Maine lawmakers passed a statewide freeze on large data centers this week, the first of its kind in the country. If Gov. Janet Mills signs the bill into law, it would impose a moratorium on building data centers that use more than 20 megawatts of power in the state for a year and a half. During those 18 months, a council of government officials, experts and other stakeholders will be tasked with developing guidelines and recommendations for building future data centers, according to The Hill.
It’s unclear if Mills will sign the bill; an amendment she called for didn’t make it into the legislation that passed. But regardless of her course, the bill’s very approval is the latest sign of growing public skepticism about the explosion in data center construction fueled by national investment in artificial intelligence.
Reflection and deliberation about the speed of AI development are long overdue.
Maine is moving first, but not alone. The New York Times reports that “at least a half dozen other states are also considering restrictions on how, when and where data centers may be built.” And there’s also activity emerging at the city level. Last week voters in Port Washington, Wisconsin, passed a referendum requiring city leaders to obtain voter approval for big tax incentives offered to developers, in a bid to restrict future data centers. And this week four incumbent council members running for re-election in the town of Festus, Missouri, were ousted in response to residents’ frustration with their recent approval of a local data center.
One promising feature of the Maine legislation is that it doesn’t place an outright or indefinite ban on data centers. It would instead pause their construction and create an opportunity for evaluating their pros and cons and appropriate regulations. This isn’t about Luddism, it’s about carefully appraising the future.
Reflection and deliberation about the speed of AI development are long overdue. Its frenzied pace has the feeling of an arms race, with corporations and governments around the world constantly pushing the line that anyone who doesn’t get on board will be left behind technologically and face economic ruin. But these narratives have discouraged discussion of the technology’s trade-offs — and the public is increasingly uneasy about it.
An NBC survey conducted in late February and early March found that 57% of registered voters believe the risks of AI outweigh its benefits, while 34% believe the opposite. The skepticism extends to both parties. When asked which party can better handle AI, “20% of voters in the NBC News poll said Republicans, while 19% said Democrats,” the outlet reported. “Meanwhile, 33% of voters said neither party was good at dealing with AI, while 24% said the parties were about the same.”
Data centers seem like a promising target for pushback because their construction and existence physically exemplify the downsides of AI. They consume gigantic amounts of power and require huge inputs of fossil fuels. A typical AI data center can use as much electricity as 100,00 households. As The Atlantic reports, the International Energy Agency estimates that “by 2030 U.S. data centers will consume more electricity than all of the country’s heavy industries — more than the cement, steel, chemical, car, and other industrial facilities put together.” These centers also require huge amounts of water, both for cooling and for power, that can strain water supply for local communities. And their immense energy requirements produce pollutants that can decrease air quality and dramatically reshape the physical landscape of communities.
The environmental burden of data centers is only one of the many costs of widespread use of generative AI, which also includes the potential for massive job losses and dangerous weaponry. Questioning their necessity and regulating their implementation is a necessary guardrail, and it’s one step toward bringing the development of AI under democratic governance.
The need to apply to a democratic lens to AI couldn’t be more urgent at a time when, for example, Louisiana lawmakers have reportedly signed nondisclosure agreements about data centers constructed in the state, leaving their constituents in the dark about the impact of their construction. At the federal level, President Donald Trump has threatened to sue states that pass laws restricting AI growth. That should make it all the more clear why pushing for regulations at the state level can be a new frontier for the resistance.
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