1 00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:03,680 Speaker 1: Max Schaffing here for from Everybody's Business. Today, we're sharing 2 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:06,200 Speaker 1: an episode from one of our favorite Bloomberg podcasts, The 3 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:09,920 Speaker 1: Big Take. A struggling agricultural town in Louisiana found themselves 4 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:11,480 Speaker 1: in the middle of a race to build the biggest 5 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:14,200 Speaker 1: data center ever from Meta, the company that owns Facebook. 6 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 1: We'll be back with a new episode of Everybody's Business 7 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:17,040 Speaker 1: this Friday. 8 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 2: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News. 9 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 3: All Right, Riley Griffin, reporter with Bloomberg News. Here, I 10 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 3: am driving up to northeastern Louisiana, a rural part of 11 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 3: the state called Richland Parish. This is a cottonland, cotton, corn, soybeans. 12 00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:51,440 Speaker 2: Riley Griffin typically spends her days in Silicon Valley. She's 13 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 2: a tech reporter for Bloomberg, but for the past year 14 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 2: she's been following a story that's brought her to a 15 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 2: different corner of the country, a place called Richland Parish 16 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 2: in the Louisiana Delta. 17 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:07,119 Speaker 3: Gas is cheaper than where I live in San Francisco, 18 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 3: that's for sure. 19 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 2: Richland Parish is made up of a handful of towns 20 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 2: and villages, Rayville, del High, Mangham, and some unincorporated Land. 21 00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 2: All told, the parish spans about five hundred and fifty 22 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:25,240 Speaker 2: square miles. It's nearly twelve times the size of San Francisco, 23 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:29,960 Speaker 2: but as a population forty times smaller. I'm driving out here. 24 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 3: I'm listening to Tim. 25 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 2: McGrath, I'm there where the green Grass. 26 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:41,960 Speaker 3: Unlany Wilson, both of whom are from this area. 27 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:47,800 Speaker 2: Richland, like so many agricultural and manufacturing communities around the US, 28 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:51,960 Speaker 2: has spent decades on the decline. Farmers are struggling to 29 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:55,400 Speaker 2: break even. Most kids don't go to college. When they 30 00:01:55,480 --> 00:02:00,200 Speaker 2: do leave, they often don't come back. Local leaders have 31 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 2: been looking for something to revamp the area's economy, an 32 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 2: opportunity that would bring new investment to town, and a 33 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 2: few years ago one came knocking. Meta, which owns Facebook 34 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:16,240 Speaker 2: and Instagram, has been ramping up spending on artificial intelligence. 35 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,520 Speaker 2: Meta is worth one and a half trillion dollars and 36 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,360 Speaker 2: owned some of the biggest social media brands in the world. 37 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 2: But the technology landscape has been changing. AI is everywhere 38 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 2: and by many metrics, Meta has fallen behind. 39 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:34,239 Speaker 4: This is an AI arms race inside the company called 40 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 4: open ai. 41 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:38,720 Speaker 2: Aanthropic is building generates of AI, a system that can 42 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:41,079 Speaker 2: draft content as if a human made it. 43 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 3: Google Open AI, and anthropic. These are known as kind 44 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 3: of the frontier of the AI race right now, people 45 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:54,079 Speaker 3: don't often mention Meta in the same breadth, and that's 46 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:55,240 Speaker 3: a problem for the company. 47 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 2: Just last month, the company laid off eight thousand workers 48 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 2: of its workforce as it ramps up spending on AI 49 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 2: development and infrastructure. Infrastructure like data centers, which house the 50 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 2: chips that power large language models and Meta CEO Mark 51 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 2: Zuckerberg has plans to build one of the biggest data 52 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:21,240 Speaker 2: centers in the world, nearly four thousand acres, the size 53 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:26,080 Speaker 2: of about three thousand football fields. He's calling it Hyperion, 54 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:28,240 Speaker 2: after the Greek Titan. 55 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:32,080 Speaker 3: Mark Zuckerberg is a man who loves a reference to 56 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:35,119 Speaker 3: the classics. It's a project that will take a lot 57 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 3: of investment, a lot of energy and water, and a 58 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:40,280 Speaker 3: lot of land. 59 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:43,200 Speaker 2: Enter Richland Parish. 60 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 4: You know you've heard a silicon baland right where the 61 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 4: silicon to buy you. 62 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 2: Meta's plans for this rural slice of Louisiana have captured 63 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 2: the attention of some of the most powerful people in 64 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:53,360 Speaker 2: the world. 65 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 5: Look at that, that's the size of Manhattan. 