After a judge ordered Meta to produce records supporting its energy demand and economic claims, the company is fighting to keep them out of public view as it expands its Hyperion data center in Louisiana.
Earlier this week, the trillion-dollar company filed several motions to the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) in a flagrant attempt to not only continue hiding critical information about Entergy Louisiana’s proposal to build seven additional gas power plants for Meta’s hyperscale data center, but to circumvent the normal regulatory process while doing so.
Meta filed its response after an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) granted Earthjustice’s request, representing the Alliance for Affordable Energy (AAE) and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), ordering the company to demonstrate its level of economic investment and permanent job creation for the data center and substantiate the amount of electricity load it will need. Friday’s ALJ ruling was a major win and an important step toward a more transparent regulatory process.
Meta claims this evidence isn’t necessary for the LPSC to determine whether this massive fossil fuel buildout is in the public interest. This is completely false. Just last month, an LPSC consultant found that Entergy’s proposal to purchase a Texas gas plant to provide even more electricity to power Hyperion could increase residential utility bills by $8–$13 per month. Seven additional gas plants will only increase those costs. Ratepayers deserve to know how Meta calculated its energy needs, whether those projections are justified, and how much they will ultimately be forced to pay.
Meta has also continuously made promises that this data center project will provide economic development and jobs to the state and surrounding community, most recently that 1,000 permanent jobs would come out of the expanded Hyperion data center. These projects, however, notoriously produce very few permanent jobs and far fewer than tech companies promise. Louisianans deserve to know how the tech giant has determined what economic impact this massive project will actually bring and how likely Meta is to make good on its promise.
On top of attempting to avoid accountability by hiding critical evidence from the public, Meta is also trying to get the subpoena issue moved from the ALJ to the full LPSC, which would not even consider reviewing it until the Commission’s August 12 meeting. This is a blatant attempt to kick the can down the road, raising the question, what does Meta have to hide? If Meta and Entergy want approval for projects that will reshape Louisiana’s energy system and increase costs for families and small businesses, they should be required to prove their claims with hard evidence.
“For too long, Meta has exploited its power to persuade Louisiana regulators and ratepayers to take the company at its word while withholding the information needed to hold it accountable,” said Susan Stevens Miller, senior attorney at Earthjustice. “If Meta’s projections and promises justify saddling Louisianans with higher utility bills and seven new gas plants, it should have no problem producing the evidence in a timely manner. Transparency can no longer remain optional when the public is paying the price.”
“If Meta’s promises about jobs and their power needs are as strong as it says they are, why fight so hard to keep the underlying data hidden?” said Logan Burke, Executive Director of AAE. “The Public Service Commission has a choice: stand with a trillion-dollar corporation demanding blind trust, or stand with the public by insisting on transparency and accountability.”
“Meta is trying to say with a straight face that the answers to these basic questions aren’t necessary to determine whether this proposal is in the public interest,” said Paul Arbaje, senior analyst at UCS. “This data center is proposed to be powered by a total of 10 fossil fuel plants and increase Entergy Louisiana’s load more than 50% above historic peak demand. Meta should have to back up its claims and be held accountable to the Commission and the public.”
This is not the first time advocates have asked for greater transparency from Meta. Last year, in the initial fast-tracked proceeding, the LPSC denied a request for similar critical information made by Earthjustice, together with its clients AAE and UCS. The LPSC approved the first three Entergy gas power plants for Meta’s Hyperion computing facility without requiring the company to disclose information the public needed to fully evaluate a project that threatens to raise utility bills for Louisianans, is likely to increase pollution, and may not create the number of permanent jobs promised. In contrast, this latest ALJ ruling requires Meta to come to the table and provide more of the essential economic information sought by stakeholders and impacted communities. There will be a hearing on Meta’s Motions in Baton Rouge on July 29.
Media Contact: Emma Meyerkopf, Communications Manager, 504-229-4643, emma@all4energy.org
