内容来源：https://www.wired.com/story/louisiana-hands-meta-a-tax-break-and-power-for-its-biggest-data-center/

内容总结：

路易斯安那州批准天然气发电厂为Meta巨型数据中心供电，公众质疑税收优惠与就业承诺

近日，美国路易斯安那州公共服务委员会以4比1的投票结果，紧急批准建设三座天然气发电厂，旨在为Meta（脸书母公司）在该州里奇兰教区新建的巨型数据中心供电。这一决定引发了当地民众和环保组织的强烈批评，矛头直指审批过程仓促、可能推高居民电费、以及Meta所获巨额税收优惠与其模糊的本地就业承诺不匹配等问题。

审批过程引发“暗箱操作”质疑

据悉，运营这些发电厂的Entergy Louisiana公司于2024年提交申请。按常规程序，投票本可于今年10月进行，以便行政法法官完成评估。但Entergy公司动议将投票提前至8月20日，声称部分反对方已转变态度。此举导致公众没有足够时间审阅方案细节，也未能对最终协议进行任何修改。批评者指出，协议缺乏关键保护条款，例如未设上限来控制用户需为发电厂和输电线路建设分摊的成本。

巨额税收优惠与弹性就业承诺受拷问

根据媒体获取的文件，州政府为吸引Meta落户，提供了大幅税收减免激励，但相关协议对Meta创造全职本地就业岗位的要求却十分宽松。协议将“全职工作”定义为由任意数量兼职凑成的每周40小时工作，且Meta只需在2035年前创造500个这样的“全职”岗位，即可获得最高达80%的财产税减免。尽管协议要求岗位平均年薪需达到8.2万美元并提供医保，但并未硬性规定必须雇佣本地居民。

州经济发展部门发言人虽坚称预期Meta会创造500个永久性全职岗位，但承认Meta提交的关于本地招聘的信函不具备法律约束力。此举令当地居民担忧，所谓的高薪岗位最终可能由外州专业人员填补，对提振本地就业市场作用有限。

资源消耗与长期风险引忧虑

除了就业问题，该数据中心巨大的能耗和水资源需求也令社区不安。这座占地400万平方英尺的设施最终运行将需要超过20亿瓦的电力，其冷却系统可能加剧当地水资源紧张，影响农业生产。

更深远的风险在于项目未来的不确定性。相关协议条款显示，Meta可因市场变化等因素延迟或放弃项目。批评人士警告，若科技巨头投资策略转向，该数据中心可能被废弃，导致州政府最终接手一个“装满电脑的仓库”，而承诺的经济效益化为泡影。

目前，Meta发言人仅表示会“努力在当地招聘”，并为其建设承包商计划在明年初举办招聘会。然而，面对缺乏透明度的协议和具有弹性的承诺，当地社区对这座巨型数据中心能否真正带来可持续的福祉，仍充满疑虑。

中文翻译：

《连线》杂志报道的所有产品均由我们的编辑独立筛选。但我们可能通过零售渠道或产品购买链接获得补偿。了解更多详情。

路易斯安那州规划部门已投票通过紧急审批程序，为Meta在里奇兰教区新建的大型数据中心配套三台天然气涡轮机组。这座占地400万平方英尺的数据中心建成后，运行能耗将超过20亿瓦特。

8月20日，路易斯安那州公共服务委员会以四比一投票批准由能源公司Entergy Louisiana承建这些发电厂。这一决定遭到多位公开作证反对该计划的民众批评，他们认为审批流程过于仓促，并对电费上涨和水资源短缺表示担忧。

《连线》获取的文件显示，州政府在Meta未明确承诺为当地提供任何全职岗位的情况下，仍同意给予其税收减免和激励政策。

反对者对该计划的加速审批时间线感到愤怒：Entergy于2024年提交申请，按原定流程投票可能在今年10月进行，以便委员会行政法官提出补充建议。但Entergy以"部分先前反对该项目的团体现已达成共识"为由，动议将投票提前至8月。重新安排的投票未留出修改方案的时间。

批评者还指出，该协议未包含关键条款，例如对Entergy向用户收取天然气电厂和输电线路建设费用的上限规定——鉴于大型AI数据中心可能导致公共事业费用激增，这点尤为令人担忧。虽然Meta同意为30年期电厂建设贷款提供前15年的资金，但输电线路建设成本将由用户承担。

