St. Charles Parish
What data center infrastructure means for St. Charles Parish — the investment, the jobs, the costs, and the questions worth asking
The Waterford Expansion and Grid Modernization
The Waterford site in Killona has been part of St. Charles Parish for decades. Waterford 3, the nuclear plant, has operated there since 1985. Residents know the site, and the parish has a long relationship with Entergy and with industrial energy infrastructure.
What's changing is the scope. Entergy is adding a new combined-cycle natural gas plant at Waterford — one of three new plants across Louisiana, totaling 2,200 MW of generation, approved to serve Meta's data center in Richland Parish. The Waterford expansion is expected to come online in late 2029 and will operate as baseload generation — running continuously, not just during peak demand.
Source: LPSC Docket No. U-37268, Entergy Louisiana filings
Waterford 3 itself is also undergoing a refueling cycle upgrade. The combination means more generation capacity at a site that already has the grid connections, transmission lines, and industrial infrastructure to support it — which is why it was selected over building from scratch elsewhere.
Source: Entergy Louisiana project filings, 2025–2026
Grid Modernization
Louisiana's electrical grid has been underinvested for close to two decades. Regardless of data centers, the state needs new generation capacity — existing infrastructure is aging, and demand is rising. The Waterford expansion and the associated transmission upgrades add modern, efficient capacity to a system that has needed it. That serves the entire Entergy Louisiana service area, not just Meta. A more reliable grid means fewer outages, better storm resilience, and infrastructure that's built to current standards. For a parish that's weathered its share of hurricanes, that has practical value.
Source: LPSC capacity filings; Entergy Louisiana infrastructure planning
What's Different This Time
The Waterford site isn't new to St. Charles Parish. What's new is who the expansion primarily serves and what the long-term financial structure looks like. The new plant is being built to support a single corporate customer — Meta — under a 15-year contract, while the plant itself will operate for 40 years. The infrastructure costs, including $470M in transmission upgrades, are spread across all Entergy Louisiana ratepayers. And Meta's data center — where the jobs and direct economic activity are — is in Richland Parish, 200+ miles away. The parish gets the power plant; it doesn't get the data center.
The expansion brings construction jobs, property tax revenue, and the grid upgrades described above. But the financial terms are worth understanding, because they're structured differently from the industrial deals St. Charles Parish has seen before.
Jobs
What the Parish Gets
Hundreds of construction jobs during the multi-year build — electricians, pipefitters, operators, engineers. Well-paying trade work the local workforce can fill.
~31 permanent plant jobs at ~$72,300 avg salary, plus ~120 total including indirect positions. (Based on the St. Charles Power Station precedent.)
Source: LED / Governor's Office, 2017
What to Watch
Construction ends. The build phase lasts 3–5 years, then those jobs leave.
The data center jobs aren't here. Meta's 500+ permanent positions are in Richland Parish, 200+ miles away. St. Charles gets the power plant, not the data center.
31 permanent jobs for a multi-billion dollar project is a low return. Petrochemical plants in the same corridor employ far more per dollar invested.
Money
What the Parish Gets
Property tax revenue. The plant is a taxable asset. Industrial facilities in St. Charles Parish generate significant property tax revenue that funds schools, roads, and parish services.
Grid modernization. Louisiana's grid has been underinvested for nearly two decades. New generation capacity and transmission upgrades serve the entire Entergy service area. A more reliable grid benefits everyone.
Long-term infrastructure. These plants operate for 40 years. Even if Meta's contract ends in 15, the capacity remains and can serve other customers.
What It Costs You
$470M in transmission costs spread across all Entergy ratepayers. You're paying for infrastructure primarily driven by one corporate customer.
Source: Entergy Louisiana filings to LPSC
~$1/month permanent bill increase starting 2027 from the Lightning Amendment. It also doesn't account for future increases as plants age.
Source: The Lens, February 2026
Entergy's rate is already 14.03¢/kWh — above the national average. In Virginia, data center infrastructure added $11.24/month per household.
Source: Entergy rate schedules; Virginia utility filings
The Contract Gap
Meta signed a 15-year contract. The power plants operate for 40 years. If Meta renews or other customers fill demand, this works out. If not, ratepayers finance plants without their anchor tenant.
Louisiana will likely need this generation capacity regardless — grid demand is rising and existing infrastructure is aging. But the financial terms depend on whether Meta remains the anchor customer.
Source: Union of Concerned Scientists analysis of data center contracts and utility risk
Water
What's Not at Risk (Yet)
Louisiana has abundant water. The state isn't facing a water shortage in the way western states are. The Mississippi River and deep aquifers provide significant supply.
The data center is in Richland Parish, not St. Charles. The heaviest water consumption — cooling servers — happens 200+ miles away.
