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Maine is about to become the first state to ban major new data centers

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Re: Maine is about to become the first state to ban major new data centers

#61

Post by unicornporn »

slabity wrote: post #33
lbarrow wrote: post #17

For people who support this kind of ban, I'd ask if you would support a similar ban on new factories for, say, car parts. Like data centers, factories use a lot of power -- which drives up electricity bills -- and their construction can have local environmental impacts. Data centers have a reputation for not providing too many local jobs, but modern factories are often highly automated and also don't provide too many…

> modern factories are often highly automated and also don't provide too many local jobs. The factories in Maine employ thousands of people. Bath Iron Works alone has over 7k employees. The Lewiston datacenter that was planned to be built was expected to employ less than 30.

Was just about to say the same, but without the numbers. Thanks for providing. People aren't stupid and they find (AI) datacenters to be a net minus to their local communities.

Re: Maine is about to become the first state to ban major new data centers

#62

Post by bsimpson »

9cb14c1ec0 wrote: post #4

I live in Maine. Commercial power is crazy expensive. I don't know why you would build an AI datacenter here in the first place. As an obsessive self-hoster, I've researched building one, and there is no universe in which it makes sense. New Hampshire and Massachusetts are so nearby latency-wise.

I know little about this region. Why would it be unreasonably more expensive to build on one side of the state line than another?

Re: Maine is about to become the first state to ban major new data centers

#63

Post by nutjob2 »

jeffbee wrote: post #26
9cb14c1ec0 wrote: post #4

I live in Maine. Commercial power is crazy expensive. I don't know why you would build an AI datacenter here in the first place. As an obsessive self-hoster, I've researched building one, and there is no universe in which it makes sense. New Hampshire and Massachusetts are so nearby latency-wise.

As has been repeatedly demonstrated[1], it is the presence of new, large consumers that drives down the cost of bulk power by amortizing the infrastructure investments. Maine voters are, of course, notorious bozos in this field, having voted in a plebiscite in 2021 to cancel the link to Quebec Hydro, which was already substantially completed. 1: For example LBNL's latest banger: Factors influencing recent trends in r…

Why on earth did they do that? Linking to a power station you didn't have to build seems like a no brainer. Was the deal that bad?

Re: Maine is about to become the first state to ban major new data centers

#64

Post by fr4nkr »

lbarrow wrote: post #17

For people who support this kind of ban, I'd ask if you would support a similar ban on new factories for, say, car parts. Like data centers, factories use a lot of power -- which drives up electricity bills -- and their construction can have local environmental impacts. Data centers have a reputation for not providing too many local jobs, but modern factories are often highly automated and also don't provide too many…

The major data centers being built for AI are much more energy-hungry than car manufacturing, and they're being built at a pace that the US energy grid simply cannot accommodate in the short term... or quite possibly even the long term, considering the US's extreme aversion to expanding nuclear power.

Also, you can call it Luddism if you want, but a car factory is going to bring a lot more net benefit to the average person than an AI data center. Motorized transportation is essential to modern civilization, fancy chat-bots are not.

Re: Maine is about to become the first state to ban major new data centers

#65

Post by yfw »

didgetmaster wrote: post #28

How long until the AI companies start charging more to people who use AI services, but live in areas that do things like this? NIMBY causes energy prices to go up in areas that won't allow drilling, refining, nuclear or nat gas development, or power lines. When will the same happen for things like AI services?

Lol the corpos having too much power over consumers is because the local residents wont submit? You assume the company cant charge higher anyway out of the goodness of their hearts?

This is what unregulated capitalism looks like with no govt oversight.

Re: Maine is about to become the first state to ban major new data centers

#66

Post by [deleted] »

AshleyGrant wrote: post #13
seniorThrowaway wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't know why people think Texas doesn't have natural beauty. It's a huge state.

Folks have been conditioned to consider the deserts of West Texas, especially the Permian Basin, to be wastelands with no redeeming value. Personally, while it isn't my favorite landscape or even my favorite desert landscape, I still think it is a landscape with intrinsic value and beauty.

[deleted]

Re: Maine is about to become the first state to ban major new data centers

#67

Post by rockemsockem »

smarf wrote: post #30
chasd00 wrote: post #16

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.

> more power to them that seems to be the idea!

Except that's wrong because greater electricity demand stimulates greater investment and leads to lower prices.

Re: Maine is about to become the first state to ban major new data centers

#68

Post by Legend2440 »

AvAn12 wrote: post #52
lbarrow wrote: post #17

For people who support this kind of ban, I'd ask if you would support a similar ban on new factories for, say, car parts. Like data centers, factories use a lot of power -- which drives up electricity bills -- and their construction can have local environmental impacts. Data centers have a reputation for not providing too many local jobs, but modern factories are often highly automated and also don't provide too many…

If they produce large negative externalities like data centers do, then yes absolutely. In a normal market, tech cos would have to pay for the messes they make (the negative externalities). With so much speculative financing available today, these costs are not being born by the companies creating them. Rather, random people (external parties) are forced to suck up higher electricity costs, noise, environmental degra…

[flagged]

Re: Maine is about to become the first state to ban major new data centers

#69

Post by taormina »

tacostakohashi wrote: post #10

This is a big win for the progressive community. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/25/datacenters-... Nice to see some success for their ideas.

If they think this is progress, I call that a catastrophic failure. The other party has nearly started WW3, but let’s make sure that a state no one wanted a data center in can’t have one. Great strides for the progressive community. A single non-win.
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