An Entergy exec ghostwrote Louisiana PSC motions supporting Meta, Hyundai

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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.

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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.

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