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A Massachusetts city or town handed a proposal for a data center large enough to draw more than 25 megawatts now stands between the developer and the state permits that project needs.
Gov. Maura Healey signed Executive Order 658 on Sept. 8, barring the Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), the Energy Facilities Siting Board, the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office and other permitting-related agencies from issuing permits for a covered data center until the applicant does two things: demonstrate conformance with the data center framework the administration published June 25 and submit a community benefits agreement with key stakeholders that meets state standards.
The order reaches only facilities built or expanded after Sept. 8 that exceed 25 megawatts of peak electric demand; an expansion counts if it adds 25 megawatts. The secretaries of energy and environmental affairs and economic development may jointly waive that threshold for a data center tied to an accredited college or university doing academic research, providing medical care or running a state-sponsored program.
Nothing in the order pauses or prohibits construction. It sets conditions on who signs off, who pays for electric infrastructure and where the electricity comes from.
"Unless a community says yes to a data center, we are saying no," Healey said.
That is the administration's shorthand, and its press release is headlined "Governor Healey: No Data Centers Without Local Approval." The operative text is narrower. It creates no freestanding municipal veto. It requires an agreement "with key stakeholders as identified in and aligned with" standards the Office of Environmental Justice and Equity published in March 2026. The release describes that agreement as one with the host community.
The environmental justice office becomes the gatekeeper. An applicant must consult it before filing, submit the agreement for review and comment, then file the office's written feedback alongside it. That office alone determines conformance; no other permitting agency reviews the agreement.
Who pays for the power
On electricity costs, the order largely assigns homework. The Department of Public Utilities "should continue to prioritize" finishing the large load rate schedules it began under Executive Order 654. Those schedules, the order says, should ensure other ratepayers do not pay for distribution grid upgrades needed to serve data center demand. That work is unfinished, and no data center rate exists.
The order also says the utilities department should direct electric distribution companies to use fees, deposits or other requirements to clear speculative data center projects out of interconnection queues, protecting study resources and grid capacity for housing and other businesses.
The clean energy provision carries the firmest deadline. MassDEP must develop protocols requiring covered facilities to procure enough incremental new clean electricity to cover their annual consumption, qualifying under the state's Clean Energy Standard. By Dec. 31, the agency must establish an alternative compliance payment mechanism for those that fall short. Money collected goes to a Ratepayer Protection Fund and is to be used to lower supply costs for all ratepayers. No payment amount has been set.
"Data centers can afford to pay for their own clean energy and infrastructure, and we're going to make sure they do," Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper said. "We've seen ratepayers in other states foot the bill for data centers. That won't be acceptable in Massachusetts."
Water, disclosure and a ban on secrecy deals
MassDEP must also write protocols requiring covered projects to protect water quality and quantity and show compliance with state water, wastewater and stormwater requirements. The June framework describes what the administration expects — adequate water availability without harming existing users, developer funding for infrastructure upgrades, water-efficient cooling and reuse where feasible — but frames those as examples rather than commands.
Permitting-related agencies may no longer sign nondisclosure agreements with data center projects except where law allows. Energy and environmental affairs must produce guidance for annual reporting by operating facilities, and applicants must attest they will file those disclosures. Agencies are directed to encourage project labor agreements, labor peace agreements, local hiring and registered apprenticeships. The order encourages; it does not require.
Healey paused acceptance of applications for the state's data center sales and use tax exemption on June 25, the same day she issued the framework. Executive Order 658 leaves that exemption on the books.
Moratoriums fail elsewhere while cost rules pass
State legislatures took up 54 data center bills in 2023 and 375 by mid-July of this year, according to a Washington Post analysis of LegiScan data.
Outright bans have fared badly. Maine's Legislature passed the country's first statewide moratorium this spring; Gov. Janet Mills vetoed it and the override failed. Vermont Gov. Phil Scott vetoed a data center regulation bill in May, and that override fell short, 83-52.
Cost-shifting rules have done better. Oregon's POWER Act created a separate rate class for large energy users at 20 megawatts and up. Minnesota directs regulators to assign the costs of serving very large customers to those customers. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law in May barring utilities from passing data center costs to residential and small-business customers.
Two things come due Dec. 31: the compliance payment mechanism and a municipal guidance document that energy and environmental affairs and economic development must write for local officials weighing proposals. The first annual report to the governor is not due until September 2027.
