​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.

Entergy has already collected over $90 million from New Orleans customers for the new gas plant. The money collected is the first year of installment payments. There will also be additional installment payments and costs for fuel, maintenance, and management.

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.

Who Pays for the Plant?

Everyone who has a utility bill in Orleans Parish.
Entergy pays $0.

How Much Am I Paying?

Every household in Orleans Parish will pay at least
​an extra $70 a year, for the next 30 years. 

How Many Permanent Jobs Will Be Created?

13, thirteen jobs.

How Often Will the Plant Be Used?

Entergy has estimated that the plant would only be in use for
50 hours a year, that's less than 1% of the year.

Is Entergy Profiting?

​Entergy stands to make tens of millions of dollars as they are
paid ​a guaranteed rate of return on capital investments.

Background on NOPS

On June 20th, 2016 Entergy submitted an application to the New Orleans City council requesting approval to construct a $216 million, 226 megawatt gas-burning power plant in New Orleans East.

Entergy claimed the plant was necessary to replace two older and inefficient plants, stating that the plant would deliver energy to consumers at a low cost while also increase the electrical grid’s resiliency in response to severe weather events.
Entergy faced immediate resistance from the local community. The plant is located in a predominantly African American and Vietnamese American neighborhood of New Orleans East. Residents quickly mobilized against NOPS, which "promised to bring toxic air pollution and greater flood risks, while continuing a pattern of systemic environmental racism wherein polluting power plants are almost always built in communities of color" (Earthjustice). Community organizations along with consumer and environmental justice advocates in the city joined the chorus of opposition, fighting tirelessly against the expensive, unnecessary and harmful gas plant.
On July 6th, 2016 Entergy announced plans for a scaled-back version of the power plant - a 128 megawatt gas-burning plant that would cost $210 million according to company estimates.​ Despite overwhelming public outcry against Entergy's gas plant, on March 8th, 2018 the New Orleans City Council voted 6-1 in favor of the scaled-back version of the power plant.

Utilities are paid a guaranteed rate of return on capital investments including power plants, giving them an incentive to convince regulators to approve big power plants rather than enabling customer-sited distributed energy such as rooftop solar. Entergy stands to make tens of millions of dollars off of the New Orleans Power Station. What about New Orleans residents?

Entergy secured the New Orleans City Council’s approval by claiming that the plant was an essential source of local generation that would:
  • Fix the frequent outages burdening residents and business. 
  • Assist the city during extreme weather events through its black-start capability, or ability to self-start without power from an outside source, the grid.
​
​Yet the plant has failed to live up to Entergy's promises to improve reliability and increase storm reliance. 
​

Entergy's False Promises

For a full overview of all the reasons why New Orleans did not need a new gas plant click here. 

Reliability and Outages

A gas plant is a false solution.
In August of 2017, The New Orleans City Council opened up docket UD-17-04 to investigate the cause of the thousands of outages New Orleans customers were burdened by each year. 

Entergy's own data found that 98% of all outages since 2011 have been caused by problems with the transmission and distribution system. These problems are the result of Entergy’s failure to maintain and repair poles and wires in our neighborhoods. This is a problem Entergy has ignored for years. Entergy has failed to make the system storm-ready even though it was directed to do so by the City Council after Hurricane Katrina.

That means building a new power plant to put more power into the grid won't keep your lights on or your AC running.
Entergy's own data shows that the cost of directly solving the transmission reliability concerns was $57 million - over $150 million less than the predicted cost of NOPS and over $450 million less than the actual costs over the next 29 years. According to the Council Advisor’s own testimony as presented by witness Joe Rogers, the bill impact for the transmission upgrade solution could have been a mere $1.82/month, approximately 1⁄4 of the bill impact of the $6.91 monthly cost for NOPS. In other words, Entergy’s proposed peaking gas plant has cost New Orleanians dramatically more than what it would have cost to directly solve the transmission reliability issue with a transmission solution.
​

Storm Resilience

Entergy's claim that a new gas plant would be needed during extreme weather doesn't hold water.
During Hurricane Ida Entergy did not black-start the New Orleans East Gas Plant as promised by Entergy; and a major reason why the Council approved the plant. 

Entergy secured the New Orleans City Council’s approval by touting the plants "black-start capability" and claiming that the plant’s “storm restoration benefits” would help “to restore service to customers in a timely manner following a major storm event” (Entergy's Supplemental Application). Yet Entergy built the gas plant in a high-risk flood hazard area, where FEMA policy discourages the building of a new power plant. Entergy executives admitted that they planned the gas plant without considering the City of New Orleans Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance, which adopts FEMA standards.

​The Alliance and our partners warned the council that nothing in the record shows that this plant is a real or cost effective method of making New Orleans resilient during and after a major storm compared to other strategies designed for that purpose. More likely, the scenario Entergy describe would render their plant virtually useless.​
​Unfortunately our 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. NOPS could not be fired up safely without the restoration of transmission from the northshore of Lake Pontchartrain, which took several days to accomplish. Meanwhile, elders died in their sweltering homes, and families forced to rely on combustion generators were poisoned in their sleep. 

Entergy has proven once again that it prioritizes shareholder profits over customer and community needs. Entergy's failure's are costing ratepayers too much. The traditional energy systems that served us in the 19th and 20th centuries were not designed to weather Ida or Laura. We need to plan differently.
​

Looking Forward

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.

EFNO Motion
September 14, 2021

EFNO filed a motion calling 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. EFNO’s motion calls into question the fairness of New Orleans customers bearing the entire costs for the gas plant because it did not operate on its own in the power outage, as promised by Entergy to win Council approval for it, and the plant was being used to power areas outside of the city.

Open Meetings Lawsuit
April 19, 2018

The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ), et al. filed a lawsuit alleging that the City Council violated Louisiana’s constitution and Open Meetings Law at two meetings related to Entergy New Orleans’ application to build a gas plant in New Orleans East, because members of the public were prevented from entering the meeting for observation and comment and supporters of Entergy were given preferential access to the meetings. This lawsuit is currently making its way through the Louisiana Supreme Court.

NOPS Lawsuit
April 9, 2016

The Alliance for Affordable Energy, et al. filed a a lawsuit alleging that The New Orleans City Council violated the Louisiana Constitution, Louisiana Statutes, City Ordinances and the Council's own policies when it passed the resolution approving Entergy New Orlean's application to build the New Orleans Power Plant (NOPS) - because, among other things, the manner in which The Council conducted the proceeding violated the Petitioners' constitutional right to due process. This lawsuit is currently making its way through the Louisiana Supreme Court. 

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