Somebody Has to Say It: Don’t Ask Louisiana to Pay for What You Won’t Let Us See

There is a colloquial expression reserved for instances when a person does or says something so egregious or outrageous or just plain stupid that others cannot help but wonder what is wrong with him or her and speculate as to what the problem might be.

“What are you on — dope or dog food?”

We will not attempt to guess which of the two might have Gov. Jeff Landry in a chokehold. But we will say this: It’s about time he came under scrutiny. If this Meta deal is what opens the public’s eyes, then so be it. It’s about time.

For anyone who hasn’t heard, Landry personally signed a nondisclosure agreement with Meta. More than 100 people in his administration have signed NDAs. And now the Public Service Commission has voted to allow Meta to keep key information about its projected jobs and electricity demand from public scrutiny.

In what alternative universe does a sitting governor sign a NDA with major corporation looking to do business in a state. Does Gov. Landry really need to be reminded that he is a governor, a public servant elected by the people of the state and not a corporate CEO or the chair of some private board?

Gov. Landry needs to answer for a culture of government secrecy that has become far too comfortable under his administration. This is unacceptable.

What makes him think any of this is okay? Indeed, if it ain’t dope, it must be dog food! And Landry, it seems, is not the only one partaking. The state Public Service Commission is wilding out and needs to be called out as well.

The Louisiana Public Service Commission has to own its part of this. On Aug. 12, the PSC overturned its own administrative law judge, who had ordered Meta to provide information supporting its claims about investment, permanent jobs and electricity demand. The commissioners voted 3–1: Republicans Jean-Paul Coussan, Mike Francis and Eric Skrmetta voted to block the subpoena, while Democrat Davante Lewis voted to keep it in place; Commissioner Foster Campbell was absent. That matters because the PSC is considering whether Entergy should build billions of dollars in additional generation and transmission infrastructure to serve Meta. In other words, the commission is being asked to make decisions with potentially enormous consequences for ratepayers while simultaneously allowing the company at the center of the deal to withhold information needed to evaluate those consequences. 

And the PSC's complicity goes beyond this one vote. This is the regulatory body that is supposed to protect the public interest and the people who pay the electric bills. Yet the commission previously approved infrastructure for Meta, created an expedited regulatory pathway for massive projects such as data centers, and is now considering Entergy's request for additional power infrastructure as Meta's projected demand has ballooned. Meanwhile, Entergy has sought to keep significant information confidential, and recent reporting found that an Entergy executive actually authored or suggested language in PSC motions concerning Meta and other major projects. None of that, by itself, proves an improper deal or illegal coordination—but it absolutely warrants scrutiny. 

The PSC cannot simultaneously claim to be protecting Louisiana ratepayers and then make it harder for those ratepayers to see the numbers behind a multibillion-dollar project that could affect their electric bills. That’s not oversight. That’s a failure and a slap in the face of the people that elected them.

And this is the sort of shenanigans that must be remembered during the next election cycle. Folks will only do what you allow them to do. It makes absolutely no sense to re-elect people who have already shown that their interests are not ours. And if you keep going to the polls cycle after cycle and sending the same people to Baton Rouge, you must be on dope or dog food, too.

Bottom line: Taxpayers and ratepayers are on the line. They deserve to know exactly what Louisiana is being asked to give and exactly what Louisiana is supposed to get in return.

Gov. Landry, your administration cannot keep telling us about billion-dollar investments, thousands of jobs and the dawn of some new economic renaissance while simultaneously telling the public, “Trust us, but you can't see the details.”

That's not accountability. That's not transparency. And that's not how you do business with the people whose money, resources, infrastructure and utility rates are ultimately involved.

And let's be honest about something else: Louisiana has heard this story before. Big company comes to Louisiana. We're promised massive investment. We're promised jobs. We're promised economic transformation. We're told to give away tax revenue and incentives because this time it's going to be different. Then, years later, we're left asking where all those promised benefits went.

So forgive Louisiana citizens for wanting to see the receipts this time.

If this project is as good for Louisiana as we're being told it is, show us. Show us the numbers. Show us the commitments. Show us the incentives. Show us who pays. Show us who benefits. Show us what happens if the promises aren't delivered. And most importantly, stop hiding behind NDAs when the public is being asked to bear the consequences of these decisions.

Corporate trade secrets are one thing, but this is the public's business is another. Louisiana citizens are not shareholders sitting outside the boardroom waiting for a press release. We are the taxpayers. We are the ratepayers. We are the people whose communities, roads, water, electricity and tax dollars are affected.

We deserve to know the details.