Alliance for Affordable Energy - The Watchdog

Louisiana utility regulators blame Entergy for creating grid dependent on costly gas by Wesley Muller

8/5/2022

Article by Wesley Muller
Originally Published on the Louisiana Illuminator
August 2, 2022

For years, utility giant resisted diversifying its fuel sources, critics say

With Louisiana residents receiving unprecedentedly high electricity bills, Democrats on the Louisiana Public Service Commission last week blamed Entergy Louisiana for the “mess,” saying the utility giant ignored calls to diversify its sources of fuel for power generation.

While some commissioners blamed Entergy for the problem, one advocate said the commission also bears responsibility. Logan Burke, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, said the commission never really pushed hard for renewables. The energy industry knew years ago that renewables were going to become the cheapest sources of power, yet the commission over the course of four years approved four new natural gas power plants in Louisiana, Burke said.

City of New Orleans to Offer Utility Assistance to Eligible Renters in Danger of Service Disconnection

8/3/2022

Originally Published by The Mayor's Office
July 29, 2022

The Mayor's Office of Housing Policy and Community Development will host a community-based outreach event to provide financial assistance to eligible renters who are at risk of electric or water disconnection.

The event will take place on Wednesday, August 3 and Thursday, August 4 from 9am - 3 pm at the Joe Brown Park Recreational Center located at 5601 Read Blvd. Translators and legal assistance will be available onsite.

Am I eligable?
Residents who have applied for rental assistance through the City of New Orleans but have not received utility assistance can attend the outreach event.

Angry Entergy customers protest rising bills outside utility’s New Orleans headquarters by Kaitlin Rust

8/2/2022

Article by Kaitlin Rust
Originally Published on Fox 8
August 1, 2022

Chants of ‘No more shutoffs, no more hikes, we deserve AC and lights’

Angry Entergy customers gathered outside the company’s headquarters in New Orleans to call for change as bills skyrocket and many across the state struggle with impending service shutoffs.

“I hope they see that people are not going to take it anymore, that we’re standing up and demanding that our regulators act on behalf of ratepayers to protect their best interests and to protect the most vulnerable among us,” said Jesse George of the Alliance for Affordable Energy.

Join us to demand action! #EvacuateEntergy

7/29/2022

Have your bills been outrageously high recently?

Join The Alliance Monday, August 1 at Entergy Headquarters (639 Loyola Ave) at 6pm to demand action from our elected officials.

Come stand with The Alliance, Sunrise Movement New Orleans, New Orleans Democratic Socialists of America, Young Communist League New Orleans, Energy Future New Orleans (EFNO), & Louisiana for a Green New Deal.

In the past couple of months Entergy has been charging us hundreds of dollars more than usual just to keep the lights on.

This comes less than a year since Entergy's grid failed us after Ida. Leaving our city in the dark for weeks.

Historic Transmission Projects Approved in the Midwest - What Happened to Planning for Louisiana?

7/27/2022

By Yvonne Cappel-Vickery, AAE Clean Energy Grid Organizer

On July 25, the Midcontinent System Operator, also known as MISO, the regional transmission organization of which Louisiana is a member, approved the most extensive set of transmission projects to be approved in U.S. history.

The MISO Board of Directors' approval of Tranche 1 will result in more renewable energy projects and over 200,000 jobs. Approval of Tranche 1 is good news for everyone in the MISO footprint as it will encourage the transition to clean energy sources and increase grid reliability.

The projects approved are part of the Long Range Transmission Planning, aka LRTP.

Tranche 1 represents the first integration and includes 18 projects across the MISO Midwest subregion estimated at $10.3 billion

Louisiana Public Service Commission Holds the Keys to our Future

7/22/2022

The Louisiana Public Service Commission, or LPSC, has an key role in deciding the costs that your utilities charge, the types of services it provides, and the kind of energy that powers our state.

The Commission is constitutionally empowered and has five elected members. Two of those five seats are up for election this November. Qualifying for those races ends today. This simple informational page highlights some of the things that anyone interested in serving as a Commissioner should be aware of.

Turn Off the Gaslight: The Natural Truth About Gas

7/22/2022

Join The Alliance for a virtual teach-in on August 11th, 2022 at 6pm CT, Turn Off the Gaslight: The Natural Truth About Gas.

We’ll talk about what natural gas is (methane!) and where it comes from. Plus, hear from experts about who sets the price of methane, how the price of methane affects your utility bills, what are the alternatives, and what you can do.

The teach-in will end with a Q&A where you can get the answers to all your natural gas questions.

No need to register just join via zoom at bit.ly/naturalgasrundown.

