Over the past few weeks as I’ve been enjoying this Vermont summer with my friends and family, the topic of my work has of course come up – and with it, VPIRG’s efforts on the data center bill that we helped get passed during the legislative session.
Over and over, when I let people know that Gov Scott just vetoed one of the strongest data center bills in the nation I’ve been met with surprise, shock, or simple confusion.
“Scott vetoed what?? I didn’t even know the legislature passed that!”
Most Vermonters don’t know the legislature passed incredibly strong legislation to protect Vermonters from the downsides of AI data centers potentially being built in Vermont.
Even fewer Vermonters know Gov Scott vetoed that legislation, on the grounds that it was anti-business and that we’ll be fine without it.
So, I wrote a commentary for VT Digger running down what was in the bill, why Gov. Scott said he vetoed it, why his reasoning doesn’t hold up, and where we go from here.
I hope you’ll take a few minutes to take a look. And if there are folks in your lives who you think might not know about this bill, or Gov Scott’s veto of it, I hope you’ll pass it along – feel free to just send them this blog post, or send them the link (https://vtdigger.org/2026/08/03/opinion-scotts-veto-reasoning-doesnt-hold-up/) directly.
Or go wild and post it on your local Front Porch Forum for your neighbors, if you think they’d want to know!
No one commentary, social media post, or forwarded email will turn the tide back towards a rational, better-safe-than-sorry approach to data center regulation in this state. But together we can make that happen.
Next door in New York, Gov. Hochul signed an executive order putting a one-year moratorium on data center development to give the state time to develop regulations.1 Even Texas Gov. Greg Abbot has paused permits for new data centers, for similar reasons.
We’ll be back next year to push for even stronger data center legislation.
In the meantime, we need to get the word out about what just happened here. Thanks for doing what you can to help.
Sources:
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/15/trump-knocks-hochuls-data-center-moratorium-00999538