US Senator presses Meta to justify plans to power new Louisiana data centre with gas

US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is pressing Meta to provide evidence on why an unabated gas plant was the chosen solution to power its Louisiana data centre, arguing that the plan “flies in the face of [its] climate commitments”.

In a letter sent to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Senator Whitehouse, who is a member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, expresses concern over reports that Meta plans to power a new US$10 billion in northeastern Louisiana with “new and unabated natural gas generation”.

The company announced its plan to build a new data centre campus to power its artificial intelligence applications last December – prompting New Orleans-based utility Entergy to request expedited approval to build three combustion-turbine gas plants worth US$3.2 billion to power the project.

According to Senator Whitehouse, Entergy’s application to the Louisiana Public Service Commission says that Meta will “[offset] a significant percentage of emissions from the planned generators” by making a “substantial contribution” to an existing carbon capture and storage project at the utility’s Lake Charles, Louisiana, gas plant, and by paying for 1,500 MW of solar and storage capacity.

But these promises “are vague and offer little reassurance,” he adds. “I worry that this quest for profits over climate safety is misleading the public on Meta’s progress toward achieving net zero emissions.”

Documents requested by Senator Whitehouse

In order to prove that the new solar generation would match its 2GW hyperscaler data centre’s needs and that the construction of a new gas plant will not create lasting fossil fuel generation, the Senator is asking Meta to provide a series of documents by May 28.

These include the calculations of the expected energy consumption of Meta’s new data centre, the installed generation capacity at Entergy’s new gas-fired plants, and their expected greenhouse gas emissions, and data to prove that natural gas generation is the only technologically feasible option to power the data centre, as well as justifications for why renewables with battery storage, nuclear power, or advanced geothermal are not feasible alternatives.

In addition, Senator Whitehouse is requesting transparency from Meta on its total intended funding for the proposed carbon capture project in Louisiana, whether that’s a new or existing project, and how the company’s new funding will enable additional carbon removal: Meta is also asked to explain why it decided not to install carbon capture directly at Entergy’s new gas-fired plants.

Finally, the Senator wants Meta to provide data showing whether the new gas plants, new solar capacity, and carbon capture contributions align with its goal to achieve net zero value chain emissions by 2030.

“These gaps and omissions raise concerns that Meta’s commitment to achieving net zero emissions is not genuine,” the Senator adds.

Data centre growth and fossil fuel phase-out

The global rise of artificial intelligence – and the power-hungry data centres that enable it – has led to concerns about emissions. Recent BloombergNEF analysis warned that an additional 362 gigawatts of power plant capacity will be required by 2035 to meet data centre energy demand – and that 64% of this incremental generation is likely to come from fossil fuels.

Despite their net zero commitments, the Big Tech firms that are driving the acceleration of AI are already suffering the climate impacts of this strategy: Microsoft’s carbon footprint jumped by 30% in 2023 alone due to the construction of new data centres to meet growing AI expectations.