The US’ first state-wide data center moratorium has received the approval of the Maine legislature.

LD307 received the approval of the House in early April and the Senate yesterday. Sponsored by Democrat Melanie Sachs, it would impose a temporary moratorium on the government accepting any applications related to data centers offering more than 20MW of capacity.

This would remain in place until November 1, 2027.

In this year-and-a-half period, the impacts of data centers would be studied, more stringent controls would be put in place, and the government would create the ‘Maine Data Center Coordination Council,’ which would “provide strategic input, facilitate coordinated state planning considerations, and evaluate policy tools to address data center opportunities.”

If passed, the bill would threaten plans to build a new data center campus by the Northern New England Energy Company that would offer between 100-300MW of capacity.

Although the bill has yet to receive the approval of Maine’s governor Janet Mills – in the US, state bills require the approval of both legislative houses and the governor before they can be signed into law – it is a win for those who have called for more oversight of the industry at the state level.

Although moratoriums have long been used at the local level, officials in Minnesota, New York State, Virginia, New Hampshire, Vermont, Oklahoma, Maryland, Georgia, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Michigan have also introduced bills calling for state-wide bans on new developments.

A bill proposing a national moratorium was also introduced three weeks ago by US Senators Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act would prevent data center construction until the government enacts laws to protect workers and consumers, the environment, and civil rights from the impacts of AI.