Did you know that the largest AI data center in the country is being built right here in Louisiana?

Early last year, Louisiana state officials broke ground on Meta AI’s multi-billion-dollar AI data center that will span roughly the length of Manhattan in Richland Parish. The addition of this data center will reportedly provide benefits and opportunities to residents, but some locals  have already voiced concerns for the environmental and economic impact it will have. The impact isn’t isolated to just the northeastern region of the state but could cause ripples effecting many Louisiana residents.

Meta AI chose Richland Parish, but more specifically Holly Ridge, to house their multi-billion-dollar data center due to its access to existing utility infrastructure and large farmland. The center will cover land equivalent to 70 football fields and stretch over 11 miles.

This project is being supported and funded in part by Entergy, the largest electrical company in the state of Louisiana. The company supplies power to over a million customers in Louisiana, along with another staggering two million customers across Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi. To keep up with the center’s power demand, Entergy will be constructing three new natural gas turbine plants in the surrounding area and a transmission line in the data center.

With the community’s population being less than 2,000, Paul Arbaje, an energy analyst from the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists, stated that the center will consume roughly three times the amount of electricity New Orleans uses annually, or two gigawatts annually.

This puts residents at extreme risk for hikes in their electric bills in an area that already has nearly a quarter living in poverty. Despite Meta and Entergy claiming that the introduction of these sites will decrease bills, what appears to be a slight number trick will dump 75% of the construction costs on residents statewide.

Meta and Entergy have entered an agreement to fund half of the plant’s construction over the course of a 15-year-long term. But that begs the question: who will be paying the other half? That’s where it falls on the residents that rely on Entergy’s services. The kicker is that electricity infrastructure can take decades before it depreciates, not 15 years. This means Entergy only needs to secure 25% of the revenue needed for the project, leaving the other 75% to the 1.1 million customers they serve statewide.

In a statement Entergy released, they claimed that the center will help lower customer bills, saving customers $650 million over 15 years, and reducing the cost of grid upgrades and storm charges by 10% once the facility is operational.  

Keegan Martinez is a sophomore at Northwestern State University majoring in Scientific Inquiry. He is a part of the Scholar’s College on campus and is the Director of Scholar’s for Ecological Conservation.

Martinez voiced concerns for the future of Louisiana’s environment once the data center is complete, noting what damages we can expect to see. Louisiana’s shoreline is depleting due to saltwater intrusion and can be at a higher risk for depletion with the increased need of water from these massive data centers.

Approximately 80% of water, typically but not limited to freshwater, that is used by data centers evaporates after use, with the remaining water being discharged to municipal wastewater facilities. The state relies on that freshwater to distribute into estuaries to assist in slowing down the process.

Louisiana’s coastal erosion isn’t anything new to locals. For residents, this has been an ongoing issue for the past century with the state losing approximately the size of Delaware’s land area (4,833 sq km) of land. But a data center this size can speed up the process in which it loses land by using up the freshwater needed to slow down the erosion.

Martinez comments on how power plants in Baton Rouge already operate. He states that we can see similarities once the data center and power plants are operational, stating, “Especially the wetlands and taking the water out of there, they don’t use the river water, they use the aquifer water. All of the city’s water and drinking water is from there, and it’s being depleted because it can’t naturally refill in time since the plants continue taking it from that source instead of the river water.”

He continues to question why we would believe that these companies will pull water from the rivers and wetlands when they never did in the past. Extracting the water and causing 80% to evaporate can lead to devastating consequences.

When Entergy and Meta were contacted for comment on their plans for water usage, they did not respond.

What Entergy has failed to mention publicly is how they sped through a voting process for approval and skipped a public hearing for the project. Rushing the approval for the construction not only blindsides elected officials, but it allows the company to use loopholes to their advantage. The voting was moved from October 2025 to August of that same year, giving no time for officials to make changes or recommendations.

Meta and Entergy also claimed that the center and power plants will provide over 6,500 new jobs for locals in the state, which would grant them tax breaks and incentives. However, it’s revealed in state documents that Meta will receive these benefits without guaranteeing any full-time jobs for locals. All construction jobs are being filled by outside contractors that are bringing workers in. To date, no locals have been hired for the construction.

Louisiana is already starting to feel the effects of the construction. Jesse Washington, the mayor of Delhi, Louisiana, says that more than a dozen low-income families were already evicted from a trailer park to make room for Meta’s construction workers. The center hasn’t been completed, yet residents are beginning to witness the effects.

Yet, despite the growing concerns from residents and local officials, Louisiana’s House Representative, Mike Johnson, sees opportunities for growth. Johnson represents the fourth congressional district of Louisiana and has been very vocal on his approval and appreciation for Meta’s data center.

I had the chance to interview Johnson and get his opinion on the data center and its impact to the state of Louisiana. Coincidentally, I reached out at a time when he’d just spoken at an AI and energy roundtable regarding the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, alongside Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and major tech company CEOs.

Earlier this year, President Donad Trump introduced and signed the Ratepayer Protection Pledge. The agreement was signed by large tech companies including Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, OpenAI and Google. This ensures that tech companies will be responsible for covering the full cost of electricity production required for AI data centers.

“So many of the other companies, and our communities are so grateful to have that investment and also grateful because they’re coming in as great corporate partners, community partners, and they’re acting responsibly,” said Rep. Mike Johnson referring to the introduction of Amazon, STACK, and Meta in Louisiana.

He is confident that these tech companies are “helping build out the energy grid and they’re making life better, not just with good paying jobs. They’re actually making life better in these communities and in our sates.”

The introduction of the Ratepayer agreement has begun putting residents at ease for these concerns. Despite that, Louisiana’s Public Service Commission will be responsible for enforcing these protections. Entergy even announced that they signed a 20-year agreement with the data center, possibly saving a whopping $5 billion for their customers with savings rising even more within those 20 years.

However, there are concerns for what will happen after that 20-year contract ends. Who will be responsible then? Residents will only be able to get these answers once the center is complete and operational.