Comment by chasd00

7 hours ago

Was Maine ever at risk of being overrun with data centers? Regardless, if the ban is what Maine voters want then more power to them.

9 comments

chasd00

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culi  4 hours ago

It's not a ban. It's a temporary moratorium (on data centers requiring over 20 megawatts) until 2027 to give them time to research and plan for how to do data centers in an environmentally responsible way

> The bill also creates the Maine Data Center Coordination Council, and instructs the council to provide strategic input, facilitate planning considerations and evaluate policy tools to address data center opportunities.

  • ApolloFortyNine  3 hours ago

    I'm just going to post so I can reference this in the future.

    The council is going to do and accomplish nothing, eventually some company may try to build, but after 2 years another environmental survey will be requested and they'll give up and go somewhere else (likely considered a win by people who support this bill).

    These special government councils rarely accomplish anything, they're the exact kind of thing people reference when answering why building in the US is so expensive and why we don't have large infrastructure projects. It's red tape on top of red tape.

    • culi  7 minutes ago

      If the council ends up being a total flop then it doesn't matter. The moratorium goes away after 2017 and everything will return to normal

      The council itself isn't legislating anything. They are simply researching and hiring relevant experts

smarf  7 hours ago

> more power to them

that seems to be the idea!