In at least two Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) proceedings, motions supporting large industrial projects the commissioners adopted as their own were written by an Entergy Louisiana executive, records obtained by the Gulf States Newsroom show.

The clearest example is the August 20, 2025 LPSC vote approving Entergy’s settlement to build generation and transmission infrastructure for Meta’s $50 billion data center in Richland Parish. The Gulf States Newsroom obtained the native Word file of the motion, and its metadata — digital breadcrumbs that link a file to its original creator — lists Larry Hand, Entergy’s VP of regulatory and public affairs, as the author.

Hand emailed the motion to Commissioner Foster Campbell, a Democrat representing District 5, two days before the vote, writing: “As discussed, attached is motion to consider for the Meta docket. I am sure you will revise this as you determine appropriate.”

The commission’s executive counsel read the document into the record as Campbell’s motion. It matches Hand’s file almost word for word — including a passage describing Campbell’s own biography.

The same pattern shows up in a March 2025 vote on a separate Entergy transmission project tied to the Hyundai Steel mill in Ascension Parish. Hand sent a motion to the PSC’s deputy general counsel on behalf of Vice Chairman Eric Skrmetta, a Republican representing District 1.

That file’s tracked changes show Hand himself replacing the phrase “maintaining affordable rates” with “ensuring cost-based, affordable rates” — wording that speaks to who ultimately pays for the cost of serving new industrial loads.

Hand did not respond to requests for comment in time for the publication of this story.

Daniel Tait, research and communications director for the Energy and Policy Institute, said the substitution carries weight because “cost-based” ratemaking has a specific, established meaning in the utility industry.

Entergy’s addition of the term, he said, was likely a deliberate move to shield the company from future legal or regulatory challenges. Getting the commission to affirm that principle on the record could matter later, since courts tend to defer heavily to public service commissions’ judgment

“What seems minor — just a two-word change,” Tait said, “could literally determine the outcome of a legal case, determining who would ultimately bear the costs of these types of infrastructure projects that run into billions of dollars.”

The same phrasing appears in the March transcript. The Word file metadata names Hand as the author and ties the tracked edit to his Entergy email account.

In the Hyundai Steel case, the motion — which the PSC’s executive counsel also read the document verbatim into the record — argues the transmission investment is necessary so “Louisiana is able to offer reliable and affordable power that is attractive to companies like Hyundai and others.”

“With this announcement and previously announced Meta investment, Louisiana is winning, and winning big,” the motion, written by Entergy’s Hand, read. “I want to thank Governor Landry for his leadership in positioning Louisiana for this moment. I also want to commend the Commission and my fellow Commissioners for our part in preparing Louisiana.”

In the Meta case, Campbell’s rendition of the motion was more of a free-form interpretation that touched on a variety of topics, including his support for the infrastructure to power the data center. But the exact text of Hand’s draft appears in the PSC’s official minutes.

Both the Meta data center and the Hyundai Steel mill were projects planned and negotiated under nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) — a practice driven by Gov. Jeff Landry, who also signed an NDA with Meta. Entergy’s role in drafting motions for Commissioners comes as the LPSC is set to vote on a related fight over Meta’s transparency at its Aug. 12 meeting in Baton Rouge.

Meta has motioned for immediate review of an administrative law judge’s ruling that ordered the company to turn over records substantiating its projected investment, job creation and electricity demand for its Richland Parish data center.

Entergy currently relies on Meta for these data points without independent verification. The technology company has argued that the way it formulates its numbers is a protected trade secret.

Critics, however, say regulators need independently verified numbers — not Entergy and Meta’s own figures — to determine whether the scale of the buildout and the cost ratepayers could be asked to bear for it actually serves the public interest.

The PSC’s role

In an interview with the Gulf States Newsroom, PSC Commissioner Davante Lewis, a Democrat representing District 3, said the practice of utilities directly authoring motions for commissioners to file “surprises” him less than it troubles him.

Lewis said he routinely fields draft language from parties in a case — including Entergy — but keeps a firmer line than some of his colleagues.

“I don’t like the contextualization of motions,” Lewis said. “Where it bothers me is when we’re contextualizing the motion and giving praises to other people or saying why this is so great. That should come from ourselves. That should not come from a utility to tell me how I should say or talk about my vote.”

Lewis often shares draft language with parties for feedback on factual or procedural accuracy, he said, including dates, docket numbers, and whether a motion accomplishes what a settlement requires.

But he draws a distinction between that kind of coordination and a utility company writing wholesale political framing for a commissioner to read into the record.

“I get a little eerie when we’re glossing or almost writing a press release for utilities with commissioners,” Lewis said. “I do think it’s a little bit problematic.”

Logan Burke, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, the state’s consumer advocate for utilities, said the practice cuts against the basic premise of the PSC’s role.

The commission’s job, she said, is to regulate monopoly utilities and ensure they act in the public interest — not adopt motions the utilities themselves wrote.

It’s unclear how often LPSC motions are ghost-written by utility companies, Burke said, since it depends on whether a native file or its metadata ever surfaces. But she said it raises questions about the origins of other recent Commission actions — including the Commission’s “Lightning Initiative,” a fast-tracked regulatory pathway the PSC adopted in response to Gov. Landry’s executive order of the same name — that have appeared with little stakeholder input and no clear paper trail showing where the language came from.

“Louisiana’s public service commissioners are elected,” Burke said, and meant to represent their constituents while balancing the interests of everyone at the table. If the words coming from their mouths or their pens are actually coming from the utility, it “makes it hard for the voting public to have faith in those state agencies.”

This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Alabama, WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana and NPR.