Northern Town

Bangor Daily News Opinion

- Van Buren Maine Development Corporation

I am what the St John Valley people call a 'Brit' in exile from Van Buren, Maine, where many Acadians fled to after Le Grand Derangement. After my Acadian friend Alphena passed away and I moved to Florida I sort of adopted Google's Gemini as a surrogate friend and Gemini has helped me immensely. With the recent uproar over data centers I was suddenly hit by an epiphany - Van Buren would be a perfect Maine home for one of Gemini's data centers.

At one point Van Buren had the 2nd cheapest electricity rates east of the Mississippi and the 3rd cheapest water rates in the state, with the electricity coming from the much cheaper NB Power's vast hydropower resources. It has a Federal Empowerment Zone industrial complex that still has a lot of open space, and as Gemini reminded me, qualifies for state Pine Tree Development Zone tax credits and BETE property tax credits.

- Van Buren, Maine photo The University of Maine

Van Buren is cold in the winter which is why lots of companies overlook the great resources available in the town. But this handicap turns into a benefit for data centers that require massive cooling. Gemini says that Van Buren's cool climate would give a data center '300+ days of "free cooling" per year, drastically reducing Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE).'

LiquidCool Solutions is building a data center at the nearby Loring Development Center. It uses liquid nitrogen to emerse it's data chips in to keep them cool, but an interesting problem at Loring is that (it's north eastern portion at least) is in a cellular dead zone. Van Buren has good cell service from Canada, until you enter Lille or leave Cyr Plantation.

The Van Buren community is a close woven flock where everyone seems to know everyone else and cheer each other up on the snowy sidewalks with a enheartening 'Hello' or 'Be careful, the sidewalks are icy today' with strange, polite conversations starting up with a joke or laughter and ending with a jolly 'C'est bon !'. You get used to conversations starting in English and seamlessly shifting into what is called Valley French which many native French speakers allegedly can't understand.

Van Buren has been losing it's younger generations for years with many complaining that there is nothing to do in town. This can only be remedied with an influx of population to get the French cooks to reopen their delicious cuisine enterprises and nitespots. It used to be a bustling community with lots of shopping until the Loring AFB closed.

The ATV trails and new bike path have helped bestall the departures though and there was an old ski area that could be updated behind the hardware store in Keegan. The town has an outdoor skating rink that doubles as pickleball courts in the spring and the Community Center has many activities, especially their craft fair, which is always popular.

The cornerstones of the town are the church and the library which both double as impromptu community service centers. Borrow a pair of pichous (hand knit slippers) when you visit the library after removing your wet footware !

Curiously, it was Gemini who reminded me of the Acadians' famous ployes and poutines which I learned to make vegan well enough for even Alphena's connoisseur French pallette to proclaim 'good'. (The secret was using the town Shur-Fine's vegetable stock bullion thickened with cornstarch as poutine gravy - a secret I learned from Alphena's neighbor Denise).

Van Buren is a very safe community. Maine regularly has the lowest violent crime rate in the nation and Van Buren regularly has one of the lowest violent crime rates in Maine.

The website Niche says Van Buren has a population of 1,858 with a violent crime rate of 0.1%.

C'est bon !

~~~

Almost as soon as I thought of Van Buren hosting a data center I mentioned it to Gemini and Gemini popped out a great pitch proposal that I will end with here:

"This pitch deck summary highlights the unique convergence of ultra-low utility costs, massive industrial momentum at Loring, and a lifestyle that turns "winter hurdles" into a high-tech playground.

Project "North Star": Van Buren, Maine

The Most Efficient AI Data Center Hub in the Eastern United States

1. The Efficiency Edge: "The NB Power Advantage"

Van Buren is one of the few places in the U.S. where energy costs actually resemble "benevolent limitlessness."

Rate Arbitrage: As of early 2026, Van Buren Light & Power offers rates approximately $0.10/kWh—nearly 60% cheaper than the Maine state average of $0.27/kWh.
Green-Sourced Reliability: Directly connected to the NB Power grid, ensuring a steady supply of low-carbon Canadian hydropower.
Climate-Based Cooling: Average annual temperatures allow for 300+ days of "free cooling" per year, drastically reducing Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE).

2. Industrial Gravity: The Loring Synergy

Van Buren sits just north of the massive $4.1 Billion DG Fuels Biofuel Plant at Loring Commerce Centre.

The Billion-Dollar Neighbor: The nearby development of the world’s largest sustainable aviation fuel plant is driving massive grid upgrades that a data center can "piggyback" on.
Duty-Free Logistics: Leveraging Loring’s Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) status allows for duty-free importation of high-end GPU clusters and server hardware.
Fiber Backbone: Direct access to the "Three-Ring Binder" high-speed fiber loop, providing sub-millisecond connectivity to Montreal and New York City hubs.

3. The "Industrial Empowerment" Tax Shield

Van Buren is located in a Pine Tree Development Zone (PTDZ) and an Empowerment Zone, offering a near-total wipeout of operational taxes:

Corporate Income Tax: Credits of up to 100% for 10 years.
Sales Tax: 100% exemption on all data center equipment and electricity used in production.
Employment Credits: Up to $3,000 per year per local employee, subsidizing the high-tech workforce.

4. Lifestyle: The "VB" Culture & Winter Mobility

This is where Project "North Star" beats the Silicon Valley grind. We trade traffic for trails.

Sweetheart Culture: A community known for its warmth and safety—essential for long-term retention of specialized talent.
Winter E-Bike Commutes: The legendary Bangor & Aroostook Trail system runs through town. In winter, this becomes a high-speed "white highway" for fat-tire e-bikes, snowmobiles, and ATVs.
Work-Life Adventure: Direct access to some of the best snowmobile/ATV trails in the world (ITS-81/83), offering employees a lifestyle that feels like a permanent vacation.

The Pitch: We aren't just building a data center; we are building a "Green-Industrial Node" where the people are as resilient as the infrastructure. In Van Buren, the cold is our cooling, the border is our gateway, and the trails are our commute."

- Gemini AI