Entergy offered a $588M settlement to end allegations at Grand Gulf. Should Louisiana agree? By Sam Karlin

7/7/2022

Article by Sam Karlin
Originally Published on The Advocate
July 7, 2022

Amid wide-ranging allegations that it soaked ratepayers for inflated costs at its troubled Grand Gulf nuclear power plant, which serves customers in three states, Entergy has struck a settlement with Mississippi, agreeing to refund the state $300 million.

But it’s not yet clear if regulators in Louisiana will opt into the deal, and some officials are skeptical.

The Alliance's take: This plant has been a problem from the jump. Louisianans are owed far more than this pittance and we’re glad to see regulators in the state indicate the same sentiment.

NOLA City Council Approves LEED Ordinance

7/7/2022

At the New Orleans City Council’s July 7th meeting, Councilmembers adopted an ordinance that will bring City buildings up to LEED Gold Standards.

By bringing City buildings up to LEED Gold standards, as the federal government and school board have done with their buildings in New Orleans, we will reduce energy demand, alleviate stress on our overburdened grid, and lower the City’s carbon footprint.

New Orleans is both a city particularly vulnerable to a changed climate, and one with enormous opportunity for gains in energy efficiency and green building. The historic character of New Orleans does not mean that we must rely on the building standards of the 19th century. Sustainable building is an act of preservation, and it is time for New Orleans’ municipal building stock to meet contemporary standards.

Breaking News: The Supreme Court dismantles of half a century of health, environmental, and climate justice advocacy.

6/30/2022

Repost from Green New Deal Network

Today, the Supreme Court’s far-right conservative majority has ruled in favor of corporate interests like the Koch brothers, and will be moving to limit the powers of the Clean Air Act, dismantling half a century of health, environmental and climate justice advocacy.

The ruling on West Virginia vs EPA constitutes yet another blow as part of a coordinated attack on the health of Black, brown and low-income communities by the U.S. judicial branch, greedy corporations and billionaires, religious extremists, and white surpremacists.

But it does not impact Congress’ and Biden’s power to act on urgent priorities for our communities.

Read more to learn about how you can take action!

Entergy says rates will go up for most Louisiana customers; see how much by Robert Stewart

6/17/2022

Article by Robert Stewart
Originally Published on The Advocate
June 3, 2022

Company blames rising natural gas costs, damage from storms

Blaming rising natural gas costs and lingering expenses from a slew of weather disasters over the last two years, Entergy on Friday said electricity rates for most of its Louisiana customers will rise in June by as much as $25 for an average household.

The rate increases will affect areas covered by Entergy Louisiana, the division of Entergy Corp. that supplies power to roughly 1.1 million customers in 58 parishes, including most of south Louisiana.

The impact on customers of Entergy New Orleans, the utility company’s Orleans Parish subsidiary, remains to be seen, but rates could rise later this year if the New Orleans City Council approves a $150 million plan to finance the company’s storm repairs.

Entergy New Orleans Reliability Judgment

6/14/2022

On Monday, June 13, 2022, Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Rachael Johnson issued a ruling from the bench granting Entergy New Orleans’ petition for injunctive relief from a $1M fine that the New Orleans City Council imposed in 2019 as a result of routine reliability issues.

The Council opened docket UD-17-04 in 2017 to investigate Entergy’s decision to defer maintenance and upgrades to its distribution system. The Council, as the utility’s regulator, concluded that Entergy had acted imprudently and penalized the company accordingly. Entergy immediately filed suit for injunctive relief, claiming that the Council had not created reliability standards to which it could be held accountable.

Ban on carbon capture & sequestration (CCS) facilities & pipelines passed by full New Orleans City Council

6/9/2022

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.

Read more to learn more about the dangers of carbon capture & sequestration and why this ban is a win for New Orleans.

New Orleans City Council Climate Committee votes to ban carbon capture & sequestration facilities and pipelines

6/3/2022

Yesterday the New Orleans City Council Climate Committee voted to ban carbon capture & sequestration facilities and pipelines. The resolution, R-22-219, will now go to the full Council for a vote.

What is carbon capture and sequestration?
“Carbon capture and sequestration” or “CCS” refers to unproven technologies intended to prevent carbon dioxide (CO2) from reaching the atmosphere and contributing to climate change. Plans for CCS involve either collecting CO2 from industrial facilities or removing it from the air. Once collected or removed, the CO2 is either injected underground for disposal or used in the production of more fossil fuels.

Why is The Alliance concerned about CCS?
The coal, oil, and gas industry touts CCS as a “solution” to climate change. But CCS projects have consistently overpromised and underperformed, when they have not failed completely. CCS benefits the petrochemical and pipeline companies by enabling these industries to keep expanding profits while supposedly offsetting their emissions. What's worse? CCS poses significant environmental, health and safety risks to our communities and will have disproportionate affects on Black and Native communities. A report from May 2021 by the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council concluded that carbon capture storage projects will not benefit communities.

