Louisiana Voice

Will Livingston Parish give away the store in making too generous concessions the way Louisiana Economic Development would prefer in order to obtain that data center in Walker or will parish leaders follow the example of West Feliciana Parish and dig their heels in refusing to grant a 10-year property tax exemption?

West Feliciana leaders, casting their eyes northward to Richland Parish, must’ve have seen the concessions being granted Meta for its $50 billion data center being built there. The state, in surrendering sales tax revenue of up to 80 percent on the purchase of materials and equipment will cost the state MORE THAN $3.3 BILLION, according to Sherwood News. And that doesn’t even take into consideration the loss to the parish in the 10-year property tax exemptions.

Louisiana Economic Development (LED), of course, wanted to offer similar concessions to Hut-8 in West Feliciana for its $10 billion data center but the parish was determined not to cede property tax revenue. State sales tax exemptions were granted by LED on the purchase of steel, cement and other equipment and materials.

Louisiana provides a sales and use tax exemption for purchases related to data centers certified by LED. The exemption applies to eligible data center equipment and certain expenditures made for the development, acquisition, construction, lease, repair, refurbishment, expansion, or renovation of a qualified data center. 

The exemption may also apply to other parties involved in the project, including affiliates of the data center and contractors or subcontractors performing work at the project site.

The West Feliciana Parish School Board did a major construction project with dales tax revenues from the River Bend Nuclear Plant but that money was denied the board by Gov. Jeff Landry and the legislature from the Hut-8 project.

HOUSE BILL 827 of the 2024 regular session of the Louisiana Legislature, authored by Rep. Christopher Turner (R-Ruston) passed the Senate on final vote of 35-0 and likewise breezed through the House by 83-4 in becoming Act 827.

As originally written, HB 827 provided state and local sales and use tax rebates on the sale of “certain communications service equipment and data center equipment” and was originally intended for rebates on FIBER-OPTIC AND DATA CENTER equipment.

But by the November special session that year, it had become HOUSE BILL 10 by Rep. Mark Wright (R-Covington). You have to scroll down to the bottom of page 130 to find the changes which scrapped the rebates and offered instead garden-variety tax exemptions.

Like HB 827, this one also passed easily in the Senate by a 38-0 vote and by an 80-19 vote in the House on the way to becoming Act 11.

Those two bills were for the benefit of Meta’s huge data center in Richland Parish. But West Feliciana, as already pointed, out opted out of the 10-year property tax exemption in its insistence on not giving away the farm.

The bottom line is West Feliciana has received $10 million from the $10 billion project while the State of Louisiana will reap a comparatively low $25 million from the $100 billion Space X venture in Vermilion Parish. West Feliciana is also getting $16 million in water system improvements that Hut-8 is installing to have adequate fire protections numbers. Additionally, the parish is expected to see about $90 million a year through its PILOT scheme but to date has received only the aforementioned $10 million.

It should be noted that Anthropic will be paying the bulk of that money the parish gets because its equipment will be in Hut-8’s buildings.

So, with all those numbers being bandied about, what are the options for Livingston Parish?

Will LED prevail in granting exemptions galore in order to attract whoever it is that will preside over the facility in Walker (early but unofficial reports identify the company as Microsoft) or will parish officials insist on not giving up property tax revenue that can help build infrastructure, pay teachers and law enforcement more?

HOUSE BILL 922 by Rep. Rodney Schamerhorn (R-Hornbeck) would have done just that but efforts by the Louisiana Public Service Commission and the House Commerce Committee killed his bill in committee.

Schamerhorn said the only thing his bill did was to codify assurances made by Entergy officials in meetings in Washington and later in Shreveport that it would be responsible for bearing 100 percent of the costs of improvements and expansions to generating capacity for the data centers. “We have to protect the citizens of this state” from increases in electricity costs, he said in testifying in support of the bill back in March

Instead, Louisiana citizens have zero statutory protection from significant rate hikes, prompting one opponent of the data centers, a member of Louisiana Citizen Advocacy Group (LACAG) to say, “Multi-billion-dollar corporations get our money. We get a ‘pledge’ from them and the NDA-signing Louisiana politicians covering for them. We deserve better.

“Data centers consume massive amounts of power. If tech giants don’t pay 100 percent of their infrastructure costs, your monthly electric bill goes up to subsidize them. Right now there is no law stopping Entergy from offloading those costs onto your family,” the LACAG member said.

