025 exceeding $60 billion compared to less than $7 billion in 2023, according to the professional data platform ConstructConnect in January.
The law passed in Maine prohibits local authorities, until the fall of 2027, from issuing permits for data centers with an electrical capacity exceeding 20 megawatts, a threshold corresponding to the large-scale infrastructures that Silicon Valley giants are building rapidly to keep pace with their rush towards AI.
The bill also establishes a coordinating council responsible for assessing the effects of these installations on the electrical grid, the environment, and residents’ bills before any possible lifting of this moratorium.
Maine is one of the states with one of the highest increases in residential electricity rates in the country in recent years, according to the US Energy Information Agency (EIA). In two cities in the state, data center projects were rejected at the end of 2025 by officials who accused the developers of concealing the extent of their water and electricity consumption, according to local press reports.