反对该申请的忧思科学家联盟能源分析师保罗·阿尔巴耶表示："我们希望委员们附加成本上限等合理保障条件，但他们却作出了这个令人极度失望且费解的决定。"

投票过程中，Entergy与州经济发展官员反复引用Meta的预测数据，称该项目将带来100亿美元投资及300-500个高薪岗位。Entergy在2024年的申请文件中，将里奇兰教区低收入水平（四分之一居民生活在贫困线以下）作为批准该计划的理由。

代表路易斯安那西北部的经济发展组织Grow NELA首席执行官罗伯·克利夫兰在听证会上作证支持该项目时称："现在正是帮助居民脱贫、提供更好就业机会的最佳时机。"

Meta的就业承诺据Nola网站今年1月报道，为在2024年底赢得Meta支持，路易斯安那州政客曾试图修改分区法，并将宽带税收减免转为数据中心税收豁免。但公众几乎无暇审视这些经济承诺。Meta虽未法律义务参加Entergy新电厂听证会，但为其量身定制的天然气电厂、5.5亿美元输电线路及变电站升级工程（均于8月20日获批）中，后者完全由本州纳税人承担。尽管批评者7月尝试发出传票，仍未能迫使Meta公开被指隐瞒的文件。

《连线》获得的Meta去年秋季与州政府签署的税收激励协议显示，运营该数据中心的Meta子公司Laidley虽需在当地完成所有岗位招聘，但未明确承诺优先雇佣本地居民。（Entergy另称Meta于4月向公共服务委员会致信承诺"全力推进本地招聘"，但该保证不具法律约束力。）

该协议对"全职工作"的定义允许通过任意数量的兼职岗位累计达成每周40小时工时。若Meta想在2035年前获得最高80%的税收减免，需创造500个此类"全职"岗位。协议要求岗位提供医保，且平均年薪需达8.2万美元。合同还规定Meta每在本州投入10亿美元需支付1万美元"行政费"。

州经济发展局发言人凯文·利滕回应质询时，仍依据先前公告称期待Meta创造500个全职固定岗位。但Entergy的批评者指出，该公司在8月投票前拒绝说明岗位类型及招聘估算依据。Entergy在给《连线》的邮件中仅引用Grow NELA的影响报告，未回答其他具体问题。

代表忧思科学家联盟和可负担能源联盟的律师苏珊·史蒂文斯·米勒指出："我们持续要求其提供就业数据测算依据，但Entergy根本不清楚具体招聘规模。"

在8月7日的文件中，Entergy以"科技行业视速度为竞争力关键"为由要求加速投票，称快速行动是"为路易斯安那锁定项目而非错失良机的关键"。但8月20日听证会上，民众关于Meta就业保证的提问均未获详细答复。《连线》查阅的Meta与州政府协议均未在委员会公共档案中公开。倡导组织表示直至《连线》提供前从未见过完整协议。

当地居民安吉拉·布拉德福德·罗森伯格在批准会议上对数据中心耗水影响农业表示担忧，并质疑就业对本地经济的实际效益："如果一般数据中心固定岗位仅12-15个，你们却承诺500个，这些岗位真能留给本地人吗？"

但Meta与州政府签订的税收豁免协议未包含本地招聘保证。利滕称其他普惠性税收减免计划要求本地招聘，但非营利组织"优质工作优先"的研究显示，数据中心技术岗位常跨州招聘专家。该机构分析师卡西亚·塔钦斯卡指出："科技公司深知部分岗位技能要求超出本地劳动力水平。"

Meta发言人特雷西·克莱顿回应称"全力推进本地招聘并直接回馈社区"，承诺为建筑临时工举办招聘会，固定岗位将招聘技术操作员、电工等工种。

路易斯安那州给Meta的税收优惠州政府与Meta的协议明确，作为公共土地，Meta租赁的物业免缴传统税费，而是通过"税收替代支付"方案获得销售税和财产税豁免。要获得最低层级财产税减免，Meta需在本州投资50亿美元并创造300个等效全职岗位，此时需支付40%评估财产税。若在2032年12月前投资至少100亿美元，可获最高豁免，仅支付20%。

协议设定了招聘时间线：Meta需在2030年前雇佣300名、2032年450名、2033年475名、2034年底500名"全职"员工方可获得最高税收优惠。相较于其他州，路易斯安那州的要求更为严格——近半数州的数据中心税收补贴不要求创造新岗位。但米勒认为对Meta这样的巨头而言，税收减免并非必要诱因。

