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Holly Ridge / Richland Parish · Meta · Under construction and expanding
Community profile
Classification: High-poverty rural community; majority White with a large Black population
Geography: Richland Parish proxy; 71269 is the nearest published postal geography
Income: Roughly one-quarter of parish residents live in poverty.
Race: The parish is about 59% White and 37% Black (2020 Census), showing that class and race do not collapse into one category.
Documented bargain
Benefits: Hundreds of promised permanent jobs, major construction activity, road and water investments, school support and new local business activity.
Burdens: Three new gas plants and transmission, traffic and crash increases, possible ratepayer exposure, housing displacement and limited early transparency.
Power and government
Utilities: The original plan required more than $3 billion in power infrastructure; the project has since expanded substantially.
Public action: Louisiana regulators approved generation and transmission plans while advocates challenged cost allocation and process.
This case complicates a simple White-versus-Black story: a very large project is transforming a poor rural parish with both White and Black residents.