A trio of groups is joining forces in challenging Entergy Louisiana’s proposal to build seven new gas plants for Meta’s new AI data center in Richland Parish through Governor Landry’s “Lightning Speed” initiative. Susan Stevens Miller, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, says Entergy and Meta are trying to ram through these gas plants by leveraging their political influence.
“Fast-track proceedings like these make meaningful public participation and careful regulatory review far more difficult. The compressed timelines limit party’s ability to analyze evidence, engage stakeholders and evaluate long-term impacts,” Miller explained.
Logan Burke, the executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, says even though Entergy and Meta have said time and time again that they will pay the entire cost of this infrastructure buildout, they cannot be taken for their word.
“Governor Landy released an executive order stating that ratepayers should be protected from all costs relating to data centers. This executive order has roughly the same force of law as does the President’s ratepayer protection pledge – zero,” Burke said.
Burke’s comments come days after Entergy CEO Phillip May shared a letter stating that Meta has embraced the Ratepayer Protection Pledge and is committed to paying the entire cost of the infrastructure required for the facility.
Paul Arbaje, a senior analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, says the Public Service Commission needs to step up to protect ratepayers once and for all from any costs related to these data centers.
“Entergy and Meta structured their deal with flexibility to potentially to keep the gas plants and other infrastructure on the ratepayer books, in the event that Meta walks away from the data center,” Arbaje noted.