Her concern appears to be well-placed.

In Arkansas, Entergy FILED A LAWSUIT against the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in an effort to keep the newspaper from publishing leaked details of a major electricity deal for a new Google data center in that state.

The documents revealed that Google might be responsible for only about one-third of its actual $1.6 billion infrastructure costs for a solar plant built to power the data center. Arkansas residents would be on the hook for the remainder.

Fortunately for freedom of the press, a federal judge ruled in favor of the newspaper—this time.

Many industry sources downplay claims that data centers will be responsible for rate hikes but the truth is it’s far too early to say with any certainty.

Other energy experts, however, DISAGREE. They say energy demand from data centers cannot help but create a demand for more and more energy and as these energy-ravenous centers continue to be built, the result will ultimately result in increases in costs of electricity for U.S. households.

Consumers in the West and Northeast have already seen electricity costs increase and experts say there is no reason to believe the trend won’t continue.

Livingston Parish, like West Feliciana, may have no say in what the state does in granting exemptions on state sales taxes. The state, in fact, has already thwarted an effort to codify an informal agreement by Entergy that would have committed the utility to bear 100 percent of the cost of infrastructure and generating upgrades for the benefit of Meta.

Livingston Parish President Randy Delatte, while denying he or any parish officials have signed nondisclosure agreements, admitted at much in testimony before the parish planning commission in may of 2024 and Parish Council member Ricky Goff also admitted signing an NDA in his testimony before the zoning commission last November.

Meanwhile, Delatte, in saying there was no data center project he could announce, nonetheless told the Baton Rouge Advocate last week that a data center would result in $140 million in annual property taxes, lending speculation that preliminary talks about such a project are more than mere conjecture.

By Paul Spillman

There was college football last weekend. It kicked off last Thursday night with games involving schools most aren’t familiar with but there was one notable upset. NAIA Louisiana Christian in Pineville was trailing NCAA Division I Northwestern State by two touchdowns at halftime but rallied to upset the Demons in Natchitoches. Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer began his coaching career at a NAIA school knocking off NCAA opponents. Maybe good things are in store for Louisiana Christian’s Ben McLaughlin.

There will be more college football this week as the season begins in full across the nation. Games are scheduled from Thursday through Monday, with LSU hosting Clemson in a ABC prime time game from Tiger Stadium Saturday night. Hardly anyone is talking about the game. But everyone is talking about Lane Kiffin, LSU, the “signing of NFL players,” kicking the Tigers out of the conference, and the end of college football as we know it.

None of those things have happened as of this writing but all of them may happen by the time this is read. It’s impossible to say what may come next.

If you asked ten people two weeks ago, or ask them two weeks from now, what’s the problem in college athletics you would probably get ten different answers, but today it would all be LSU’s and Lane Kiffin’s fault. Literally. There isn’t a sports forum of any kind that has not spent hours demonizing Kiffin and LSU because a) Kiffin has signed a couple of athletes who were ruled to have a year of eligibility left but had signed free agent contracts with an NFL team before getting released in preseason camp and b) Kiffin and LSU are defying the SEC who just voted 15-0 (with LSU abstaining) to rule ineligible anyone who has signed a professional contract.

Remember Brendan Sorsby, the QB at Texas Tech ruled ineligible for gambling who earlier this summer was granted a temporary restraining order making him eligible? Remember Texas Tech saying they would play him? Remember the outrage against Texas Tech that followed? Well multiply it by ten and that’s what is happening to LSU right now and Kiffin is the reason for the multiplier. And our governor, who chimed in his support for Kiffin and defiance of the SEC. It’s his team, after all. At the time of the Sorsby scandal one talking head speculated on the circus it would be if such things were happening at LSU and he wasn’t wrong.

The thing is LSU doesn’t even need the players Kiffin signed, tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris. Harris will shore up an important position and provide experience where LSU lacks experienced depth but the Tigers have plenty of talented players to fill the position already on the roster. The same applies for tight end, except the need at tight end is less critical than the need at defensive tackle. Kiffin could drop the entire thing and not change his team by much. There are no guarantees either way. But Kiffin isn’t concerned with anything other than winning and he believes this gives him an edge so he’s riding it out. To what end for him, the school, or the conference isn’t yet known.

