Yankee Nuclear Power Plant Data Center, Wiscasset, Maine

The data center at Old Ferry Road never got as far as a planning application, and it still cost Wiscasset $240,000 meant for housing. The 300 acres opposite the remains of Maine Yankee, in Lincoln County, Maine, once belonged to the atomic power company, and the town bought them in 2013. Wiscasset has about 4,000 residents.

On November 5, 2024 Lincoln County awarded the town $240,000 of American Rescue Plan money for a feasibility study on affordable housing, against a proposal for 110 units. Two days later the town's economic development director, Aaron Chrostowsky, began discussing a data center for the same land instead. On February 4, 2025 he told a regional planning staffer he intended to use the federal housing money to study a data center instead; the staffer warned him against misappropriating government funding, and he asked for secrecy.

By March 3, 2025 Lincoln County had noticed the plans had significantly changed, and town manager Dennis Simmons defended the pivot on March 24. The county withheld the money on March 27 and formally rescinded it on May 29, 2025, saying it no longer had confidence in the town's housing commitment.

On August 19, 2025 the town signed a nondisclosure agreement with an unnamed California site evaluator, and the plans became public the following month. Protect Wiscasset formed to oppose the project, co-founded by Richard Davis, alongside RePower Wiscasset, started by Peter Arnold to push renewable energy on the Maine Yankee land instead. A public survey run for a state economic recovery program in January 2025 had found residents wanted parks, shops and culture on the land, not technology.

As of May 2026 nothing had been built, and Chrostowsky said he had not heard from the site evaluator since talks paused in November 2025. On March 3, 2026 Lincoln County gave the $240,000 to Waldoboro and Newcastle instead. Commissioner Evan Goodkowsky said Wiscasset would not be a power player in any new housing project for years; Peter Arnold said the episode still clouds other development and has eroded trust in the town's governance.

Wiscasset's selectboard paused conversations about developing the Old Ferry Road property in November 2025. At the state level, Governor Mills vetoed an 18-month moratorium on data centers above 20 megawatts on April 24, 2026.