Sources
Every fact on this site is sourced from public records. Read them yourself.
Louisiana Government & Regulatory
Act 730 (H.B. 827) — Data Center Tax Incentives
Louisiana Legislature, 2024. 20-year sales/use tax rebates for qualifying data centers.
Senate Bill 79 — Industrial Area Definitions
Louisiana Legislature, 2025. Reclassified data centers as "industrial purpose" for zoning.
Act 138 (SB 97) — Water Resource Restructuring
Louisiana Legislature, 2025. Created the CURRENT Authority for centralized water resource management.
LPSC Docket No. U-37268 — Entergy Louisiana Generation Plan
Louisiana Public Service Commission. Approval of 3 gas plants (2,260 MW) for Meta data center support.
https://lpsc.louisiana.gov (search docket U-37268)
LPSC Entergy Louisiana Capacity Filings, 2025
Louisiana Public Service Commission. Infrastructure planning and cost allocation documents.
Louisiana DEQ — Permitting Process Changes
Department of Environmental Quality, November 2025. Waived pre-filing meetings for water quality certification.
Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy — Reorganization
Effective October 2025. Consolidated water governance under DRIVE Initiative.
Invest in Louisiana — Tax Incentive Efficiency Analysis
State economic development analysis: ~$49M return on $453M in incentive costs (10.8% return).
Entergy Louisiana Rate Schedules
Current residential rate: approximately 14.03 cents per kWh.
Federal Reports & Government
CRS Report R48762 — Data Center Energy Infrastructure: Federal Permit Requirements
Congressional Research Service, December 12, 2025. Comprehensive analysis of the federal permitting landscape for data center energy projects.
https://crsreports.congress.gov (Report No. R48762)
United States Data Center Energy Usage Report
DOE / Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, December 2024. National electricity consumption data: 176 TWh in 2023, projected 325–580 TWh by 2028.
https://eta.lbl.gov/publications/united-states-data-center-energy
Data Center Load Growth White Paper
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), August 2025. Projected ~50 GW potential data center demand increase by 2030.
AI Data Center Federal Site Selection
U.S. Department of Energy, July 24, 2025. Designated 4 sites: Idaho National Lab, Oak Ridge, Paducah, Savannah River.
Executive Order 14318 — Accelerating Federal Permitting of DC Infrastructure
White House, July 23, 2025. Broadly defines and fast-tracks permitting for data center energy infrastructure.
PERMIT Act (H.R. 3898)
119th Congress, passed House 221–205, December 11, 2025. Reforms Clean Water Act scope.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898
SPEED Act (H.R. 4776)
119th Congress, passed House 221–196, December 18, 2025. Streamlines NEPA review for infrastructure.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/4776
FERC Order No. 2023 & Co-Location Review
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, February 2025. Interconnection standards and data center co-location investigation.
Water Use in Louisiana
U.S. Geological Survey. Agriculture consumes 61% of Louisiana's groundwater; no legal limits on industrial pumping.
https://www.usgs.gov/centers/lower-mississippi-gulf-water-science-center/science/water-use-louisiana
News & Investigative Reporting
The Lens — Lightning Amendment / LPSC Data Center Reporting
February 2026. Investigative reporting on cost-shifting to ratepayers, competitive bidding waivers, and LPSC fast-tracking.
https://thelensnola.org/2026/02/18/louisiana-lightning-amendment-ai-data-centers-ratepayer-costs/
NOLA.com — Louisiana Data Center Water Usage
Investigation of Meta's water filings: 8.4B gallons registered, 500–600M actual annual usage. Utilities barred by NDAs from disclosure.
https://www.nola.com/news/environment/louisiana-data-center-water-ai/
CNBC — Meta Hyperion Expansion
June 2025. Meta's $27B data center in Richland Parish, expanded from original $10B commitment.
https://www.cnbc.com (search: Meta Louisiana data center)
Utility Dive — Texas Data Center Law (SB 6)
June 2025. Texas requires data centers >75MW to install remote disconnect and participate in demand response.
Virginia Mercury — $64B Stalled Data Center Development
May 2025. Community opposition and rate concerns halting data center projects nationally.
NPR — Community Opposition to Data Centers
July 2025. Coverage of local resistance to data center development.
https://www.npr.org (search: data center community opposition)
Yale Environment 360 — Data Center Water Consumption Projections
By decade's end, U.S. data centers could consume as much water as 10 million Americans.
Advocacy & Research Organizations
Earthjustice — LPSC Investigation Filings
2025–2026. Filed for LPSC investigation into Meta infrastructure financing; LPSC declined.
Alliance for Affordable Energy — Entergy Rate Impact Analysis
Warned that Meta deal will increase Entergy bills for Louisiana customers.
Union of Concerned Scientists — Stranded Asset Risk
Research on 40-year plant lifespan vs. 15-year contract creating financial risk for ratepayers.
EESI — Data Centers and Water Consumption
17 billion gallons consumed in 2023; 211 billion gallons of indirect consumption through electricity generation.
https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/data-centers-and-water-consumption
World Resources Institute — Data Center Water Projections
Direct water consumption projected to double by 2028.
McKinsey & Company — AI Infrastructure and Electricity Demand
September 2024. Gen AI could create $2.6–4.4 trillion in value but requires 50–60 GW of new data center infrastructure.
https://www.mckinsey.com (search: AI infrastructure electricity demand)
Industry & Utility Sources
Entergy Louisiana — Press Releases & Infrastructure Announcements
Official filings on $6B+ infrastructure investment, gas plant construction, transmission buildout.
DataCenterMap.com — U.S. Data Center Count
4,200+ data centers nationwide as of November 2025.
PPL Electric — Capacity Demand Data
July 2025. 60 GW of data center capacity interest; 6 GW projected shortfall by 2030.
Loudoun County, VA — Data Center Noise Impact Studies
Environmental assessments: data center cooling systems generate up to 96 dB continuous noise.
Virginia Utility Filings — Residential Rate Increases, 2026
$11.24/month household increase in data center-heavy areas.
https://scc.virginia.gov (Virginia State Corporation Commission)
NBC4 Washington — Data Center Noise Complaints in Loudoun County
Field measurements and resident interviews on persistent low-frequency noise from data center cooling systems.
Noise Monitoring Services — Data Center Noise Control & Attenuation
Technical data on data center noise levels (90–96 dB at source) and sound attenuation over distance.
https://noisemonitoringservices.com/data-center-noise-control/
St. Charles Parish & Local
LED / Governor's Office — St. Charles Power Station Groundbreaking
2017 announcement: ~700 peak construction jobs, ~31 permanent jobs at ~$72,300 avg salary, ~120 total including indirect. Used as precedent for Waterford plant estimates.
St. Charles Herald Guide — Parish Council Rejects 8-Month Data Center Moratorium
April 2026. Coverage of the April 6, 2026 council meeting: 5-3 vote against moratorium, council member positions, resident testimony.
St. Charles Parish Council — Proposed Data Center Ordinance (Second Draft)
2026. Proposed zoning requirements: M-1/M-2 zoning, 300-ft residential setbacks, 55 dBA noise limit, 25-ft landscape buffer, equipment screening.
Louisiana Tumor Registry — River Parishes Cancer Data
Cancer mortality and incidence data for St. Charles Parish and the River Parishes industrial corridor.
All sources listed above are publicly available. Where a direct article URL was available at time of publication, it has been linked. For government sources, the relevant agency website and docket/document number are provided so you can look up the primary document yourself.
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