66 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 2: But as Meta Zero's in on the parish. Residents are 67 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 2: grapple with what it could mean to become the epicenter 68 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:04,720 Speaker 2: of the company's biggest AI push. 69 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:08,840 Speaker 4: Yet, twenty years from now, AI might be as obsolete 70 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:11,320 Speaker 4: as bagfhones are today. 71 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 6: You know, the math eventually becomes hard math at some point, and. 72 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:20,600 Speaker 7: Don't want it to affect detrimentally our water, noor, the 73 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 7: price of utilities. 74 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 6: We don't fully grasp what's coming. 75 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:32,920 Speaker 2: I'm Sarah Holder, and this is the big take from 76 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:37,039 Speaker 2: Bloomberg News Today on the show Richland parishes bet on 77 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:41,320 Speaker 2: a new kind of crop data. Could Meta's ambitions bring 78 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 2: economic salvation or will the community trade one uncertain future 79 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 2: for another. 80 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:55,480 Speaker 5: No more unchecked data centers. 81 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:00,240 Speaker 2: When a new data center arrives in an area, the 82 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,679 Speaker 2: community reaction can sometimes sound like this. 83 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:04,560 Speaker 7: We're not buying it. 84 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 6: We want them to go away. 85 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:09,719 Speaker 7: We don't want to hear all of their sugar coated promises, 86 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:10,680 Speaker 7: which we don't believe. 87 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:13,200 Speaker 2: It's a really, really bad deal. We don't get anything 88 00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:15,360 Speaker 2: for it other than we're losing land, we're losing water, 89 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 2: and we're losing air quality. They are about three thousand 90 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 2: active data centers in the US and as the AI 91 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:25,880 Speaker 2: boom demands more and more computing resources, their numbers are growing. 92 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 2: According to Pew Research Center, fifteen hundred more data centers 93 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,920 Speaker 2: are in development right now across the country. These facilities 94 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 2: tend to be polarizing. Politicians, activists, and residents near them 95 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 2: have called out data centers for hiking local energy bills, 96 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:47,679 Speaker 2: draining water resources, making too much noise. Many data center 97 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:51,600 Speaker 2: projects have been delayed, canceled, or scaled back after communities 98 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:55,920 Speaker 2: opposed them. So some tech companies hoping to build new 99 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:01,280 Speaker 2: data centers have started shifting their strategy beyond cities and 100 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:04,800 Speaker 2: suburbs and prioritizing areas that may not have the best 101 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:08,160 Speaker 2: infrastructure but do have the right attitude. 102 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:13,240 Speaker 3: Companies that are building big are looking to these rural regions, 103 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:18,000 Speaker 3: but also regions that are demonstrating a willingness to have them. 104 00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:21,800 Speaker 3: Bloomberg Tech reporter Riley Griffin again, there's actually a company 105 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:26,839 Speaker 3: I've been chatting with called Hamlet that is selling data 106 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:32,920 Speaker 3: to hyper scalers about communities they're doing red, yellow, green. 107 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:36,839 Speaker 3: Is this a good place politically to put your data center? 108 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:39,640 Speaker 3: What do we know from town hall meetings about how 109 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 3: this community will react? 110 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:44,880 Speaker 2: To a data center. That reaction is important because for 111 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:48,800 Speaker 2: companies competing in the AI race, speed is everything. 112 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:50,960 Speaker 3: All these data centers, they want to get them up 113 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 3: and running as soon as possible, So any delays, be 114 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 3: they from politics and pr or actual permitting, is a 115 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:02,320 Speaker 3: hugeline risk that they would like to take off the table, 116 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,320 Speaker 3: and companies like Meta are putting a lot of resources 117 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:08,919 Speaker 3: toward picking places where they can move quickly. 118 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 8: Finding a data center side that works for us is 119 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 8: like finding a needle in the haystack, like you have 120 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:16,160 Speaker 8: to look for a lot of combinations of the things 121 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:17,560 Speaker 8: that are going to work well. 122 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:20,880 Speaker 2: Rachel Peterson runs Meta's data center strategy. 123 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:24,600 Speaker 8: We started hearing from Mark directly that he wanted to 124 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 8: have a very big cluster. The biggest cluster. 125 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 2: What Zuckerberg wanted was a huge cluster of GPUs graphics 126 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 2: processing units, the chips that power AI models. And to 127 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:42,720 Speaker 2: hold all those GPUs, Meta would need a very large 128 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:43,440 Speaker 2: data center. 