为吸引Meta，该州2024年已修订税收减免政策为数据中心提供豁免。最新规定显示，只要在2029年7月前创造50个全职岗位并投资至少2亿美元，数据中心设备采购可获全额销售税豁免。《连线》确认该政策适用于里奇兰教区数据中心。

据"优质工作优先"统计，全美至少10个州为数据中心提供超1亿美元补贴，年税收损失超30亿美元。得克萨斯州2025年将补贴成本从1.3亿美元修订至10亿美元；佐治亚州2024年通过的数据中心补贴暂停案遭州长否决。

Meta数据中心所在的霍利里奇弗兰克林农场地块由州政府专为经济发展项目购得。根据土地租赁协议，州政府以1200万美元向Meta提供1400英亩土地（恰为州政府购置维护成本），每年73.2万美元"租金"可抵扣购房款，意味着在30年租约的第16年即可还清地款。若未达最低招聘投资门槛，购地价格将上浮。若Meta在2028年前投资未达37.5亿美元或雇佣不足225名"全职"员工，州政府有权收回土地。被问及购地计划时，克莱顿表示"将适时更新规划"。

Meta的入驻已推高地价：霍利里奇附近4000英亩土地现标价1.6亿美元（每英亩4万美元），超州政府数据中心地块购入价的4.5倍。

但民众担忧Meta可能延迟或放弃项目。其子公司与州政府签署的税收替代协议称，项目时间线将受"市场导向、劳动力供应等租户不可控因素影响"。米勒警告："过多数据中心的建设可能导致部分被业主废弃。若科技巨头收缩投资，州政府最终只能接手满仓库的计算机设备。"

