Meta’s $27 billion AI data center is causing chaos in small town Louisiana

On a recent morning, the AI boom in Richland Parish, a rural county in northeast Louisiana, could be measured in tacos.

Tim and Lindsey Allen were preparing over 1,600 of them with names like “Divine Swine” (smoked pork), “Righteous Rooster” (braised chicken), and “Golden Calf” (brisket), for construction workers building Meta’s massive 2,250-acre, 4-million-square-foot AI data center, Hyperion. It’s a catering order that would have been unthinkable here just a year ago.

The Allens...