Gas-powered plants needed for data center in Louisiana

May 19, 2025

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Meta is under pressure from one U.S. Senator to offer an explanation about the pollution its massive new AI data center under construction in Louisiana might cause once it’s operational.

The center is so big that a Louisiana utility is building three new gas-fired power plants to provide enough electricity. But it caught the attention of Rhode Island Democrat U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse who is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. He wants some answers from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and layed them out in a letter, wanting to know how much energy the data center will use and the greenhouse gas emissions from it.

“Meta’s backslide from its own climate pledges risks triggering broader economic harm at a time when we urgently need corporate responsibility,” Sen. Whitehouse said in a statement emailed to The Verge.

Click here for The Verge