Louisianans racked up a big win as parameters of the impending Meta, Inc. data center in Richland Parish put the effort on course for delivering maximal economic benefits with minimal consumer costs.

A number of special interests tried to prevent that. Some were anti-fossil fuel/pro-catastrophic anthropogenic global warming believers who primarily oppose the effort because it would encourage significantly more natural gas use and secondarily as they desire guaranteed greater use of more expensive/less reliable renewable sources of energy for the project. Others are aggrieved large-scale consumers who want to create alternative paths for energy acquisition without having to go through Entergy Louisiana, the supplier for the project.

Over the past few months, activity has involved attempts by opponents to delay the expedited approval process, but an administrative law judge sidetracked multiple efforts to do so. This led to a two-day hearing earlier this month that will lead to a recommendation by the judge about the parameters for approval by the Louisiana Public Service Commission, but public aspects of that already have been worked out in a settlement agreement among all parties. The LPSC must give eventual approval because Entergy wants to build and operate three natural gas plants as the bulk of power for Meta’s operations.

Meta said it would commit 1.5 gigawatts at least, and then bumped this up to 2 GW, of renewable resources into the power commitment that could go as high as 5 GW, although Entergy’s request is for 3 GW of capacity. However, crucially and desirably Entergy is not unequivocally committed to having to provide that renewable source portion in the settlement.

That noted, Meta has served notice it can go out and seek this on its own, just last week signing an agreement to supply Texas operations with 600 megawatts of renewable resources. However, as long as Entergy isn’t involved, there’s no chance this more expensive provision would be passed along to other ratepayers.

Opponents also are distressed that the guaranteed portion of the contract extends only 15 years, whereas the typical gas generator lasts twice that length in service, with them saying that costs beyond the contract if terminated then would fall onto Entergy ratepayers. This is a tactic to discourage building of more fossil fuel capacity. However, Entergy notes that projected service growth could absorb that capacity if it becomes available, negating the need for it to build other new generating sources and pass that on to consumers.

Finally, opponents object to Meta not paying in entirety all new costs associated with the project, principally expenses for transmission, as a tactic to increase Meta project costs to stall the deal. But Entergy reasonably notes some of this capacity can be used to send power to customers other than Meta, so Meta shouldn’t have to pay full freight.

The settlement reflected these sentiments, and it appears very probable the PSC will hew closely to that when it decides formally later this year. Often a skeptic of new fossil fuel provision and possessing CAGW sympathies, the area’s Democrat Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell has backed the project, and the PSC majority Republican commissioners seem highly likely to concur.

It needs to follow through along the settlement parameters. The economic impact will be sizeable in northeast Louisiana, according to a study commissioned by the Grow NELA interest group. It predicts 545 direct permanent jobs created, almost all in the region, at an average salary of over $75,000 yearly, beefing up sales tax revenues by $163 million over five years. Another $200 million in infrastructure improvements will spill over, and temporary construction activity will pump in another $320 million.

Naysayers to the eminently reasonable deal as currently on the table would toss this away as they cower to their unfounded CAGW fears. The PSC must ignore that emotional outburst and stick to the facts to ratify the Entergy request.