129 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:45,760 Speaker 8: We were going to put like, you know, a million 130 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 8: GPUs in it, and we were going to have this 131 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:49,680 Speaker 8: big AI cluster up and running. 132 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:53,160 Speaker 3: Each GPU on average costs about thirty thousand dollars. So 133 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 3: that should tell you something and putting one million together 134 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:58,080 Speaker 3: is a massive amount. 135 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:01,119 Speaker 2: Data centers come with some big energy needs. 136 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:06,360 Speaker 3: You also need cooling abilities, so water often to keep 137 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:12,840 Speaker 3: that technology from overheating, you need land. You need continuous 138 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:15,200 Speaker 3: land in this case, and a lot of it, and 139 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:18,560 Speaker 3: preferably cheap land. So META set out to find the 140 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:23,200 Speaker 3: right site the needle in the haystack, two thousand miles 141 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 3: away from meta HQ. Richland Parish, Louisiana was stuck in 142 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:31,720 Speaker 3: a rut. Rich Land, as you can guess by the name, 143 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:35,120 Speaker 3: is known for its rich land, its soil born from 144 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:36,640 Speaker 3: the silt of the Mississippi. 145 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:39,200 Speaker 7: When I was a kid, rival was known at the 146 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:40,720 Speaker 7: white go capital of the South. 147 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 2: That's Scott Franklin, a fourth generation Richland Parish resident and 148 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:49,480 Speaker 2: one of the region's largest landowners. That white gold he's 149 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:54,920 Speaker 2: talking about is cotton for generations, cotton plantations built off 150 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:58,000 Speaker 2: in slaved labor where the economic engines of the South. 151 00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:02,960 Speaker 2: Long after a mancipate, cotton crops remain the backbone of 152 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:07,480 Speaker 2: Richland Parish's economy. But that economy took a turn. 153 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:11,079 Speaker 3: There was the nineteen twenty seven flood, the Great Flood, 154 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:16,040 Speaker 3: which really devastated the region was a huge natural disaster. 155 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:20,680 Speaker 3: It also sent a lot of black sharecroppers who bore 156 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:26,319 Speaker 3: the brunt of that devastation out of the region. There 157 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:30,280 Speaker 3: was also the Great Depression, and all the while, the 158 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:34,839 Speaker 3: agriculture sector is changing, it's modernizing, but when it does, 159 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:38,920 Speaker 3: it doesn't bring about more wealth. It really just consolidates 160 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:41,320 Speaker 3: wealth into fewer and fewer hands. 161 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:44,000 Speaker 9: Yeah, the whole adage of like if you drive over 162 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:46,280 Speaker 9: a pothole, you notice it. If you drive over a 163 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:51,359 Speaker 9: pothole every single day, you begin to forget about it. 164 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:54,040 Speaker 9: It's kind of that, you know, if you live here, 165 00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:58,719 Speaker 9: you don't really quite day to day see the decline, 166 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:02,360 Speaker 9: But it's happened, no question. 167 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:06,160 Speaker 2: By the early two thousands, almost thirty percent of Richland 168 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:10,520 Speaker 2: Parish's population lived below the poverty line, and local leaders 169 00:10:10,559 --> 00:10:14,880 Speaker 2: were trying to revitalize the area diversify its economy away 170 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:18,800 Speaker 2: from just agriculture. Around this time, the state of Louisiana 171 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:21,880 Speaker 2: bought a roughly fourteen hundred acre plot of land that 172 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:25,000 Speaker 2: once belonged to Scott's family, hoping to use it to 173 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:29,880 Speaker 2: convince a corporation to settle in the area. Economic development 174 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:32,640 Speaker 2: officials wanted a company to plant roots on that land, 175 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:37,520 Speaker 2: build a manufacturing facility, and commit to bringing five thousand 176 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:41,680 Speaker 2: local jobs. Over the course of two decades, company after 177 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:45,760 Speaker 2: company came into town, got the Richland Parish pitch, and 178 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:49,400 Speaker 2: then left Toyota, Catapillar, John. 179 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:51,480 Speaker 7: Deere, Jaguar, Hyundai. 180 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:57,320 Speaker 2: One former economic development representative named Tanna Trischell told Riley 181 00:10:57,559 --> 00:11:00,120 Speaker 2: she went the extra mile to try and nab business 182 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:03,240 Speaker 2: from Mercedes. I courted them for nine years. 183 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 10: I got a new puppy, I named it Mercedes and 184 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:07,559 Speaker 10: send them pictures. 185 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:11,240 Speaker 2: But no dice. None of the companies ended up coming 186 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:12,600 Speaker 2: to Richland Parish. 187 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:14,040 Speaker 7: You go through all that and you get on the 188 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:17,840 Speaker 7: mountaintop and you come down. You know it's a hard 189 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:22,280 Speaker 7: follow and you get this feeling of always the bridesmaid, 190 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:23,199 Speaker 7: never the bride. 