Plans to redevelop a defunct Androscoggin paper mill in Jay into a data center are back on track, according to pre-application paperwork filed with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
JGT2 Redevelopment said it plans to install computing equipment in existing mill buildings, build a new septic system, add heating, ventilation and air conditioning in the property's rail yard and put in two 3.25 megawatt industrial-scale diesel generators to provide emergency power to the facility.
Tony McDonald, a Portland commercial realtor and owner of JGT2 Redevelopment did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company said it intends to enter into an agreement to reuse the mills space with Sentinel Data Centers, which has developed facilities in nine states.
Plans to convert the former paper mill into a data center were central to Governor Janet Mills' veto this spring of a temporary statewide ban on data center construction passed by the Democrat-controlled Maine Legislature.
At the time, Mills said the Jay project was too important to the local economy to be derailed by a moratorium. JGT2 dropped plans for the redevelopment a few months after Mills' veto.
Opposition to data centers has swept across the U.S. this year, as communities are increasingly unwilling to host facilities seen as the physical manifestation of the artificial intelligence boom. People across the political spectrum are wary of data centers and concerned about their massive demands on power and water and environmental impacts.
In Maine, a number of towns and cities have enacted temporary data center development pauses or outright bans, including at least eight communities that overwhelmingly voted to slow development during the midterm elections.
Meanwhile, a Maine Data Center Advisory Council set up by Gov. Mills to recommend ways the state should manage development of the facilities is scheduled to deliver its final report to lawmakers early next year.
In its filing to the Maine DEP, the mill redeveloper said it took care to "follow the council's draft recommendations" published last month "as closely as possible."
