The data center fight in Brunswick, Maine
As of September 27, 2026, Brunswick, Maine has a data center moratorium in force (action taken Jun 2, 2026; documented end date 2026-11-29).
Status is derived, not stored — a pause with a documented end date flips to Expired on its own — and the source is right next to the claim.
Status today
180-day moratorium on data centers >= 1 MW; unanimous vote; stricter than vetoed state bill (20 MW threshold)
SourceNews
read 2026-09-11
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
Recent news
11 stories tracked since 2026-02-21 across 4 outlets. 8× A community is pushing back on a nearby data center. 2× The dispute has escalated into litigation. Most recent: “New Brunswick Taps Planning Firm to Help Craft Interim Data Center Rules” (TAPinto, 2026-09-17).
- New Brunswick Taps Planning Firm to Help Craft Interim Data Center Rules
- New Brunswick to Develop Interim Rules for Data Centers While Master Plan Review Continues
- Princeton's South Brunswick Neighbors Lose a Round in Court Against Data Center, But Launch an Appeal
- Princeton's South Brunswick Neighbors Lose a Round in Court Against Data Center, But Launch an Appeal
- New Brunswick to Review Data Center Development in its Master Plan
- New Brunswick to Review Data Center Development in Master Plan
- New Brunswick to Review Data Center Development in Master Plan
- Gov. Mikie Sherrill Signs Data Center Transparency Law in South Brunswick
- Protesters Greet Sherrill At South Brunswick Data Center Bill Signing
- Gov. Mikie Sherrill Signs Data Center Transparency Law in South Brunswick
- New Brunswick rejects data center plan following public backlash
Automated news aggregation, not human-verified — follow each link to the original outlet. Part of the story tracker, 11 headlines archived.
What to do next
- Questions to ask at the hearing — force specific answers onto the record.
- Estimate the impact — electricity, water, and rate pressure for any facility size in Maine.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- Maine briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Nearby in Maine
- Westbrook (26 mi) — Enactedexpires 2026-11-28
- Gorham (29 mi) — Enactedexpires 2026-11-29
- Scarborough (29 mi) — Enactedexpires 2026-11-30
- Maine (statewide) (29 mi) — Vetoedterm not documented
- Biddeford (38 mi) — Proposedno end date — permanent
- Sanford (52 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-01-31
- North Berwick (57 mi) — Proposedterm not documented
- Bangor (85 mi) — Enactedexpires soon — 2026-10-10
All 11 tracked actions in Maine are on the state page.
As of August 2026 · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Part of the U.S. data center moratorium tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0.