191 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:24,360 Speaker 9: It's not going to happen. 192 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:30,600 Speaker 2: That's where Meta came in. In January twenty twenty four, 193 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,800 Speaker 2: Zuckerberg's hunt for a data center site caught the attention 194 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:39,840 Speaker 2: of Energy, a major Louisiana power utility. Its CEO invited 195 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 2: some Meta execs to the company's headquarters in New Orleans 196 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:47,720 Speaker 2: to make the case for Louisiana. The CEO stress that 197 00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:51,760 Speaker 2: the state's government was pro business and that Louisiana had 198 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:56,160 Speaker 2: ample oil and gas reserves. Energy would not be a problem, 199 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:00,800 Speaker 2: he remembers telling META executives, use all you want, will 200 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:05,840 Speaker 2: make more. But META wanted assurances about more than just power. 201 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:10,480 Speaker 2: Speaking with folks at META, the willingness of the government 202 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:14,560 Speaker 2: to kind of clear the way and be partners to 203 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:18,720 Speaker 2: them was also really important. So the state's economic development 204 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:23,040 Speaker 2: secretary got to work. Her mandate was clear. This was 205 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:26,839 Speaker 2: Richland Parrish's shot. Don't miss out on META. 206 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:29,640 Speaker 11: We huddled in a small table and he said, I 207 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:33,719 Speaker 11: need to share something with you. We're having very aggressive 208 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:38,520 Speaker 11: conversations with a large data center company and we think 209 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:41,480 Speaker 11: we've got a shot at it. But if this is 210 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:44,440 Speaker 11: ever going to become real, we all have to start 211 00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:45,440 Speaker 11: moving heaven and earth. 212 00:12:46,080 --> 00:13:01,080 Speaker 2: After the break, Louisiana moves heaven and earth. So Meta's 213 00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:05,600 Speaker 2: interest in Richland Parish Louisiana was peaked. Conversations with a 214 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:10,280 Speaker 2: major state energy utility were underway, NDAs were being signed, 215 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:14,320 Speaker 2: and locals like Friday Ellis, the mayor of a nearby city, 216 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:17,679 Speaker 2: started clocking new faces around town, and. 217 00:13:17,640 --> 00:13:19,600 Speaker 7: We walked up and hit them with a yellant from 218 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:20,400 Speaker 7: around here are. 219 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:24,240 Speaker 2: Yet what Mayor Ellis didn't know was they were actually 220 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:27,440 Speaker 2: META executives who'd come to scout the area and meet 221 00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:32,080 Speaker 2: with local lawmakers, lawmakers who were working hard behind the scenes. 222 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 11: It just became this everyone pulling on the rope in 223 00:13:37,559 --> 00:13:42,160 Speaker 11: the same direction. So it was just this massive Louisiana effort. 224 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:47,719 Speaker 2: That's Susan Bourgeois. She was named Louisiana's new Economic Development Secretary. 225 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:49,960 Speaker 2: At the same time META was talking to the state's 226 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:53,480 Speaker 2: power utility and her first big job was to make 227 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:57,880 Speaker 2: a deal with Meta. But the clock was ticking. Meta 228 00:13:58,040 --> 00:13:59,560 Speaker 2: was looking at other states too. 229 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:02,320 Speaker 11: The META folks were telling us that they wanted to 230 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 11: have their final investment decision by the end of summer. 231 00:14:05,559 --> 00:14:08,760 Speaker 2: At this point, residents in Richland Parish didn't know this 232 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:13,160 Speaker 2: was happening, not the parish's mayors, not the public. All 233 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:16,720 Speaker 2: this deal making with Meta was going on in secret, 234 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:20,880 Speaker 2: and at the state level, lawmakers were already clearing the 235 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:24,920 Speaker 2: way to make it happen. For example, META wanted a 236 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:27,840 Speaker 2: sales tax break on its GPUs. 237 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:31,640 Speaker 3: And again that is because let me say it, for 238 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 3: the people in the back the GPUs, the chips inside 239 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:37,960 Speaker 3: the data center are the most expensive part of a 240 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:38,960 Speaker 3: data center built. 241 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:41,640 Speaker 11: In order to get a data center in your state, 242 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:44,240 Speaker 11: that is an incentive that must exist, and that's a 243 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 11: go no go. 244 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:49,080 Speaker 2: To meet the non negotiable, the state actually changed Louisiana 245 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:52,560 Speaker 2: tax law by working in language about data center tax 246 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:55,560 Speaker 2: breaks into an existing rural broadband bill. 247 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:58,280 Speaker 11: In politics, that's called hijacking a bill. 248 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:04,040 Speaker 2: In June twenty twenty four, that bill was signed into law, 249 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:07,680 Speaker 2: Meta or any future tech company trying to build a 250 00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:10,480 Speaker 2: data center won't have to pay any sales tax on 251 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:13,960 Speaker 2: data center chips or equipment for twenty years, with an 252 