Louisiana Purchase

The at-times very loud debate over data centers takes place in the public square. The financing and politics associated with them happen behind the scenes. Even when we’re talking about a data center that covers nearly six square miles. NYT (Gift Article): How Meta Got Everything It Wanted in a Secret Louisiana Data Center Deal. “Rewriting the bill was a critical part of a nine-month process that Meta used to cut deals behind the scenes, avoid local opposition and offload financial risk, according to interviews with more than 40 people and a review of corporate filings, tax records, property records and meeting transcripts. The secrecy was agreed to by nearly everyone involved, from utility executives to the governor’s office to a local elected official who knew about the talks with Meta and sold 300 acres of his own property for the project.” Governor Jeff Landry doesn’t apologize for the lack of transparency. “Mr. Landry bluntly acknowledged that the deal’s secrecy was unconventional, but said state officials had to think like a tech company to secure a project of its size. ‘Transparency is a very interesting word,’ he said. ‘Because what we’ve seen is people have used the word transparency to basically kill deals like this.'”