The Town That Wants a Data Center Next Door
The Atlantic explores the growing tension between small towns and tech giants over the construction of data centers. The piece highlights a specific case in Maine where a community debated the economic benefits versus the environmental and social costs of hosting such facilities.
Why it matters
Data centers are essential infrastructure for the AI boom, but their massive energy and land requirements are sparking significant local political resistance.
Maine was about to ban data centers. Why did one town stop it?
Julia Kokernak for The Atlantic July 30, 2026, 7 AM ET Share Save Listen − 1.0 x + Seek 0:00 36:49 Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Overcast | Pocket Casts
Opposition to data-center construction is the bipartisan issue of the moment—70 percent of Americans are against construction in their communities. Recently, New York passed the country’s first statewide data-center-construction moratorium. Maine was supposed to have been the first.
For this week’s episode of Radio Atlantic , I traveled to Maine to understand why one tiny town killed what would have been America’s first data-center moratorium.
The following is a transcript of the episode:
Hanna Rosin: This is Radio Atlantic . I’m Hanna Rosin.
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