Lamoille County

Moratoriums and bans

1. Aug. 31, 2026 Morristown: Two-year interim bylaw moratorium on data centers and other 'high impact uses', adopted unanimously by the Selectboard and Village Trustees. High-impact uses include facilities drawing 10 MW or more, using 57,600 gallons a day or more of water, discharging hazardous waste, adding more than 10 acres of impervious surface, or making more than 70 dB of persistent noise. Small data centers that serve an existing business, hospital, school, municipal use or residence are exempt. A hearing was set for Aug 24. The adoption date is inferred from a Sept 3 article saying the boards acted 'Monday night'. No data center had been proposed in town. (News & Citizen (Vermont Community Newspaper Group), Aug. 6, 2026; News & Citizen (Vermont Community Newspaper Group), Sept. 3, 2026; Seven Days, Sept. 9, 2026)

Updates, newest first

1. Aug. 31, 2026 Morristown: Two-year interim bylaw moratorium on data centers and other 'high impact uses', adopted unanimously by the Selectboard and Village Trustees · High-impact uses include facilities drawing 10 MW or more, using 57,600 gallons a day or more of water, discharging hazardous waste, adding more than 10 acres of impervious surface, or making more than 70 dB of persistent noise. Small data centers that serve an existing business, hospital, school, municipal use or residence are exempt. A hearing was set for Aug 24. The adoption date is inferred from a Sept 3 article saying the boards acted 'Monday night'. No data center had been proposed in town. (News & Citizen (Vermont Community Newspaper Group), Aug. 6, 2026; News & Citizen (Vermont Community Newspaper Group), Sept. 3, 2026; Seven Days, Sept. 9, 2026)

Statewide

H.727 (2026), on sustainable data center deployment, sponsored by Rep. Laura Sibilia: referred to House committee Jan 21, 2026 and passed by the House Mar 31. The Senate adopted its amendment on a 26-3 roll call May 15 and passed the bill May 19; the House agreed to the Senate changes May 20. The bill reached the Governor May 22, and Gov. Phil Scott vetoed it May 28, 2026. (Vermont General Assembly, May 29, 2026; Vermont General Assembly, May 28, 2026; Office of Governor Phil Scott, May 28, 2026; Vermont Business Magazine, May 28, 2026) H.727 would have covered facilities using or able to use 20 MW or more. Each would have needed: electric service under a large load service equity contract approved by the PUC, keeping other ratepayers from bearing the facility's generation, transmission, distribution and capacity costs, with a minimum payment and collateral; an Act 250 permit in every case; closed-loop cooling or an approved alternative, plus added environmental review for more than 150,000 gallons a day of surface water; PFAS monitoring of discharges; backup combustion generators limited to emergencies; an annual energy payment for host and nearby communities; and public quarterly reports on water and energy use. (Vermont General Assembly, May 28, 2026) The House took up the veto on May 29, 2026. The vote was 83-52, short of the two-thirds needed, so the veto was sustained and the bill did not become law. VTDigger later reported that the override fell seven votes short. (Vermont General Assembly, May 29, 2026; Vermont Business Magazine, May 28, 2026; VTDigger, Sept. 9, 2026) S.205 (2026), sponsored by Sen. Rebecca White with Sens. Bongartz, Hardy, Major and Vyhovsky, would have paused the operation, site preparation and construction of AI data centers needing more than 100 MW of new load until July 1, 2030, and directed the PUC to study such facilities and report by Jan 15, 2027. It was referred to Senate Finance on Jan 6, 2026. The committee took testimony in January and February, and no committee vote or later action is recorded. (Vermont General Assembly, Jan. 6, 2026; Vermont General Assembly, Jan. 6, 2026; Vermont General Assembly, Feb. 18, 2026) H.370 (2025), the Cryptocurrency Public Protection Act, sponsored by Rep. William Greer: alongside crypto consumer and fraud provisions, it would have had the PUC investigate a siting process for cryptocurrency mining facilities and set electric and water rates for them so other ratepayers would not bear added costs. It was referred to the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development on Feb 26, 2025, and no further action is recorded. (Vermont General Assembly, Feb. 26, 2025; Vermont General Assembly, Feb. 26, 2025) PUC large-load rules: no PUC docket on a large-load tariff or data center rule was found. The Department of Public Service told lawmakers that every utility tariff and contract needs PUC approval, and that a large load on the transmission system could take service by tariff or contract or become a self-managed utility, which would need Commission approval under 30 V.S.A. §231 and §248. VELCO pointed to GlobalPower, a separate utility formed to take transmission service for GlobalFoundries. The Department backed the Commission's recommendation to require large load service equity contracts and opposed requiring a tariff from each utility. (Vermont Department of Public Service (testimony to House Energy and Digital Infrastructure), Feb. 12, 2026; VELCO (testimony to House Energy and Digital Infrastructure), Feb. 23, 2026; Vermont Public, Feb. 26, 2026) Green Mountain Power Rate 70 is an existing GMP rate for large, high-demand customers. The Department of Public Service cited it as an option for customers served directly from the transmission grid with peaks above 10 MW, who pay for the transmission upgrades their load needs. In April 2026 GMP told a Senate committee it had studied adding 50-200 MW at the GlobalFoundries campus in Williston and at sites in New Haven, Vernon, Granite and West Rutland, and found no significant system concern. (Vermont Department of Public Service (testimony to House Energy and Digital Infrastructure), Feb. 12, 2026; Green Mountain Power (presentation to Senate Natural Resources and Energy), April 22, 2026) VELCO told a House committee in February 2026 that no one had asked to connect a large data center to its transmission system. Any such load would face regional reliability studies required by ISO New England, and the customer would pay for the studies and any transmission upgrades. (VELCO (testimony to House Energy and Digital Infrastructure), Feb. 23, 2026) Act 250 (current law): there is no Act 250 trigger written specifically for data centers. Vermont Public reported that a smaller data center would need PUC approval and might also face Act 250 review and local zoning. H.727 would have required Act 250 permits for all covered data centers, but it was vetoed. (Vermont Public, Oct. 2, 2026; Vermont General Assembly, May 28, 2026) Vermont data centers →