Mainers Want Fresh New Faces to Repesent them in Washington, DC Such as Oyster Farmer and US Marine Vet Graham Platner, 41.
Yesterday Governor Janet T. Mills vetoed the controversial Act 307 – an act that would have placed a temporary limit on the creation of data centers in Maine.
In a letter to the Maine legislature, the Governor said she supports a temporary moratorium on data center projects and would have signed the act, if it had included an exemption for a project now underway at the former Androscoggin Mill in Jay according to a press releas received from her Augusta office yesterday afternoon.
“A moratorium is appropriate given the impact of massive data centers in other states on the environment and on electrcity rates. But the final version of this bill fails to allow for a specific project in the Town of Jay that enjoys strong local support from its host community and region,” Governor Mills wrote to the Legislature. “The 2023 closure of the Androscoggin Mill dealt a devstating blow to the Town of Jay and its surrounding area. As a long-time resident of Franklin County, I know well how critical the mill was to generations of working families and how important it is — and how challenging it has been — to promote reinvestment and job-creation at the former mill which is a brownfield site After prior redevelopment efforts failed, the Town of Jay worked for two years on a $550 million data center redevelopment project to finally bring jobs and investment back to the mill site.”
The Governor’s comments continued: “This project — which is now under contract and which has received several permits — is expected to create more than 800 construction jobs, at least 100 high-paying permanent jobs and would oontribute substantial property tax revenue to the Town of Jay. The project developers are committed to revitalizing the mill site by utilizing its existing industrial buildings. water and electrical infrastructure to avoid the adverse impacts cited in the bill, including impacts to ratepayers.”
Simultaneously, this blogger sent multiple inquiries to the Governor’s staff, including Scott Ogden, her aide de camp, seeking information on the status of her campaign for the US senate from Maine. Is she still running or not running? The courtesy of a response has not been received from Mr. Ogden or any other member of her communications staff at this time. This question was prompted by the fact that it appears that her tv ads have been stopped. Addidtionally, no more press releases from her Senate campaign staff have been received by this blogger as previously were received.
How will her data centers decision impact the rest of Maine? What will be her legacy to Maine as the former governor of the state? How does the Governor of Jay sound to you?