【更新：2025年9月22日12:50 EDT】《连线》已修正副标题以体现批评者对数据中心的看法。

英文来源：

All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. Learn more.
Louisiana planning authorities have voted to rush through approval for three natural gas turbines to power Meta’s massive new data center in Richland Parish. When it’s done, the 4-million-square-foot facility will require more than 2 gigawatts of energy to run.
On August 20, Louisiana’s Public Service Commission voted four to one to approve the construction of the plants, which will be run by the utility company Entergy Louisiana. The decision was met with criticism from members of the public who testified against Entergy and Meta’s plan, claiming that the process was rushed. They voiced concerns about rising energy bills and water shortages.
Documents viewed by WIRED show that state authorities agreed to grant Meta tax breaks and incentives without the company explicitly guaranteeing any full-time jobs for local workers.
Opponents of the plan were angry about the sped-up approval timeline: Entergy submitted its application in 2024, and the vote originally could have taken place this October, to give the commission’s administrative law judge the chance to issue further recommendations. But Entergy filed a motion to move the vote to August, claiming that some of the parties that had previously opposed the project were now in agreement. The rescheduled vote left no time for changes.
Critics also claim the deal doesn’t include stipulations like a cap on how much Entergy could charge utility customers for the construction of the gas plants and transmission lines in Meta’s data center build-out—a concern as massive AI data centers can cause utility bills to spike. While Meta agreed to finance the first 15 years of a 30-year loan to construct the gas plants, the construction of the transmission line will be paid for by utility customers.
“We wanted the commissioners to attach conditions and reasonable safeguards, such as a cost cap, but they instead came to this extremely disappointing and baffling decision,” says Paul Arbaje, an energy analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists, which opposed the Entergy application.
During the approval vote, Entergy and Louisiana’s economic development officials repeatedly pointed to the projections shared by Meta, which suggest that the project would bring a $10 billion investment and upwards of 300 to 500 well-paying jobs. In its original 2024 application for the plants, Entergy referenced Richland Parish’s low income levels—one in four residents lives below the poverty line—as a reason to authorize the plan.
“There has never been a better time to lift our residents out of poverty. There has never been a better time to give people in our region better jobs,” said Rob Cleveland, the CEO of Grow NELA, an economic development firm representing northwest Louisiana who testified in support of Entergy’s gas plants, at the hearing.
Meta’s Jobs Pledge
Louisiana politicians sought to rewrite zoning laws and shifted a tax rebate for broadband into a tax exemption for data centers, all to win Meta’s support in late 2024, according to January reporting from Nola.com. But the public had little time to scrutinize Louisiana’s economic development promises. They also heard little from Meta, which was not legally required to take part in the hearings on Entergy’s new gas plants, despite the fact that the gas plants and a new $550 million transmission line connecting energy to the data center and upgrades to a local substation (also approved on August 20) are being built entirely for the company—the latter entirely paid for by Louisiana taxpayers. Repeated attempts to force Meta to produce documents that critics claim they have not received were unsuccessful, including a July subpoena attempt.
One of Meta’s tax incentive agreements with the state, which was signed last fall and viewed by WIRED, does not stipulate that Meta subsidiary Laidley, which is running the data center project, will focus on local hiring, although it does require that all jobs be fulfilled on site. (Separately, Entergy said Meta submitted a letter to the Louisiana Public Service Commission in April saying that it will make “a concerted effort” to hire locally, but this assurance is not binding.)
And the tax incentive agreement does not actually require any of the jobs to be full-time to receive state incentives. Instead it defines “full-time job” to mean any 40-hour workweek fulfilled through any number of part-time jobs. Meta would need to hire these 500 “full-time” jobs by 2035 if it wants to receive the highest level of tax breaks, an 80 percent reduction on the full amount. It does require the jobs to provide health insurance and says the pay for all jobs should average out at $82,000 a year. The contract also charges Meta an “administrative fee” of $10,000 for every $1 billion it spends in the state.
When reached for comment, Kevin Litten, a spokesperson for the state’s economic development authority, said that the agency still expects Meta to create 500 full-time, permanent jobs, per previous announcements. “Meta is expected to create 500 direct new jobs at the facility, which in economic development terms means permanent, full-time jobs,” Litten says.
Entergy’s critics claimed the utility was reluctant to provide specifics on Meta’s job numbers in the lead-up to the August vote, refusing to explain what types of jobs will be created or how Meta estimated 300 to 500 new hires. In an email to WIRED, Entergy only referred to an impact report from Grow NELA but answered no other direct questions.
“We continually asked for analysis with how they came up with this number of jobs, and Entergy has no idea about how many people will be hired,” says Susan Stevens Miller, an attorney representing the Union of Concerned Scientists and Alliance for Affordable Energy, which opposed the application.
In an August 7 filing, Entergy urged the rushed vote on its final agreement with several parties, saying Meta’s subsidiary and the tech industry “prize speed to the market as vital to its competitiveness” and that “the Commission has the flexibility and agility to act at the new speed of business, while reasonably balancing the interests of other Louisiana customers.” Entergy said in a filing it had submitted ample public testimony and the public had a chance to ask questions and that moving quickly was, “the difference between securing the Project for Louisiana or missing out on this massive economic development opportunity, likely to another state willing to move at the speed of business.”
But when several members of the public asked questions during the August 20 hearing about the project, particularly around Meta’s assurances of jobs, they received few details. None of the agreements between Meta and the state of Louisiana that were viewed by WIRED are available in the commission’s public dockets. An earlier, six-page term sheet laying out hiring incentives was published by Power magazine in November, but it did not include further details about whether jobs could be part-time or any other details in the 93-page agreement viewed by WIRED. Advocates with the Alliance for Affordable Energy and Union of Concerned Scientists contacted by WIRED said they had never seen the full agreement until it was sent to them by WIRED.
