Maine is about to become the first state to ban major new data centers • Hacker News Board

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

#461

Post by xphos » Mon, Apr 13, 2026, 4:55 PM UTC

cloudfudge wrote: post #441

fc417fc802 wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being against a ban is equivalent to requiring that something be allowed. It might or might not end up happening, but either way it is permitted.

"Requiring something be allowed" != "requiring them to have them"

So if companies are actively trying to build them in the state. And your claim is the state has to allow them to be built? Isn't this just a delay requirement to force them to have data center? Sure they aren't build today but if the government cannot stop them at the permit, or at any point after its a requirement to have them. If you want to deny a state that right to decide via democratic processes you are effectively requiring them to build in their state.

How else could states that deny those data centers if they cannot pass legislation to prevent them or require XYZ parameters before they are allowed to be built? Your argument is nonsensical in my opinion especially in context. I get that if you do a string compare they are different sentences but the semantic effects of the two statements are equavalanet in the framing that comapnies are actively trying to permit and build them.

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

#462

Post by rangerelf » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 6:22 PM UTC

dlubarov wrote: post #355

rangerelf wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any links to support this? Because the commonality of all arguments _against_ has been that they make water and power crazy expensive for everyone that has to live close to the newly opened datacenters, while the DC operator enjoys subsidized land use tax, water and power.

If DCs can be harmful because of subsidized power, wouldn't the natural reaction be to stop subsidizing their power, rather than banning them?

Because the companies that are pushing for DC constructions are corruptors, and some politicians are easy to corrupt.

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

#463

Post by will4274 » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 2:17 PM UTC

DrewADesign wrote: post #460

will4274 wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The data center jobs are middle class. With progressive taxation, those 30 middle class jobs generate about 100 average people's worth of revenue. Presumably Lewiston has schools which could use the funds. And presumably everybody in Lewiston already has lunch somewhere, so a new sandwich shop that was successful would put another lunch spot out of business, for a net zero jobs. Edit: the larger point here is that jo…

Nobody that lives in Lewiston will get those jobs, and the people that get those jobs will almost certainly live in more upscale places nearby. Tack a new building that size onto Bath Ironworks? That’s a huge boon. Heck even an Amazon warehouse would be an improvement. But a data center? For the people in Lewiston, it would be far more of a negative than a positive — and that’s the way it works in this country. We va…

You forgot to include an argument in your comment. I cited specific positive impacts (tax revenue) but you just talked about negative impact in the abstract, without citing anything specific, and then went on a rant about how the world works.

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

#464

Post by jcrawfordor » Sun, Apr 19, 2026, 2:10 PM UTC

physhster wrote: post #411

jcrawfordor wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The number the developer gave in a press release was "20-30." I find that reasonable as a very large Facebook data center near me has a permanent staff of around 50. Keep in mind that these large DCs use contractors for the majority of the work, which unfortunately doesn't really help with employment because the contractors mostly come in from out of state (there is a HUGE temp labor market for traveling IT technicia…

You have no idea how much maintenance is required. Just replacing hard drives, not even counting server repairs, new servers installation, network infrastructure installation and maintenance, power distribution, generator engineering, water treatment etc etc

And that's all stuff that they bring in out of state contractors for. I know, it sounds odd, but this is pretty normal for any large industrial site.