The governor of Maine, Janet Mills, has vetoed a invoice that halts the development of huge knowledge facilities within the state till the autumn of 2027. Whereas the invoice handed each homes of the Maine’s legislature on April 14, and Mills has prompt she’d assist a short lived moratorium, the governor needed a invoice that might exempt an present knowledge heart undertaking in Jay, Maine.
The invoice particularly blocked the development of knowledge facilities that devour 20 megawatts of energy or extra and directs state businesses and different entities to not situation permits except proposed tasks fall below these vitality wants. Passing the invoice would additionally require the creation of a “Maine Information Middle Coordination Council” that might “present strategic enter, facilitate coordinated state planning concerns and consider coverage instruments to handle knowledge heart alternatives and associated advantages and dangers to the State.”
Whereas Mills killed this try at knowledge heart regulation, she stated she would signal an govt order calling for the creation of a council just like the one proposed within the invoice. She additionally signed LD 713, a invoice that prohibits knowledge facilities from taking part in Maine’s enterprise growth tax incentive packages.
Maine is way from the one state pursuing knowledge heart bans or short-term blocks. There are at the very least 12 different states exploring comparable laws, like New York, the place lawmakers just lately launched a invoice that might block the development of recent knowledge facilities for at the very least three years. On the federal stage, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Consultant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) endorsed a invoice that might not solely create a moratorium on new knowledge heart building, but in addition any upgrades to present amenities.
Any need to decelerate AI growth or the infrastructure that makes it attainable runs counter to the calls for of tech corporations, and the angle of the Trump administration, who’s actively encouraging quicker AI buildout within the US. President Donald Trump’s current AI framework even referred to as for the method of constructing and powering knowledge facilities to be streamlined in March.