The Waterford plant is a gas turbine, not a data center. Its water needs are substantially lower than a hyperscale cooling operation.
What Should Concern You
No transparency. There is no state requirement for data centers to report water usage. Utilities are contractually barred from disclosure. You cannot find out how much water is being used.
Centralized control. Act 138 created the CURRENT Authority — a state body that now controls who gets water and how much. Industrial users could be prioritized over residential needs.
Source: Act 138
No legal limits on industrial pumping. Agriculture already takes 61% of Louisiana's groundwater. Adding massive industrial demand with no caps or reporting is a structural problem.
Source: USGS
D+ drinking water infrastructure. Louisiana needs $5.3B in improvements just to provide safe drinking water. Adding industrial demand to a failing system compounds the risk.
Source: American Water Works Association
Meta's Richland Parish facility is registered to consume 8.4 billion gallons annually. Actual usage is estimated at 500–600 million gallons per year.
Source: NOLA.com water investigation, 2025–2026
No Transparency Mandate
There is no state mandate for data centers to report water usage publicly. Utilities are contractually barred from disclosing what data centers actually consume. You cannot access this data. That means you can't hold anyone accountable for water consumption decisions being made in your state.
Source: Utility non-disclosure agreements with Meta; NOLA.com investigation
Rep. Danny McCormick requested a study into data center water usage in Louisiana, but the study has not been completed or funded.
Source: Louisiana House Representative McCormick's office, water study request
Environment
Context
Modern gas plants are cleaner than what they replace. The St. Charles Power Station reduced CO2 emissions ~40% versus older gas plants it displaced.
Source: LED / Governor's Office
The proposed parish ordinance includes a 300-ft residential setback, 55 dB noise limit, 25-ft landscape buffer, and equipment screening requirements.
Louisiana needed new generation regardless of data centers. The existing grid is aging and underpowered.
What Should Concern You
More emissions in Cancer Alley. St. Charles Parish is in the River Parishes industrial corridor — already elevated cancer mortality, respiratory disease, and pollution. A new gas plant adds NOx and other pollutants to air that's already burdened.
Source: Louisiana Tumor Registry
24/7 noise. At 300 ft, facility noise drops to ~57 dB — constant, day and night. Loudoun County, VA residents report sleep disruption and persistent low-frequency hum even at regulated levels.
Source: Loudoun County; NBC4 Washington
Reduced environmental review. DEQ waived pre-filing review for data center infrastructure. Less review means less opportunity for residents to raise concerns before construction starts.
Source: Louisiana DEQ
Noise
Data center cooling systems generate up to 90–96 dB at the source — as loud as a lawnmower. But sound drops roughly 6 dB every time you double the distance from the source (starting from about 3 feet). At 300 feet — the minimum setback in St. Charles Parish's proposed ordinance — a 96 dB source drops to approximately 57 dB. That's roughly the volume of a window AC unit. Not deafening, but constant — 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Loudoun County, Virginia — the nation's largest data center hub — caps facility noise at 55 dB at the property line, and the proposed St. Charles ordinance matches that limit. Even at 55 dB, Loudoun residents report persistent low-frequency hum that standard decibel readings understate. Low-frequency sound is particularly hard to block with barriers or walls and carries further than higher-pitched noise.
The Waterford site is a gas plant, not a data center, so the noise profile is different — gas turbines rather than cooling fans. But the broader point holds: industrial facilities that run 24/7 create chronic noise that affects nearby residents. The proposed ordinance's 55 dB limit and 300-foot setback are meaningful protections — if they're adopted and enforced.
Source: Loudoun County, VA noise impact studies; NBC4 Washington field measurements; Noise Monitoring Services attenuation data; St. Charles Parish proposed data center ordinance (second draft), 2026
What Advocacy Groups Are Saying
Alliance for Affordable Energy
The Alliance warns that the Meta data center deal will increase Entergy bills, putting additional pressure on residents already paying higher-than-average rates. They've advocated for more scrutiny of the cost allocation and contract terms.
Source: Alliance for Affordable Energy public statements, 2025-2026
Earthjustice
Earthjustice filed for a Louisiana Public Service Commission investigation into how Meta's infrastructure is being financed and who bears the risk. The LPSC declined to open that investigation. Earthjustice has continued to push for transparency and accountability in how industrial data center deals are structured.
Source: Earthjustice press releases and LPSC correspondence, 2025-2026
Union of Concerned Scientists
The UCS has highlighted the financial risk to ratepayers: a 40-year plant serving a 15-year contract creates stranded assets. If Meta leaves early or renegotiates, Louisiana ratepayers get stuck with the bill. This is a known risk in data center infrastructure deals, and it's rarely mentioned in public discussions.
Source: Union of Concerned Scientists data center infrastructure analysis
Public meetings, public records, organizations, and how to make your voice heard.