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:18,240 Speaker 2: additional ten year renewal option. The government also agreed to 253 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:21,400 Speaker 2: change the state's property laws so Meta could buy that 254 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:25,040 Speaker 2: fourteen hundred acre plot of land in Richland Parish without 255 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:28,200 Speaker 2: it first going to a public bid. Was there anyone 256 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:30,480 Speaker 2: pushing back on this deal? 257 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:34,200 Speaker 3: Well, at this stage, remember this is all happening behind 258 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:38,040 Speaker 3: closed doors under NDAs people who have signed on to 259 00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:42,880 Speaker 3: really pave the way for the deal. Over those initial 260 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 3: deal making months, there wasn't really public pushback to be 261 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:51,600 Speaker 3: had because the public didn't know and Louisiana leaders had 262 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 3: given Meta assurances that once the public found out, they'd 263 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:56,000 Speaker 3: be on board. 264 00:15:56,560 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 11: I remember early on the META team asking is what 265 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:01,400 Speaker 11: kind of community push are we going to find or 266 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:03,680 Speaker 11: what kind of you know, pushback are we going to 267 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:07,520 Speaker 11: find in the state, And you know, we from a 268 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:10,080 Speaker 11: Richland Parish perspective, we said no. 269 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:14,040 Speaker 2: By late fall of twenty twenty four, the pieces of 270 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 2: the deal were in place, and in December Meta went public. 271 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:21,600 Speaker 2: For locals in Richland Parish, it was the first time 272 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:24,520 Speaker 2: they learned a data center with land in their backyard. 273 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:29,560 Speaker 7: Governor Jeff Landry in META officials announced a groundbreaking investment 274 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:33,280 Speaker 7: of a ten billion dollar AID data center Wednesday morning 275 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:33,880 Speaker 7: in Rayville. 276 00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:36,640 Speaker 5: This is something given to me by Mark Zuckerberg. 277 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:40,360 Speaker 2: That's President Trump in a cabinet meeting in August twenty 278 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:43,320 Speaker 2: twenty five. He's holding up a piece of paper with 279 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:44,680 Speaker 2: an image printed on it. 280 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:45,560 Speaker 5: But look at that. 281 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:46,920 Speaker 1: That's the size of Manhattan. 282 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:49,920 Speaker 7: So that's superimposed over the island of Manhattan. 283 00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:54,479 Speaker 11: It takes up a big part of Manhattan. 284 00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:58,440 Speaker 2: For folks in Louisiana. Trump calling attention to the plan 285 00:16:58,760 --> 00:16:59,440 Speaker 2: was a big deal. 286 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:01,480 Speaker 11: Having the President talk about us. 287 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 2: I mean, you hear just like President Trump, don't not that. 288 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:08,040 Speaker 7: I think it made us kind of come back to 289 00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:10,480 Speaker 7: the realization that this is real. 290 00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:12,000 Speaker 3: Soon. 291 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:15,200 Speaker 2: Meadow was trying to secure billions of dollars of funding 292 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:17,800 Speaker 2: from some of the biggest players on Wall Street to 293 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:21,320 Speaker 2: pay for the construction. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, 294 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:25,000 Speaker 2: who represents a chunk of Louisiana, started touting a new 295 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:26,440 Speaker 2: vision for his home state. 296 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:27,240 Speaker 7: You know you've heard of. 297 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:29,960 Speaker 11: Silicon Valley, right We're the silicon to buyue. 298 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:34,600 Speaker 6: I said, trademarket right now, brother, trademarket right now. 299 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:38,480 Speaker 2: But that sort of transformation wouldn't come easy. 300 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:41,920 Speaker 10: Like as we know it in Rabel is changing. 301 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:44,240 Speaker 6: We don't know what it looks like in five years 302 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:44,800 Speaker 6: or ten years. 303 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:48,080 Speaker 11: We're in this small rural area and we're trying to 304 00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:48,720 Speaker 11: figure it out. 305 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:52,280 Speaker 8: Right now, everybody just say either team Meta or not. 306 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:57,560 Speaker 2: After the break, can Meta deliver on its promises to 307 00:17:57,680 --> 00:17:58,439 Speaker 2: Richland Parish? 308 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:09,080 Speaker 6: Now, have you ever been on a small plane? I 309 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:11,080 Speaker 6: have not, Okay, so it's a little different experience than 310 00:18:11,119 --> 00:18:11,840 Speaker 6: being on yet. 311 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:16,280 Speaker 2: Late last year, Riley Griffin got an aerial tour of 312 00:18:16,359 --> 00:18:20,680 Speaker 2: Richland Parish. She boarded a four seat propeller plane piloted 313 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:22,960 Speaker 2: by a local farmer named Dustin Morris. 314 00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:25,399 Speaker 6: This morning, we're gonna take a little flight in my 315 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:28,760 Speaker 6: little season one eighty two. Look around Richland Parrish, kind 316 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:30,280 Speaker 6: of get a bird's out of you and let you 317 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:33,119 Speaker 6: see that from there. 