Louisiana’s $3B power upgrade for Meta project raises questions about who should foot the bill

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Meta is building a $10B data center in rural Louisiana .

Facility will require $3B in new power infrastructure.

Watchdogs warn of limited oversight and hidden costs.

Locals see both risks and economic opportunities ahead.

In a rural corner of Louisiana, Meta is building one of the world’s largest data centers , a $10 billion behemoth as big as 70 football fields that will consume more power in a day than the entire city of New Orleans at the peak of summer.

While the colossal project is impossible to miss in Richland Parish , a farming community of 20,000 residents, not everything is visible, including how much the social media giant will pay toward the more than $3 billion in new electricity infrastructure needed to power the facility.

Watchdogs have warned th