Sen. Bernie Sanders Blasts Zuckerberg’s Data Center for Tripling New Orleans’ Electricity Use

Senator Bernie Sanders has ignited a firestorm by accusing Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg of saddling Louisiana families with soaring utility costs through a colossal new data center project.

The Vermont independent, known for his populist critiques of corporate power, took to social media to decry the facility’s voracious energy appetite and the broader toll on everyday consumers.

Data centers like the one Meta is erecting in rural Richland Parish represent the backbone of modern artificial intelligence operations, housing vast server farms that process immense volumes of computations around the clock. These installations have proliferated amid the AI surge, drawing tech giants to regions with cheap land and lax regulations, but they often strain local infrastructure in ways that ripple through communities.

Louisiana, eager to lure such investments, reportedly offered Meta a $10 billion package of tax breaks and incentives to build what will become the company’s largest such site yet. Officials tout the project as an economic boon, projecting thousands of construction jobs and long-term tech employment, yet critics argue it prioritizes elite profits over sustainable growth in a state already grappling with energy poverty.

The facility’s power demands alone underscore these tensions, as it is set to draw roughly three times the annual electricity consumed by the entire city of New Orleans, according to utility filings and environmental analyses. This scale necessitates a $3 billion grid upgrade by Entergy Louisiana, complete with new gas-fired plants, raising alarms about fossil fuel reliance in a hurricane-prone area vulnerable to blackouts.

Sanders’ assertion that the data center will use three times more electricity than New Orleans holds up, with regulatory documents confirming the site’s projected 2 gigawatts of peak demand far exceeds the city’s roughly 700 megawatts average. His charge that billionaires like Zuckerberg aim to offload costs onto the public through higher bills also aligns with projections from rate-watch groups, which forecast potential 5-10% hikes for residential users to cover the expansions.

That said, Meta maintains the project incorporates energy-efficient designs and renewable sourcing commitments, potentially mitigating some long-term burdens, though independent audits question the timeline for those offsets. While Sanders frames this as deliberate exploitation by “oligarchs,” state leaders counter that the incentives prevent the company from fleeing to less regulated overseas markets, preserving domestic jobs amid global competition.

Media reporting for this story: 58% Left | 22% Right | 14% Center | 6% Unrated

Will Louisiana households see utility bill increases from Meta’s data center by end of 2026? YES or NO

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