Lindsay Mader, lindsay.mader@sierraclub.org
BATON ROUGE, La. – On Friday the Sierra Club filed testimony on Entergy’s expensive gas plant expansion proposal for the Meta Hyperion data center, urging the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) to reject the utility’s plans for building seven gas plants – in addition to the three massive plants that LPSC already approved. Calling the estimated load for Meta’s data center the largest in the country, Sierra Club says the current proposal for a mind-boggling 5.3 GW of additional gas generation is not in the public interest because it presents a “substantial cost” that Entergy’s existing customers may be required to bear.
“If you listen to people like Gov. Landry, you’d think his beloved Meta project could only bring miraculous benefits to Louisiana, but the devil is in the details,” said Tony Mendoza, a senior attorney with the Sierra Club's Environmental Law Program. “Entergy’s proposal to build even more gas plants and transmission for Meta’s Hyperion project is a huge risk to existing customers who will be on the hook to pay after Meta’s contract expires. We think Meta should cover 100% of all of these costs, plain and simple – but this proposal instead threatens Louisianans’ ability to afford their bills and work and live in a state with already abysmal air quality.”
Sierra Club urges LPSC to require Entergy to make significant changes to the proposal, including:
- Restructure the depreciation terms to protect Entergy ratepayers from the risk that Meta will abandon the project at any point and leave customers to pay the remaining bill, often called a stranded asset risk.
- Require Meta to pay the full cost of a large transmission line associated with the data center.
- Make Meta responsible for 100% of its gas fuel costs.
- Amend contract language to assure that Meta is responsible for the lifetime costs of all the proposed gas units.
LPSC has also filed two staff testimonies on the proposal, available here and here. Entergy is expected to file its rebuttal testimony in August, with an evidentiary hearing expected in October.
Sierra Club’s full testimony is available here. Sierra Club’s comments on Meta’s revised air permit proposal to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, submitted July 30, are available here.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.