NFL Deal is a Nuclear Shell Game

By Pastor Gregory Manning

​Last month, the New Orleans City Council adopted a resolution, authorizing a short-term agreement between Entergy New Orleans and Entergy Louisiana.

​The companies sought approval for the deal at the behest of the NFL, which is eager to market the Super Bowl as being powered by clean energy. Careful scrutiny of the terms, however, reveals the truth that this deal is simply a nuclear shell game whereby the companies are swapping power from a fossil gas plant for power from one of Entergy Louisiana’s nuclear plants and calling it ‘clean.’

​Not only is this dishonest on the part of the NFL, it highlights ENO’s continuing failure to invest in the transmission and renewable energy infrastructure necessary to power a truly clean Super Bowl and city. Affordable, clean energy for a city as vulnerable to climate disaster as New Orleans should not be a one-football-game-per-year sleight-of-hand act, but a daily reality. The New Orleans City Council has unique regulatory authority to keep ENO honest, and they should exercise it, such as by demanding that any clean energy deal for powering the Super Bowl be verified and certified by an independent not-for-profit organization with experience in validating clean and green power claims. In addition, ENO and the NFL should provide transparent substantiation of all “clean” or “green” claims on a publicly-accessible website and as part of any advertisements or promotional statements. The Council can and should strive to be more than a rubber stamp for bogus deals such as this one.