House narrows data-center moratorium, rejects narrow carve-out for Jay project

The House spent several hours debating a proposed moratorium and guardrails for data-center development in Maine and a contentious floor amendment intended to give a path forward for a specific adaptive-reuse project in Jay.

Representative Virgil, who said he had consulted with local officials, described the Jay project and told colleagues the development team had "lined up a client" to invest in the site; in floor remarks he said, as stated in the debate, "a client who will invest a half $1,000,000,000." The floor amendment (HD-969) would have allowed some projects to proceed if the Public Utilities Commission found minimal grid impact and viability.

Opponents argued the amendment unfairly favored a single community. Representative Boyer said the measure should be "all or nothing" and said he would not support a carve-out for one town. Representative Lieven and others said rural communities need protections and that the amendment left many towns at a disadvantage.

On a roll call the House rejected the floor amendment, 29–115. The chamber then adopted committee amendment A on a separate roll call (82–62) and ordered the amended bill to be engrossed and sent to the Senate.