NEW ORLEANS, La. (August 20, 2025)—The Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) voted today to approve Entergy’s multi-billion dollar proposal to build three new gas plants across the state. The project is highly contested by advocates concerned about the opaque agreement between Entergy and Meta, Facebook’s parent company, which wants the gas plants to power a new data center that will span an area of roughly 70 football fields and consume approximately three times as much electricity as the entire city of New Orleans annually.
Unlike typical proceedings, the LPSC vote was held before a formal recommendation was made by an LPSC judge who had been hearing arguments from stakeholders in the case. With legal representation from Earthjustice, the Alliance for Affordable Energy (AAE) and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) intervened in the case to try and bring more transparency and protections around potential impacts on ratepayers and the state’s electricity grid, which is already unreliable in comparison to most other states.
Below is a statement by Logan Burke, executive director of Alliance for Affordable Energy.
“The LPSC is prioritizing Big Tech’s interests and Entergy’s profits over Louisianans' concerns about their already unaffordable electricity bills. There is no question that this project will affect residents’ electricity bills and water supply, as it already has in other states like Georgia.”
Below is a statement by Paul Arbaje, an energy analyst at UCS.
“It’s difficult to make sense of the Commission’s decision to rush a vote on a hotly contested issue that will affect so many people’s lives and wallets. Time and again the public was left without essential information on the project’s risks and impacts. Louisianans have yet to get answers from the Commission on how sharply energy bills will rise and how the electricity grid will handle such a massive new draw on the system—particularly as climate change threatens the grid with more frequent and severe extreme weather events.
“Unlike the Commission, Entergy and Meta have no mandate to protect Louisiana ratepayers. This decision follows a pattern of fast-tracking utility proposals with very little public notice and transparency for the residents most impacted. Going forward, we will continue to push the Commission to ensure that this project and future proposals don’t shut Louisiana communities out of the public regulatory process or saddle them with higher energy bills to boost the profits of corporations worth over a trillion dollars.”
Additional Resources:
- UCS blog post summarizing the expert testimony, lack of transparency and anticipated costs due to Entergy and Meta’s plans
- Beyond the Smokestack, UCS report on gas plant pollution
- Gas Malfunction, UCS issue brief on the unreliability of gas plants during extreme weather
- AAE blog post on the state’s lack of grid preparedness for Entergy and Meta’s proposal
- UCS blog post on how local ratepayers foot the bill for data centers
- Expert testimony examining potential impacts to ratepayers by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis
- Expert testimony on transmission engineering and grid reliability issues by HickoryLedge LLC
- Expert testimony on assumptions about Meta and their subsidiary’s sustainability commitments by CPG Advisors