LINCOLN — Second Congressional District Republican candidate Paul LePage said Wednesday he believes data centers can be beneficial, if they are properly regulated.
LePage, a former two-term governor, said he helped develop what is now the Sappi paper mill in Westbrook and that the mill addressed concerns about water quality and energy use.
He said data centers will be responsible for generating their own power “because we’ll ask them to do that.”
“I’m a big, big fan of data centers,” LePage said. “I think they are going to create jobs, I think we can solve our energy problems and the last thing I’ll say is save the dams in Maine.”
LePage made the comments during a question-and-answer period following a press conference to highlight a new battery storage facility in Lincoln.
LePage is running against Democratic State Auditor Matt Dunlap in the Nov. 3 election. Dunlap spokesman Harry Burke was critical of LePage’s stance on data centers.
“LePage wants data centers to be built without any consideration for the communities where they will be built,” he said. “Yet again he’s showing that he will put corporate profits ahead of workers at any opportunity.”
In response to the data center question, Republican Sen. Susan Collins said the issue is one of the few areas where she agrees with Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who vetoed a bill that sought to impose a temporary ban on the centers to give the state time to examine all potential impacts.
Mills said she vetoed the bill because a company was planning to bring a small data center to a former mill in Jay. But just weeks after the veto, the company told town officials it is not currently in a position to move forward with the project.
On Wednesday in Lincoln, Collins said she understands concerns about new data centers “gobbling up too much energy and putting stress on the cost of energy.”
But she said decisions by Democrats in Augusta have driven up energy costs already and that data centers should be considered on their individual merits.
“I think what it has to be is a case-by-case basis,” Collins said. “When you’re talking about the site of a former paper mill there is usually hydropower right there so there is an energy source built in if you will.”
Collins faces former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, a Democrat and former logger. His spokesperson said Collins “can’t be trusted to stand up to Big Tech when it matters.”
“If data centers want to come to Maine, Troy believes they should create good-paying union jobs, pay their fair share, protect Maine’s natural resources and work with local communities — not expect Maine families to subsidize the energy needs of some of the richest corporations in the world,” said spokesperson Maggie Amjad.
Collins and LePage were joined in Lincoln by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright. He said he’s pro-data center, but it should be up to local cities and towns to decide if they want one.
“Nobody should build a data center if they don’t want one,” he said. “It’s not like we need to have one in every community. Communities themselves should evaluate, are the wins much bigger than the takes? And if they are go for it, and if they aren’t, don’t.”