​EFNO is deeply concerned with the rapid expansion of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in the Gulf South, especially for ratepayers. CCS has long been promised as the industrial solution to climate change, but no matter what you call it (remember Clean Coal?) technologies that extend the life of the fossil fuel industry and do so at the expense of utility customers are a waste of precious money and time.

We agree that drawing down carbon through natural processes is an important element of addressing the climate crisis. However, utilities planning to spend billions of customer dollars to capture the toxic waste only to pump it through communities and threaten our air and water is a false solution.
​
Learn more about our work protecting residents from imprudent costs and false solutions below.

New Orleans Bans Carbon Capture & Sequestration Facilities 

On February 16, 2022, in a huge win for New Orleanians, the New Orleans City Council passed R-22-219 banning the development of carbon capture & sequestration (CCS) facilities & pipelines. 

This resolution will protect New Orleanians from this expensive and unproven technology that poses significant environmental, health and safety risks to our communities. ​
A report from May 2021 by the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council concluded that carbon capture storage projects will not benefit communities. ​Keep reading to learn more about the dangers of carbon capture & sequestration and why this ban is a win for New Orleans.

Hurricane Ida Costs: Why the Grid Failed so Dramatically

​Hurricane Ida left hundreds of thousands in southeast Louisiana without power despite years of promises by Entergy that our communities would not have a repeat of power grid failures if they could just build that plant in New Orleans East (NOPS). We have already learned that the promise of power coming back without outside transmission was false. 

​As New Orleanians sat in the dark for days or evacuated our homes, it seemed like everyone was asking one question: how did the grid fail so dramatically in our city and throughout Louisiana?
In response, on September 14, 2021 EFNO filed a motion with the City Council that calls on the New Orleans City Council to hold Entergy accountable for its mismanagement and neglect of rusting and aging equipment which led to a city-wide power outage following Hurricane Ida, and follows a host of failures by the utility corporation. 

The False Promises of Grand Gulf Nuclear Station

Built in the 1980s, Grand Gulf Nuclear Station has been plagued by a history of failures that together have resulted in ratepayers being saddled with $1 Billion in unreasonable and excessive costs. 
​
In March of 2021 the New Orleans City Council and Louisiana Public Service Commission, along with others, filed a formal complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asserting that ratepayers should not have to continue to pay exceedingly high costs for Grand Gulf's consistently degraded and imprudent performance, or for the costs of continual safety violations. 
In December of 2022 FERC released a decision, a victory for Louisiana ratepayers, siding with the Louisiana Public Service Commission & New Orleans City Council. ​As a result of this decision, and despite Entergy’s persistent claims otherwise, Louisiana and New Orleans ratepayers served by Entergy should expect to be issued hundreds of millions of dollars in refunds.

NOPS: An Expensive, Harmful, and Unnecessary Mistake

​On March 8th, 2018, the New Orleans City Councilmembers voted for New Orleans residents and businesses to foot the bill for an expensive, unnecessary and harmful gas power plant in New Orleans East that would only profit Entergy.
​
The 128-megawatt gas power plant located in Michoud - commonly referred to as The New Orleans Power Station, or NOPS - went into operation on May 31, 2020. The total cost for the gas plant is expected to be $650 million, which New Orleans residents and future generations are on the hook to pay to Entergy for the next 29 years.
What's worse? Entergy's claim that a new gas plant would help restore power quicker during extreme weather didn't hold up. Unfortunately EFNO's concerns were realized when Hurricane Ida left hundreds of thousands in southeast Louisiana without power despite years of promises by Entergy that our communities would not have a repeat of power grid failures if they could just build that plant in New Orleans East. EFNO and our allies are fighting to ensure New Orleanians voices are heard and our rights respected, and that Entergy is held accountable for it's mismanagement of NOPS.

The Energy Future New Orleans Coalition is:
Copyright © 2023 · Energy Future New Orleans