Meta data center faces transparency battle ahead of PSC hearing

BATON ROUGE, La. — A legal fight over Louisiana's largest economic development project is heading to the Louisiana Public Service Commission, where a judge will decide whether Meta must disclose key details about its $50 billion Hyperion data center planned for Richland Parish.

The hearing comes just days after a New York Times investigation detailed how Louisiana officials secured the project through tax incentives, nondisclosure agreements and private negotiations.

The report found state leaders rewrote a tax incentive bill during the 2024 legislative session to help land the project and kept negotiations confidential while competing with other states for the investment.

Gov. Jeff Landry has defended the process, saying the data center will create about 1,000 permanent jobs, thousands of construction jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity for northeast Louisiana.

However, questions remain about how many jobs the facility will ultimately create and how much electricity it will consume once operational.

The Alliance for Affordable Energy is pushing for those details to be made public, arguing Louisiana residents and utility customers deserve greater transparency before the project moves forward. The organization says the information is critical because of the potential impact the facility could have on the state's electric grid and utility rates.

Meta has been subpoenaed to disclose its projected job numbers and energy demand but maintains it is not required to release that information.

An administrative law judge with the Louisiana Public Service Commission is scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday to determine whether the company must comply with the subpoena.

The case comes as two of the commission's five elected seats are on the ballot this November, placing additional attention on the agency responsible for regulating Louisiana's utility companies.