WEST FELICIANA PARISH, La. — A data center under construction in West Feliciana Parish will serve as a processing hub for Anthropic’s Claude artificial intelligence model when it opens in just over a year. Water usage and energy consumption are top concerns as Louisiana positions itself for a national A.I. build-out.
Size and scope
The data center will measure roughly 10 football fields long once completed. Projects of similar size elsewhere in the country have raised concerns over groundwater usage and rising electric bills for nearby residents.
Parish President Kenny Havard said protecting the community against those issues was part of his goal. The developer Hut 8 is partnering with Entergy for a new substation on site that will power the project, fully funded by the company. On top of that, the data center will be using a closed-loop coolant system that replaces the need for tapping groundwater.
“One was water and the other was taxes, we wanted to make sure everyone in West Feliciana Parish pays the same taxes whether you’re big industry or the local grocery store,” Havard said.
Tax revenue and community funding
Havard said the data center will bring in $90 million in tax revenue every year. That money will go back into the community through funding, infrastructure projects and rebates on property taxes.
“We would have to build 6,000 houses to pay for one mile of road the way the taxes are distributed so this allows us to keep the quality of life that makes West Feliciana such a special place,” Havard said.
Transparency in the deal process
The agreement was made without non-disclosure agreements or private negotiations, according to Hut 8’s Hailey Miller.
“Working with the parish president and parish council, a deal was done in public view, in open, transparent and for everyone to have input and consideration,” Miller said.
State and political reaction
Gov. Jeff Landry has pointed to more than $200 billion in industrial development during his time in office. Landry pushed back against critics of transparency in deals, who say secrecy is sometimes necessary to attract large projects.
“Everything we’ve done to change policy in this state has been in the public so the public gets to grade us on that, this just says when these companies come in we don’t tell anybody they are coming in. Why? Because we want to keep them here!” Landry said.
Many of Hut 8’s data centers across the country mine bitcoin rather than power artificial intelligence models like the one at River Bend. That connection brought bitcoin investor Donald Trump Jr. to the site.
“People understand generally that you need AI, its the space race of 2026, its a really big deal there’s another reason why China is funding 200,000 bots on Twitter trying to vilify AI, its not because its bad for America, its because America leading is bad for China and we need to do that while still addressing the needs of the community,” Trump Jr. said.
Construction timeline
About 1,200 construction employees are working day and night to complete the project. The data center is expected to be operational by the end of 2027.
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