Governor Mills Signs Executive Order to Establish Maine Data Center Advisory Council

Council to make recommendations on large-scale data center development in Maine to protect ratepayers, minimize environmental impacts and enable economic development

Governor Janet Mills today signed an executive order to establish the Maine Data Center Advisory Council. The Council will make recommendations on large-scale data center development in Maine to protect ratepayers, maintain electric grid reliability, minimize environmental impacts, and enable responsible economic development.

In addition, the Governor's order also directs the Department of Energy Resources, in coordination with the Maine Public Utilities Commission, to identify and implement ways to protect ratepayers from new, or increased, energy costs resulting from data centers to the extent permissible under law.

Per the Governor's executive order, the 15-person council is charged with delivering policy recommendations and strategies to the Governor and Legislature by January 29, 2027.

"It is necessary, important and urgent that the State plan for potential impacts of large-scale data centers on our state, given the serious conversations about them here and around the country. Through this order, this work starts today," said Governor Mills."I look forward to this Council's work to examine the serious questions and concerns about data center development in Maine and provide recommendations about how best to protect our environment and ratepayers while providing for responsible economic development that benefits communities."

Last week, Governor Mills vetoed LD 307, An Act to Establish the Maine Data Center Coordination Council and Place a Temporary Limitation on Certain Data Centers, which would have established the Council while also instituting a moratorium on data center projects. The Legislature sustained the Governor's veto today.

In her veto letter, the Governor said she supports a temporary moratorium on data center projects and would have signed LD 307 if it included an exemption for a project now underway at the former Androscoggin Mill in Jay.

A 2020 boiler explosion at the Androscoggin Mill -- followed by the mill's closure after the departure of Pixelle Specialty Solutions in 2023 -- eliminated hundreds of good-paying jobs and dealt a significant blow to the local economy. At the time of closure, the mill accounted for an estimated 22 percent of the Town of Jay's tax base. In recent weeks, the Town of Jay, the Franklin County Commissioners, and the regional Chamber of Commerce have written to Governor Mills in support of the project.

Read the Governor's Executive Order.