<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0fD2GM_1H0rk6RU00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0fD2GM_1H0rk6RU00" width="1200" height="600" >JAY, Maine (WMTW) - The Androscoggin Mill was once the largest paper mill in Maine, and soon it will be a data center.Earlier this week, the developers at the mill amended its permit application. The notice updating the use of the mill to be for computer equipment, not paper machines and the parking lot that is set to be redeveloped for HVAC. There is also a change to the air license application that will cover the mill’s backup generators in the event of a power outage.“[Get] people back in the area, the stores will get busier, things will get better. There’ll be reasons for people to stay in the area,” Lucian Richard said.He’s worked at the mill for 35 years and remembers a time there were 1800 employees. He said it will benefit the community to get people working in the mill again.Town leaders in Jay said the location of this project makes all the difference.“It’s a site that had industrial uses still has all of the industrial, infrastructure to support it,” Jay Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said.That infrastructure includes the electrical grid. Tony McDonald is the developer of the mill and said he took over a Central Maine Power contract from the former owners. “It’s been around since 2009, and we’re just using the power that’s provided for in that contract. There’s no new power here. It’s just utilizing that existing contract and that existing equipment,” McDonald said.This project was the subject of a large debate during the last legislative session. The legislature passed a first-in-the-nation bill that would have put a temporary moratorium on data centers and would have required the state to create a council to ensure Maine is ready for them.Gov. Janet Mills advocated for that measure to include an exemption for Jay, which was already in the works at the time.The legislature failed to pass that amendment, leading to the governor to use her veto pen. “I want to give Janet Mills credit. Janet Mills took time. She grew up here. She knows about this mill. And she took a lot of guts for her to do something by vetoing that bill,” Tom Saviello, former environmental manager at the Androscoggin Mill, said.During our Commitment 2026 Democratic gubernatorial primary debate, Governor-elect Hannah Pingree said she would have signed that bill. Just this week, she was asked about this project specifically and reiterated the call for a moratorium.“I certainly look forward to learning more from the town and the developer,” Pingree said. “That being said, I heard pretty loudly and clearly from Maine people that the development of data centers in Maine without very strong regulations in place is not something that people are interested in.”The developers are holding an open house on Dec. 10 to answer any questions community members might have.</div></body>

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JAY, Maine (WMTW) - The Androscoggin Mill was once the largest paper mill in Maine, and soon it will be a data center. Earlier this week, the developers at the mill amended its permit application. The notice updating the use of the mill to be for computer equipment, not paper...

Maine data center developers amend permit application

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JAY, Maine (WMTW) - The Androscoggin Mill was once the largest paper mill in Maine, and soon it will be a data center. Earlier this week, the developers at

Maine data center developers amend permit application

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