Public Service Commission Chairman weighs in on META AI data center water usage

Our Take

Credit to Joel Massey for getting a camera into that Rayville town hall, because this is exactly the kind of meeting that usually happens with nobody watching. A Public Service Commission chairman fielding public anger over a Meta AI project, with a Sierra Club organizer bluntly saying she's skeptical of both Meta and Entergy — that's not a fringe reaction, that's a community that's done the math and doesn't like the answer. Richland Parish is a small place being asked to host a massive industrial water and power user, and the people showing up to town halls are the ones who'll actually pay for it if the deal is structured wrong.

This is the pattern we track everywhere: a hyperscaler picks a rural site for cheap land and available power, the utility promises jobs and investment, and the fine print on who covers the grid upgrades, the water draw, and the rate impact stays fuzzy until construction is already underway. Louisiana ratepayers watching what's happened in Georgia, Virginia, and elsewhere are right to be nervous — 'ratepayers get the worst end of the deal' isn't a talking point, it's a documented outcome in multiple states already. Whether Entergy and the PSC actually put guardrails in the approved agreements, or just make reassuring noises at a town hall, is the whole ballgame.

If you're in Richland Parish or anywhere near a project like this, don't wait for the ribbon-cutting to find out what was signed. Check our facility map to see what's already been approved near you, and use our take-action resources to find out how to get into the record before the decisions are final, not after.