Maine is the first state to pass a moratorium on the development of large data centers. About a dozen other states are considering similar legislation this year. There are concerns about the size and energy and water consumption of data centers and the rise of artificial intelligence. The bill passed the House, 79-62 and the Senate, 21-13.
Voters in Virginia are turning against new data centers, according to a new poll. Data centers enjoyed bipartisan support in the state in 2023, but now only 35% of Virginians would be comfortable with them in their community. The survey also found that 37% of voters support the sales-tax exemption for data centers that create at least 1,000 jobs.
Maine is the first state to pass a moratorium on the development of large data centers. About a dozen states are considering similar laws. There are concerns about the size and energy and water consumption of data centers and the rise of artificial intelligence fueled by them. The bill passed the House, 79-62, and the Senate, 21-13. It awaits a signature from Governor Janet Mills.
Data centers have been built in nearly every state in the U.S. at an unprecedented pace. The demand for AI and the colossal computing power it requires has only grown. The data center boom has ignited fierce opposition in many communities. It has become a voting issue for many people ahead of the midterm elections.
The Energy Information Administration is planning a mandatory survey of data centers on their energy use. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley want to know how much energy data centers are sucking up and what that's doing to their utility bills. In March, the EIA conducted a pilot survey in Texas, Washington state, and the northern Virginia/DC metro area. It will conduct a second tranche of pilot surveys covering at least three more states by late September.
Diego Mendoza-Moyers is an energy and environment reporter for El Paso Matters. In 2023, the City of El Paso made a deal with Meta to build a data center. Meta received thirty-five years’ worth of tax abatements. Meta emerged with a partnership with El Paso Water.
Data & Society warns that some proposals in the Pennsylvania legislature would weaken local authority over siting decisions for major industrial facilities. Industry report predicts Pennsylvania will see data-center capacity growth of more than 4,000 percent in the next decade. Environmentalists say the expected surge in data center construction will worsen climate change by stimulating production of natural gas.
Data center electricity use surged in 2025, according to the International Energy Agency. Capital expenditure of five large technology companies surged to more than $400 billion in 2025. The pipeline of conditional offtake agreements between data center operators and small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear projects has grown from 25 gigawatts at the end of 2024 to 45 gigawatts today.
There are more than 4,000 data centers operating and 3,000 more planned or under construction in the U.S. Last week, voters in Port Washington, Wisconsin, overwhelmingly approved the first-of-its-kind referendum requiring city leaders to get voter approval before awarding tax incentives for projects over $10 million. In Maine, the state legislature approved the nation’s first statewide moratorium on data center construction. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors in Prince William County, Virginia, voted to end a legal battle over bringing a data center hub to the area.