318 00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:38,719 Speaker 3: You see the cotton from above, just fields of white. 319 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:41,840 Speaker 3: And then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there's 320 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:45,400 Speaker 3: just this massive dirt pit and it's five miles long 321 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:46,640 Speaker 3: and one mile wide. 322 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:51,760 Speaker 2: That dirt pit is Meta's Hyperion construction site. They broke 323 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:55,960 Speaker 2: ground in December twenty twenty four, and Metta's ambitions for 324 00:18:56,040 --> 00:19:00,800 Speaker 2: Hyperion have only grown with time. But at first the 325 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:03,840 Speaker 2: company said they'd need three natural gas plants to power 326 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:07,480 Speaker 2: the project. By March twenty twenty six, there were plans 327 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:11,480 Speaker 2: to build ten. Once the center is live, its power 328 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:13,960 Speaker 2: needs could be enough to fuel the entire city of 329 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:17,160 Speaker 2: New York on a winter day. The site itself has 330 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:21,360 Speaker 2: also grown. Meta bought even more land, turning its original 331 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 2: fourteen hundred acre plot into almost four thousand acres. For Dustin, 332 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:28,760 Speaker 2: it's a lot of change to reckon. 333 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:31,760 Speaker 6: With for years from a whole life. Actually, you know, 334 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:34,720 Speaker 6: I bought into the idea that the land was some 335 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:38,679 Speaker 6: somewhat sacred and that the land was everything and the 336 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:43,400 Speaker 6: production of the commodity corn, so it means rice, cotton, 337 00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:47,000 Speaker 6: whatever the commodity is. That was the end goal. And 338 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:50,080 Speaker 6: now you know, I finally come around to the idea 339 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:55,439 Speaker 6: that the land is still that. But maybe it's not 340 00:19:55,680 --> 00:20:01,320 Speaker 6: the commodity. Maybe it's selling it for twenty times more 341 00:20:01,359 --> 00:20:04,280 Speaker 6: than what it's worth in row crop production. Maybe this 342 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:07,280 Speaker 6: is the future and this is how we secure our 343 00:20:07,359 --> 00:20:10,680 Speaker 6: famili's future. And I don't know, but I have come 344 00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:12,840 Speaker 6: to grips that it doesn't have to have a growing 345 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:13,840 Speaker 6: green plan on it. 346 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:17,840 Speaker 2: Already though, Richland Parish residents are starting to feel the 347 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:20,600 Speaker 2: trade offs of green crops for concrete. 348 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:22,840 Speaker 7: Well, there's a lot more traffic, there's a lot of 349 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:24,159 Speaker 7: trucks and a lot of desks. 350 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:28,560 Speaker 10: There's a rhythm to farming, and if there's a rhythm 351 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:30,240 Speaker 10: to construction, I can't find it. 352 00:20:31,359 --> 00:20:35,159 Speaker 2: Thousands of construction workers have descended on Richland Parish, working 353 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:38,400 Speaker 2: around the clock to build the data center. As many 354 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:42,000 Speaker 2: as seventy five hundred are expected overall in a parish 355 00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:46,280 Speaker 2: of twenty thousand residents. That's a significant population bump, and 356 00:20:46,359 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 2: all those workers need to be fed and housed. There 357 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:51,680 Speaker 2: are a lot of food trucks, that's one of the 358 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:55,440 Speaker 2: big businesses that have boomed, and new restaurants and demand 359 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:59,240 Speaker 2: camps therv parks that have cropped up everywhere in a 360 00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 2: housing strapped region. Harry Lewis, the mayor of Rayville, says 361 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:07,679 Speaker 2: some people in town have given up their jobs for 362 00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:10,280 Speaker 2: hire paying ones on the meta construction site. 363 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:13,560 Speaker 5: See, we lost pretty much our hole police department because 364 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:17,920 Speaker 5: we pay him fourteen and fifteen dollars an hour and 365 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 5: they go a mile from rave and get. 366 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:24,960 Speaker 2: Twenty Nurses are leaving hospitals to do emergency medical work 367 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:29,760 Speaker 2: at Hyperion. Meanwhile, local landowners who own property near the 368 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:33,199 Speaker 2: site are also trying to cash in. Land that was 369 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:35,960 Speaker 2: once going for two thousand dollars has been listed for 370 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:40,600 Speaker 2: fifty thousand dollars. But the growth they're responding to could 371 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:44,520 Speaker 2: be temporary. Local tax assessors and realtors don't know how 372 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:48,280 Speaker 2: to gauge how valuable this rich land actually is. 373 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:52,720 Speaker 4: It's changed my job because it's a lot of unknown 374 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:56,920 Speaker 4: not knowing the value of things. 375 00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:00,119 Speaker 2: That's a local realtor, Jason brunnis. 