I always find it interesting to see how the opposing side spins stuff...

Planned #Datacenter in #Maine under threat from proposed moratorium

Project in #SanfordME could be killed before it gets off the ground

February 20, 2026

By Dan Swinhoe

"Proposals to bring in a data center moratorium in Maine have threatened [notice the language] plans for a new campus [yeah, like it's a school] in the Pine Tree State.

"The proposed bill, sponsored by Representative #MelanieSachs, includes a two-year moratorium on facilities above 20MW in the state while the impacts of data centers are studied and more stringent controls are put in place.

"However, State Sen. #MattHarrington, R-Sanford, said a pause on development would endanger a new data center planned for his district, detailing a previously unreported project. [Which involves a LOT of SECRECY!!!]

"During a works session, he said the moratorium would impact a proposed 100-300MW project being proposed by a developer, later named as the Northern New England Energy Corporation.

"He said at the time that the project was well into the planning process and had met with local officials and Maine's Department of Energy Resources. [Wah, wah...]

" 'You're completely blindsiding this [OUT OF STATE, AND CONNECTED TO A CANADIAN GAS COMPANY] business,' Harrington said, according to a report from Maine Public.

"Harrington revealed more details in a follow-up Facebook post, saying the project was being targeted on land in Sanford, York County, some 35 miles (56.3km) southwest of Portland.

" 'I was recently briefed by representatives of the Northern New England Energy Company about their plans to develop an energy generation project utilizing a mix of American-made fuel cells, solar power, and battery storage to produce all of the electricity needed to serve a colocated data center,' he said in the post.

"While he was asked not to publicly discuss the project, he said the surprise proposal of a moratorium 'might stop this opportunity for our community from coming to fruition before we even had a chance to consider it altogether.'

"According to its website, Northern New England Energy Corporation (#NNEEC) is an energy company based in Vermont.

"A subsidiary of Énergir, #NNEEC is the parent company of Vermont utility and energy distribution provider #GreenMountainPower Corporation, #VermontGasSystems Inc., and #EGVInsurance Inc.

"#Énergir, formerly known as Gaz Métro, is a Canadian energy company and the largest natural gas distribution company in Quebec.

"Maine has a small data center market, with Data Center Map listing just eight facilities in the state, largely centered around Brunswick and Portland.

"A data center is being proposed in the former #LoringAirForceBase, and another is being planned next to a former nuclear power plant in #WiscassetME.

"A project in #LewistonME was rejected by local officials last year." [YES, BY THE PEOPLE!!!]

https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/planned-data-center-in-maine-under-threat-from-proposed-moratorium/

#MainePol #BigGas #NoNewDatacenters

PUTNEY PAPER IS CLOSING

The Brattleboro Reformer has an article about the planned closing of Putney Paper.

Those who do not have a Reformer subscription can still read articles by way of the Brooks Memorial Library subscription. It is necessary, first, to have a library card, which is a good thing to have anyway.

I just went paperless with my Green Mountain Power account. It is my hope that this is not the straw that broke the camel's back for Putney Paper.

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#brattleboro #brattlebororeformer #brooksmemoriallibrarybrattleboro #greenmountainpower #putneypaper #putneyvermont

:::

Power back on after a three-day outage. Thank you Green Mountain Power and all the repair crews. It's going to be a good day.

#Brattleboro #Vermont #VT #GreenMountainPower #NorEasters

Big shout out to the #GreenMountainPower #GMP crews who have been working relentlessly the past few days trying to restore #power to thousands of homes across #Vermont after the big #winter #storm. Our power came back last night after being out for almost 45 hours, but there are still over 600 active incidents and 8,000 people without power. Stay safe out there!

The #remote #homelab came back up and everything (including #HomeAssistant and the #Wyze cams) is working again.

#poweroutage

Looks like the big storm in #Vermont is taking its toll on the power grid! Needless to say, my remote #homelab is currently offline.

#GreenMountainPower has got their work cut out for them - they're currently showing almost 1,500 active incidents impacting almost 50,000 customers in over 150 towns.

Although losing power sucks, their alerting system is great, and their real-time dashboard works really well too.

#weather #storm #snow #poweroutage