This article was originally published by Alex Seitz-Wald in Midcoast Villager.
THOMASTON — Four of the five Democrats running to replace Gov. Janet Mills said she was wrong to veto a first-in-the-nation moratorium on large data center construction at candidate forum moderated by the Midcoast Villager Saturday.
All but one candidate on the June 9 primary ballot — clean energy executive Angus King III — said they support the temporary moratorium, citing data centers’ potential impacts on electricity rates, water usage and limited job creation, among other concerns.
Mills, locked in a Democratic U.S. Senate primary against oyster farmer Graham Platner, said she largely supports the goals of L.D. 307. But in her veto message, she said felt compelled to nix the ban because it could have killed a proposed $550 million data center to a former mill complex in Jay.
At the forum, sponsored by the Knox and Lincoln County Democratic Parties at Watts Hall, the Democrats looking to replace Mills said the Jay project was not worth the sacrifice of the entire moratorium.
“I think the governor’s veto on Friday was unfortunate,” said former Maine House Speaker Hannah Pingree, who left a top role in Mills administration ahead of her run for governor. “We have seen in Virginia and in Texas, the kind of significant damage that these centers have been doing. And I think it’s incredibly urgent that Maines passes the moratorium and then we put the kind of guardrail in place that will protect Maine people, protect our environment, but especially protect rate payers.”
Dr. Nirav Shah, the former head of the Maine Centers for Disease Control who is seen as frontrunner in the primary, said data centers do not create enough jobs to outweigh their potential negative impacts.
“I think Governor Mills’s veto was in error, and I would have signed the legislation had I been governor,” Shah said. “If we are going to have data centers in Maine — and that’s a big if, I want to be clear — then my general approach is let’s do it, right, not do it fast. If we are going to do it. And right now, there are just too many unanswered questions about the impact of data centers on rural electricity rates, which are already high enough. On our water use, which is a precious resource. And on our health.”
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows was more blunt, calling data centers “a boondoggle perpetrated by crypto-billionaires who are gobbling up everything in sight.” She said the moratorium is “prudent” and that the legislature had constructed it thoughtfully.
Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, who is closely aligned with labor unions, said he supports development that creates good-paying jobs — but does not see data centers as delivering on that promise.
“It’s a false narrative what she’s telling us about jobs,” Jackson said of Mills’ justification for the veto.
Pointing to a pin on his lapel for a local electrician union, Jackson said: “There’s a lot of union workers that are electricians in the state that do want jobs, but not really those jobs.”
And Jackson, who clashed with Mills at times when he led the upper chamber of the Legislature, said Mills should have found another way to protect the Jay project. “I would have signed that bill and I think the governor should have gotten involved way, way before to try to make her points known or at least come up with a compromise,” Jackson said.
King, the son of independent U.S. Sen. Angus King and the only candidate not to back the moratorium outright, declined to say whether he would have signed the bill. When pressed, he called the question a “hypothetical” and argued the measure would not have passed as written if he were governor.
But he warned against changing rules midstream for developers, citing his own experience brokering deals for clean energy projects.
“We have a set of rules. Someone does work on a project, gets a permit, follows all of the rules, and then we change the rules on them?” King said. “We (in Maine) have that reputation … and I think it’s really hurting our reputation, and I think we’ve got to make sure that we are thoughtful about these things.”
With Mill term limited and running for U.S. Senate, both parties have crowded primaries to replace her. There has been limited high-quality public polling of either race so far, while Maine’s use of ranked-choice voting makes predicting the outcome of the June 9 primaries even more difficult to predict.
The candidates that emerge from each primary will face independent Sen. Rick Bennett, who was a Republican until last year. Other independent candidates could still join the race ahead of the November general election.