376 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:04,520 Speaker 4: And that's scary because you don't want to represent people, 377 00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 4: and you not know what the value is and you know, 378 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:09,560 Speaker 4: And that's what I've told a lot of people that 379 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:11,080 Speaker 4: have called me and hey, what do you think I 380 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:13,960 Speaker 4: need to do? What do you think is worth well, 381 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:16,359 Speaker 4: And be quite honest with you, I don't know what 382 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:16,920 Speaker 4: it's worth. 383 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:19,679 Speaker 2: It's a sentiment that's pretty similar to some of the 384 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:24,120 Speaker 2: uncertainty around AI itself, which as companies reporting sky high 385 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:27,680 Speaker 2: valuations and investors trying to get in while it's hot. 386 00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:33,400 Speaker 2: And where some richland parish landowners see opportunity, lifelong residents, 387 00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:37,160 Speaker 2: Floyd and Sheila McDade see the potential for displacement. 388 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:40,400 Speaker 5: We happen to live in a world where everyone can 389 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:44,040 Speaker 5: be properly owners, but it doesn't mean that they can 390 00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:45,120 Speaker 5: be treated with dignity. 391 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:48,360 Speaker 11: The people were count of struggling from the first, from 392 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:51,800 Speaker 11: the beginning, so they were kind of pushed to have 393 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:53,520 Speaker 11: to find somewhere else to stay. 394 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:58,359 Speaker 3: Floyd and Sheila mic Date are a wonderful couple folks 395 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:02,399 Speaker 3: who have been very civic involved. Floyd was a principle, 396 00:23:03,119 --> 00:23:08,760 Speaker 3: and they described to me the effects of this data 397 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:11,760 Speaker 3: center differently. Right, Floyd came with a note card in 398 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:16,280 Speaker 3: his pocket of all the questions that he has, questions 399 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:20,760 Speaker 3: about who's investing in the Metadata center, feeling like that 400 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:25,680 Speaker 3: hadn't been communicated, curiosity about who will get the jobs, 401 00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:30,960 Speaker 3: curiosity about the environmental impacts, just questions about the future. 402 00:23:31,119 --> 00:23:33,840 Speaker 5: You wish that there had been maybe some level of 403 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:41,720 Speaker 5: transparency information if MELA has done this before you knew 404 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:45,119 Speaker 5: these interests were going to be there. What I would 405 00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:50,080 Speaker 5: have liked is some of that information to be disseminated 406 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:52,920 Speaker 5: so that people wouldn't feel like they're being bulldozed over. 407 00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:58,440 Speaker 2: Other residents told Riley they're worried about worsening water quality 408 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:01,879 Speaker 2: and higher energy prices when the data center goes online. 409 00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:05,359 Speaker 2: Riley visited the parish after an ice storm this winter 410 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:08,480 Speaker 2: that left some residents without power for days. 411 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:11,160 Speaker 3: Had a lot of people ask me when Meta's plant 412 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:14,679 Speaker 3: is up and running and they're seeking the amount of 413 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:18,560 Speaker 3: power of New York City on a winter day if 414 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:20,800 Speaker 3: there were a storm of this kind, who would the 415 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:23,919 Speaker 3: utility respond first to the guide down the street with 416 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:28,560 Speaker 3: his power out or the data center. Meta told Riley 417 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:31,359 Speaker 3: it's been working closely with Energy to ensure the site's 418 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:35,160 Speaker 3: power needs are met and quote importantly, so that energies. 419 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:39,720 Speaker 3: Other consumers aren't paying our costs, But some residents have 420 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:43,439 Speaker 3: bigger questions about the risks of betting the farm on 421 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:47,760 Speaker 3: AI Right now. Meta funded the site's construction using one 422 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:51,280 Speaker 3: of the largest private capital deals ever assembled, backed by 423 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:55,040 Speaker 3: twenty seven billion dollars in debt. But Meta only has 424 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:58,679 Speaker 3: a twenty percent stake in the campus. The private capital 425 00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:02,120 Speaker 3: firm BLEU OWL the rest and the joint venture they've 426 00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:06,639 Speaker 3: assembled leases the facility to Meta. The company has the 427 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,639 Speaker 3: chance to back out of that lease every four years. 428 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:14,040 Speaker 3: It's left some in Richland Parish wondering if Meta ever 429 00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:18,080 Speaker 3: pulls out, or if the AI economy collapses. 430 00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:20,840 Speaker 2: Where does that leave them. They're glass half full people. 431 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,440 Speaker 3: This is a community generally that likes to choose optimism. 432 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:29,000 Speaker 3: They're hoping that industry will crop up around the data center, 433 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:31,720 Speaker 3: that it won't just be Meta, but things that could 434 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:34,480 Speaker 3: remain after the construction period. 