A data center developer has quietly eyed Bucksport’s former mill site

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 28, 2026

A company recently visited the site of Bucksport’s former paper mill with interest in developing a data center there. That information was shared publicly for the first time Thursday when the Town Council considered a temporary data center ban, which was introduced as a way to buy time to update regulations around such developments before any formal proposal came in. Bucksport’s lingering infrastructure from its mill — deep water access, a power plant, a fresh water supply — and the mostly vacant site itself make the town more realistically attractive to data center developers than many other Maine communities that have adopted such bans.