Louisiana resident Angelle Bradford Rosenberg spoke at the August 20 approval meeting, expressing concern about the impact of the data center’s water usage and its impact on local farmers. She also questioned the impact of jobs on the local economy.
“I want local businesses to be thriving,” she said during the meeting, “but if the average data center permanent jobs are 12 to 15, and y’all saying it’s going to be 500, do y’all have a promise that they’re going to be local jobs? ... Do we actually know that they’re hiring people from Monroe, Rayville, Delhi, Holly Ridge, or are they just saying 500 jobs and they’re bringing in these folks from other places?”
But the tax exemption agreement secured between Meta and Louisiana officials did not secure any guarantee of local hiring. Litten, with Louisiana Economic Development, told WIRED that separate state tax breaks that all companies in the state are eligible for do require local hiring. They include the Quality Jobs Rebate, which provides a 6 percent rebate on payroll expenses, a program set to replace it called High Impact Jobs program.
Most data centers hire specialists from out of state for the technical jobs, according to Kasia Tarczynska, a research analyst who studies data center tax breaks at the nonprofit Good Jobs First. She says data centers employ a mix of low-skill and high-skill technical workers to manage servers in addition to security guards and maintenance roles. She says that while construction is happening, data centers often hire specialist electricians who travel from state to state to set up servers.
For this reason, she says, Meta is not the only tech company hesitant to guarantee local hiring when negotiating data center contracts. “They know that some of these jobs require skills that people in the local community just don’t have.”
In response to questions from WIRED, Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton said, “We make a concerted effort to source labor locally and provide substantial contributions directly to the community.” Clayton said that for part-time construction roles, its contractors were “working on hiring local talent” and that they would host information fairs early next year. For permanent data center jobs, Clayton said Meta would be hiring “technical operators, electricians, air-conditioning and heating specialists, logistics staff, security, and more.”
Meta’s Louisiana Tax Breaks
The state’s agreement with Meta makes clear that as public land, the property Meta is leasing is exempt from traditional taxes. It creates a menu of options for what the company would potentially owe in “payment in lieu of taxes” (PILOT), a common agreement that lets local governments offer tax breaks with provisions attached. The agreement offers Meta qualified exemptions from both sales tax and property tax.
To get the lowest level of property tax exemptions, Meta would need to invest $5 billion into the state and hire the equivalent of 300 full-time employees. At this level, Meta would have to pay 40 percent of the assessed property tax. If the company invests at least $10 billion by December 2032, it would get the highest exemption, paying 20 percent of the assessed property tax.
The agreement sets out hiring timelines that the company must also hit to receive these tax incentives: Meta can receive the highest property tax exemption as long as it hires the equivalent of 300 “full-time” jobs by 2030, 450 by 2032, 475 by 2033 and 500 by December 31, 2034.
Louisiana’s agreements ask for more than some other states’ tax subsidies. According to Good Jobs First, nearly half of state tax subsidies for data centers don’t require any new jobs to be created. But Miller has concerns that the tax breaks were not necessary at all to entice a company as large as Meta. “While everyone likes to avoid taxes, they’re not going to hire people in Richland [Parish] just because they’re going to get a tax break,” Miller says.
Louisiana had already amended a tax rebate to create an exemption for data centers in 2024 to entice Meta; in its latest iteration, it says data centers can receive a full sales tax exemption for equipment purchases in the state as long as they hire 50 full-time jobs and invest at least $200 million by July 1, 2029. A separate contract viewed by WIRED affirms that this applies to the Richland Parish data center, in addition to the PILOT agreement.
Good Jobs First says that at least 10 states have subsidies for data centers that are worth more than $100 million each, and “have suffered estimated losses of $100 million each in tax revenue for data centers,” according to its data. In total, these states forgo more than $3 billion in taxes annually for data centers. Texas revised the cost of its data center subsidy in 2025 from $130 million to $1 billion. In 2024, a pause on data center subsidies was passed in Georgia but vetoed by governor Brian Kemp.
The Franklin Farms site in Holly Ridge, the area of Richland Parish where Meta’s data center is being built, was purchased by Louisiana specifically for economic development projects. In its ground lease with Meta, Louisiana offered the 1,400-acre plot to the company for $12 million, which the lease says was the cost to the state of acquiring and maintaining the land. The lease also says Meta’s $732,000 a year “rent” is “credit toward the Base Purchase Price,” meaning the company will have paid for the property by a little over 16 years into its 30-year lease.
The price for the potential sale would be slightly higher if Meta does not reach minimum hiring and investment thresholds: As an example, the lease says if Meta only spends $4 billion in the state instead of $5 billion, the property would end up costing it $19 million. Louisiana Economic Development reserves the right to reclaim the property if Meta doesn’t invest at least $3.75 billion and hire the equivalent of 225 “full-time” jobs by 2028. When asked if Meta plans to purchase the property, Clayton said, “We’ll keep you updated on our future plans for this site.”
Meta’s presence has already caused land values to jump. A nearby tract of 4,000 acres of land in Holly Ridge is for sale for $160 million, or $40,000 per acre—more than 4.5 times the price paid by Louisiana for the data center’s site.
But there’s also a concern that Meta could delay or abandon the data center project. The PILOT agreement its subsidiary signed with the state says the company’s timeline will depend on “numerous factors outside of the control of the lessee, such as market orientation and demand, competition, availability of qualified laborers to construct and/or weather conditions.”
“My general fear is that too many data centers are being built,” Miller says. “That means some of the data centers are just going to be abandoned by the owners.”
She says in the scenario that Big Tech cuts back investments in data centers, Meta would not even be able to find another buyer. “Essentially, the state will be stuck with this warehouse full of computers,” Miller says.
Update: 9/22/2025, 12:50 PM EDT: Wired has clarified the subhead to reflect how critics perceive the data center.