435 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:37,560 Speaker 2: But a school board member had a more sober take. 436 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:40,760 Speaker 10: I don't want people to think that Meta will be 437 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:43,760 Speaker 10: spending the amount of money that they're going to spend 438 00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:48,120 Speaker 10: over the next five years in perpetuity. This goose lay 439 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:52,240 Speaker 10: in the golden egg is not forever so I hope 440 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:53,280 Speaker 10: people don't get greedy. 441 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:57,840 Speaker 2: After all, those projected seventy five hundred construction jobs will 442 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:01,760 Speaker 2: only last as long as construction does. Meta has committed 443 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:04,960 Speaker 2: up to five hundred permanent jobs at the site, but 444 00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:07,680 Speaker 2: that's a lot less than the five thousand local jobs 445 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:09,640 Speaker 2: the community had wanted a company to bring. 446 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:12,760 Speaker 3: A lot less than five thousand, in part because data 447 00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:17,200 Speaker 3: centers aren't like manufacturing plants. There aren't products coming down 448 00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:20,600 Speaker 3: a line, and what you need is to maintain those 449 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:24,840 Speaker 3: servers which are doing the work largely themselves, So a 450 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:29,399 Speaker 3: lot less jobs. Why were local leaders willing to compromise 451 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:31,760 Speaker 3: on the job commitment that used to be so central 452 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:34,760 Speaker 3: to these kinds of conversations with corporate partners. 453 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:36,399 Speaker 2: I've asked folks about that. 454 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:41,760 Speaker 3: I think people have stopped thinking that's a realistic amount 455 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:45,879 Speaker 3: for this community. And regardless of who I speak to 456 00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:48,960 Speaker 3: involved in the deal or who has wanted to court 457 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,280 Speaker 3: a business in the past, they say, we'll take what 458 00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:55,240 Speaker 3: we can get. Meta told Riley that the company has 459 00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:58,160 Speaker 3: made a concerted effort to hire locally and that it's 460 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:01,640 Speaker 3: working with many local businesses to support the data center's construction. 461 00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:04,720 Speaker 3: They said they quote strive to be good neighbors in 462 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:07,639 Speaker 3: the communities where we operate, and we make every effort 463 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:10,480 Speaker 3: to work with our local partners to address community needs. 464 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:15,560 Speaker 3: The company is committed to upgrading local infrastructure, paving some roads, 465 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:20,320 Speaker 3: fixing up wastewater facilities, and at least for now, Richland 466 00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:24,919 Speaker 3: Parish is seeing an influx of economic activity. Residents like 467 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:28,200 Speaker 3: Dustin are hopeful that in the long term the change 468 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:29,480 Speaker 3: will pay off, and. 469 00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:31,879 Speaker 6: You really start thinking about what is this land for. 470 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:37,119 Speaker 6: It's for providing opportunity to the next generation. You know, 471 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:42,560 Speaker 6: I think that we have to be open minded about it. 472 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:47,760 Speaker 2: But this is just the first stage of Richland's transformation. 473 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:51,040 Speaker 2: There's a long way to go before it becomes the 474 00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 2: Silicon Buyo. 475 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:57,040 Speaker 3: This is a story about a place amidst change it 476 00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:02,280 Speaker 3: didn't choose, that has little re course to resist that change, 477 00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:07,080 Speaker 3: given the way the agriculture sector has fared. It's about 478 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:12,960 Speaker 3: fears of another dying town along the Mississippi Delta. But 479 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:15,960 Speaker 3: it's also about putting faith in a data center. But 480 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:19,440 Speaker 3: it remains to be seen. Wilmore Land be bot who will. 481 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:20,600 Speaker 2: Get it at what price? 482 00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:25,720 Speaker 3: Will that offer them long term sustainability or an out 483 00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:29,720 Speaker 3: from some of the challenges of the agriculture sector. You know, 484 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:34,320 Speaker 3: time will tell, and we're telling this story at the 485 00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:35,640 Speaker 3: beginning of its arc. 486 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:45,120 Speaker 2: This is The Big Take from Bloomberg News. I'm Sarah Holder. 487 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:49,200 Speaker 2: The show is hosted by Me, David Gera, and Jan Hatt. 488 00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:53,040 Speaker 2: The show is made by Aaron Edwards, David Fox, Jeff Grocott, 489 00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:57,600 Speaker 2: Patty Hirsch, Rachel Lewis, Chrisky, Emma Monger, Laura Newcombe, Naomi 490 00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:03,240 Speaker 2: Julia Press, Tracy Samuels, Naomi Shavin, Alex Sugiura, Julia Weaver, 491 00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:07,600 Speaker 2: Yang Yang and Taka Yasuzawa. Our executive producer is Nicole 492 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:10,240 Speaker 2: Beemster Boor. To get more from The Big Take and 493 00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:14,080 Speaker 2: unlimited access to all of Bloomberg dot Com, subscribe today 494 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:18,280 Speaker 2: at Bloomberg dot com Slash podcast offer. Thanks for listening. 495 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:20,520 Speaker 2: We'll be back on Monday.