- Meta’s 4,000-acre Hyperion data center will receive an additional $40 billion investment.
- Meta says the project has been a huge benefit to the local Richland Parish community
- Several local groups and residents have criticized the huge campus and its energy supply.
Meta announced that an additional $40 billion will be used to finance the construction of its massive 4,000-acre data center campus in Richland Parish, Louisiana.
This additional funding brings the total Meta investment for the “Hyperion” site to more than $250 billion, combined with Bloomberg reports of $200 billion allocated to the project in May, plus a previously announced $10 billion investment for the data center and surrounding community.
The data center itself is expected to consume 5 gigawatts of computing power, with an additional 2 gigawatts for broader campus needs, putting the total expected usage upon completion at more than three times the energy consumed by the city of New Orleans.
In a Meta blog post, the company boasted about the benefits of the massive data center campus to the local community.
He cites $50,000 bonuses for local teachers from increased tax revenue on the Hyperion campus, as well as $1.6 billion in contracts for local businesses and other Meta funding for public schools and youth programs through the Data Center Community Action Grants project.
“It changes the lives of our teachers and their families, and it transforms our schools. Meta’s investment has made Richland Parish a destination for education as well as industry,” Richland Parish School District Superintendent Sheldon Jones told Meta.
Meta also said that once the project is completed, it will support 1,000 jobs. An additional $1 billion is also earmarked for investment in local infrastructure improvements, including roads, water and sewer systems.
A promotional video accompanying Meta’s local funding news shows the story of an isolated town facing a lack of business and opportunity, with local residents, teachers and business owners speaking about the benefits of building the Hyperion campus, accompanied by upbeat orchestral music.
While the selected individuals featured in the Meta PR video preach the benefits, there has also been local opposition to the project, which has been mired in controversy.
The other side of the coin
Many environmental and consumer groups have opposed the project since its announcement, particularly regarding how the power needed for the data center will be generated. Entergy Louisiana is spending billions to build 10 new gas-fired power plants to provide needed electricity. But many communities in the United States that live near these power plants have reported a wave of symptoms, such as dizziness, nausea, lightheadedness and trouble sleeping.
A Floodlight survey, published by the Tutorfound that the success of Hyperion’s approval rested largely on the shoulders of a single Louisiana state senator, John “Jay” Morris.
Most of the land purchases and sales needed for Entergy to build the planned gas turbine plant were done by Morris and his partners, Floodlight claims. Louisiana law requires government officials to recuse themselves from voting in cases of conflict and prohibits the use of public office for private gain.
Morris has denied any wrongdoing. “It makes a great story if you can try to show that I have some sort of conflict. But under Louisiana ethics laws, I don’t,” Morris told the Guardian.
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and the Alliance for Affordable Energy (AAE) have both criticized the Hyperion site, particularly the amount of energy it is planned to consume, warning that the site would unfairly shift the costs of electricity and infrastructure upgrades onto the site.
Additionally, approval of the Entergy gas turbine power plant was fast-tracked by the Louisiana Public Service Commission, with UCS warning that Entergy ratepayers would have to cover the costs of a $550 million transmission line that is only needed because of the Hyperion site, as well as fuel costs for the new gas turbine plant.
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