Both players are part of the class of 2022 which the NCAA neglected to include when it granted five years of eligibility to every class since 2018, and then failed to address any further following its long established and resolute policy of inaction. Consequently the courts stepped in and there are now more than 60 cases in multiple states involving hundreds of athletes in multiple sports. Wright and Harris are just two. But they – and LSU – are the only two anyone is talking about. Neither was drafted into the NFL. Wright signed as a free agent first with the Philadelphia Eagles, then with the Cleveland Browns before being cut by both but he did suit up for a preseason game with the Browns. Harris signed a free agent contract with the Saints but was injured and never even practiced with the team before being cut. Harris, at least, has a legitimate argument to make.

Pursuing a free agent contract was the only way either could stay in football as far as they knew when their athletic eligibility expired in the spring. Neither gave up eligibility. As far as they knew they didn’t have any more to use. Until August when a federal judge granted a TRO returning that year of eligibility to certain athletes. That federal order was overturned on appeal but all the cases now are in state courts where the NCAA and the conferences are fighting an uphill battle.

But the SEC doesn’t care about that. It doesn’t care Harris never even practiced with the Saints. He signed a contract with a professional team. That makes him a “pro.” Therefore he can’t play. Never mind the distinction between pro and amateur no longer exists. “Amateur” has always been a construct to deny athletes the right to earn money, at least that’s the way the US Supreme Court sees it. And players earn money now in college and the NFL. Never mind, also, the hypocrisy of “pro” football players returning to college when both the NCAA and the SEC have looked the other way for years as schools have brought in international club pros in basketball. None were star international players but they all were paid to play before becoming college students. No, none of that matters because this is Greg Sankey vs. Lane Kiffin, the SEC vs. LSU, right vs. wrong with the fate of the world hanging on the brink. At least that’s the way the issue is being framed.

College football teams are allowed a roster of 105 players with either full, partial, or no scholarships given as the coaching staff deems. According to reports no LSU players were “cut” nor did anyone lose a scholarship for LSU to add fifth year players returning to college. The Tigers have also signed Junior Tuihalamaka who played four years at Notre Dame but was not drafted and did not sign with a NFL team. LSU has to submit its season roster to the SEC on Friday. The court case continues Thursday but regardless of what happens on either day it will not be the end of the issue.

Some, perhaps most, LSU fans have embraced the “Evil Empire” tag and revel in playing the villain. But others could do without all the drama. What the issue has done, though, is make LSU vs. Clemson Saturday night into “must watch TV.” ESPN’s College Gameday will be live from campus and you can bet they’ll be talking about it. Pat McAfee will probably make jokes about no pros allowed in the kick-a-field-goal shtick he orchestrates every week. There will be signs in the background, for and against. And all of college football will be pulling for Clemson to put LSU in its place, prove who has the real “Death Valley” and deliver a humiliating defeat to Kiffin. LSU fans are among the best in college football. And very astute. They know the college football world will be watching. Expect them to be loud and proud. Lane Kiffin had better deliver. Or all hell will break loose.

A Russian cybercrime forum called Exploit is selling digital scans of more than 153 million drivers licenses of residents of the U.S. and Canada by siphoning images collected by a Louisiana-based identity verification company, according to former Washington Post reporter-turned security news and investigation reporter BRIAN KREBS.

Krebs said the New Orleans FBI field office has launched an official inquiry into the source of the images being offered on the dark web. He identified the New Orleans company, idscan.net, which purportedly performs more than 21 million ID verifications monthly at more than 20,000 locations worldwide.

Jillian Kossman, marketing and operations leader at idscan.net, said, “At this point, I’m not able to share any additional information.”

The service, Nexus, claims to have more than 152 million driver’s licenses and another 10 million identification cards, three million travel documents and more than half-a-million medical cards of residents of the U.S. and Canada. Other records carry a source notation of CAC, which could refer to Common Access Cards, which are government-issued identity cards that grant physical access to government buildings and secure rooms.

Krebs said those behind Nexus claim the license images are coming from an active breach at “a major identity verification company” whose customers include multiple Fortune 500 companies.

Over the past 24 hours alone, Krebs wrote, “the number of driver’s license records listed as available in Nexus has increased by nearly 400,000, suggesting that freshly stolen license data is being harvested and uploaded to this service on a semi-regular basis.”