New advisory group weighs potential benefits, pitfalls of data centers

The Maine Data Center Advisory Council met for the first time Wednesday, after Gov. Janet Mills created the group in an executive order after vetoing a proposed data center moratorium this spring. 

The group is tasked with evaluating issues related to large-scale data centers and providing strategic input on policies to address the potential benefits and drawbacks of data centers. 

“Maine is at an important place in time, acknowledging that there are data center developers here interested in opportunities in our communities, but we haven’t seen substantial development break ground in Maine to date, like has happened elsewhere in the country,” said Celina Cunningham, acting commissioner of the Maine Department of Energy Resources, and co-chair of the council. 

Council members agreed on the need to better understand how Maine’s existing regulations already safeguard against some elements of data center development. 

“We want to be highly flexible, highly responsive,” said Amy Turner, CEO of Fox Island Electric Cooperative. “We want a framework that allows us to objectively deal with these issues on a whole big, large-scale basis by also being able to be highly responsible to the communities that we serve.”

The group looked at the environmental, energy and economic impacts of data centers, and highlighted which specific areas the group will dig into more.

There was discussion on the negative impacts data centers may have on water resources and noise pollution. But members also brought up potential benefits, like reducing energy costs. And the need to strike a balance among all factors, to maximize any benefits. 

“Those are all really great considerations, but if it’s not financially viable, then there’ll be no interest in the endeavor,” said Brendan Arbuckle, with the Jackson Laboratory. “And so it’s really important to keep that front and center, that it has to be financially viable for data center owners to want to invest in the space so that the state can receive the benefits if it’s done well.”

But when it comes to comparing proposed regulations in Maine to other states, staying competitive may not be the best goal, said Maine Public Advocate Heather Sanborn.

“I just want to caution about the idea that we want to be actively competing with other states, even if the benefits to ratepayers aren’t there,” Sanborn said. “I think the concept of balance is the right way to approach this.”

“There are other states that have made it very affordable and very attractive for data centers to come in,” Sanborn continued. “But the impact on ratepayers has been catastrophic in some of these places.” 

Also on the council are representatives from state agencies, utilities, the Natural Resources Council of Maine and business groups. 

The membership has already drawn criticism from Seth Berry, executive director of Our Power.

“It is telling that Mills’ council includes one consumer advocate, but two representatives of industry and developers, plus both CMP and Versant Power,” Berry said in a statement. “And today, Versant Power’s president made clear she thinks the council should put attracting data centers before protecting Maine people. Fortunately, what matters will not be the consensus of this council, but the actions of those we elect in November.”

In April, Mills vetoed a bill that would have banned data centers larger than 20 megawatts until November, 2027 — which would have been the first such moratorium in the nation. 

“A moratorium is appropriate given the impacts of massive data centers in other states on the environment and on electricity rates,” Mills wrote in her veto letter to the Legislature. “But the final version of this bill fails to allow for a specific project in the Town of Jay that enjoys strong local support from its host community and region.”

That bill also proposed creating the Maine Data Center Coordination Council, which Mills said she supported and established in a subsequent executive order. 

The advisory council will hold its next meeting on June 23, and a final report to the governor and Legislature must be completed by January 29, 2027.