The president of the state Senate has announced a bill, after two bills tabled in the capital region and a poll showing 67% of residents opposed to these settlements.
Sharon Carson, Republican president of the New Hampshire Senate and elected from Londonderry, announced on September 18 that her party would carry a proposal for a moratorium on data centers dedicated to AI, with the stated objective of not passing on the cost of the needs of these facilities to the state's taxpayers. Governor Kelly Ayotte had already taken a position in this direction.
Two projects filed in the Concord area precipitated the movement: one on the site of the former Merrimack Station plant in Bow, the other in East Concord. A poll by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center shows that 67% of residents are opposed to the construction of data centers near their homes.
The U-turn is not politically obvious. Earlier in the year, a Democratic proposal (SB 439) that would have imposed design and noise requirements was gutted by Republicans before failing. Democratic Senator Debra Altschiller, of Stratham, sees it as an opportunistic conversion in the run-up to the election. The next legislative session opens in January 2027.
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