Data centers in Androscoggin County, Maine: 1 project mapped

Residents filled the council chamber to standing room only. "I'm 45 and I remember driving over the bridge and holding my breath because it smelled so bad," said Sarah Demarest, who helped lead the opposition, of the Androscoggin River, since cleaned up. "It felt like the data center plan was a contradiction to everything we had worked for." Councilor Scott Harriman received more than 100 emails and calls; one was in favor. The council voted unanimously against the project, and no one from MillCompute spoke at the meeting. "This had the potential for being a great project," Council President David Chittim said. "It may still have, but not within the time frames and the constraints that have been imposed on it."

"I think the underlying lesson here is that developers need to stop planning these data centers in secret and then complaining about how much they've invested in the process once the public finally becomes aware of it and pushes back," Harriman told the Bangor Daily News. Kaenrath, who had backed the project, said the city would be "quite cautious about future proposals," and developer Bill Johnson did not respond to the Bangor Daily News. The acting economic development director, John Blais, said a few other data center developers had since made inquiries but were put off by the city's longer review process. The statewide moratorium bill those developers feared, LD 307, was vetoed by Governor Janet Mills on April 24, 2026, and lawmakers fell five votes short of overriding her five days later. Lewiston has since adopted its own temporary moratorium on data centers, and Mills' advisory council on data center policy must report to the Legislature by January 29, 2027.