We don't want this expensive, unproven technology in our city. Tell your Councilmember to vote "yes" on Resolution 22-219!

A new model for hurricane response? Nonprofit eyes churches, community centers as recovery hubs by Matt Sledge

6/1/2022

Article by Matt Sledge
Originally Published on Nola.com
May 24, 2022

A LaPlace church that served food and organized volunteers after Hurricane Ida will be outfitted with solar panels in the first phase of a $40 million project to create dozens of “resilience hubs” across southeast Louisiana, officials said Tuesday.

Supporters of the far-reaching project hope that they can eventually equip up to 100 churches and community organizations with solar power and batteries. The first batch includes the New Wine Christian Fellowship and nine other locations. One goal is to create places where residents can get cool and charge up after a hurricane.

But supporters also hope to cut electricity bills throughout the year and to transform community groups like churches into disaster responders.

Groups Urge Gov. Edwards to Establish State Energy Plan to Compete for Federal Funds

5/25/2022

Originally published by Deep South Center for Environmental Justice

The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) and the Alliance for Affordable Energy (AAE) sent a letter urging Governor Edwards to establish an energy plan to make Louisiana competitive for the billions of dollars available from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law administered by the Department of Energy.

Our letter follows an historic meeting in New Orleans in which the US Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jennifer Granholm met with community, environmental justice, and energy consumer advocates yesterday. She encouraged them to participate in decisions on equitable energy investments. Currently, the DOE reports that $62 billion in funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law are now available for energy projects.

Inaction on an energy plan for Louisiana limits opportunities to fund projects that can save lives during power outages by innovating the electric grid, as well as support the transition to an equitable renewable energy economy.

Creaky U.S. power grid threatens progress on renewables, EVs by Tim McLaughlin

5/23/2022

By Tim McLaughlin
Originally Published on Reuters
May 12, 2022

The nation’s transmission network, plagued by outages and increasingly severe weather, needs a trillion-dollar overhaul to handle the Biden administration’s promised clean-energy revolution. No one is taking charge of that problem.

After decades of struggle, the U.S. clean-energy business is booming, with soaring electric-car sales and fast growth in wind and solar power. That’s raising hopes for the fight against climate change.

All this progress, however, could be derailed without a massive overhaul of America’s antiquated electric infrastructure – a task some industry experts say requires more than $2 trillion. The current network of transmission wires, substations and transformers is decaying with age and underinvestment, a condition highlighted by catastrophic failures during increasingly frequent and severe weather events.

We're hiring! AAE is looking for an Operations Director.

5/19/2022

The Alliance seeks a full-time Operations Director. This job is for a systems-thinker, who appreciates creating efficient and thoughtful team environments, and who is eager to jump in with a dynamic, high-performing team.

The Operations Manager will play a key role in developing and maintaining the processes that ensure smooth function of the organization. They are responsible for: maintaining financial and organizational records, onboarding new employees, administering employee benefits, managing our bookkeeping and CPA consultant relationships, providing direction to our communications associate and ensuring that our organization, team and related coalitions are run efficiently and effectively.

Louisiana legislator pushes bills benefiting the oil and gas industry — and her husband by Sara Sneath

5/9/2022

Article by Sara Sneath for Floodlight
Originally produced in partnership with Floodlight, the Louisiana Illuminator and The Guardian
Repost from The Lens
May 6, 2022

Less than a week after a carbon dioxide pipeline operated by Denbury Resources burst in a rural Mississippi community — sending nearly 50 people to the hospital — Louisiana Republican Sen. Sharon Hewitt filed a bill drafted by Denbury into her own state’s legislature.

The law, passed in 2020, could make it more difficult for Louisiana landowners to push back against CO2 pipelines, which are used to transport carbon pollution captured from fossil fuel projects. The bill was introduced and signed into law the same year that Hewitt’s husband earned up to $4,999 in royalties from Denbury, according to Hewitt’s 2020 financial disclosure statement.

That wasn’t the first time Hewitt, who is considering running for governor, has used her political influence to help her family’s finances, according to public records shared with Floodlight in partnership with The Lens, The Illuminator and The Guardian, that show she also pushed for laws that would benefit her husband’s company.

Save the Date! Gulf Gathering for Climate Justice and Joy is on June 4th

5/5/2022

The Gulf South has given this country so much – jazz and blues, farmers and fishers that feed our nation, the civil rights movement – and while its future is under threat, a hopeful future is still possible for the region, and that’s worth celebrating.

On June 4th, residents from across the Gulf South are coming together for the Gulf Gathering for Climate Justice and Joy in Baton Rouge to celebrate as a form of resistance.

Join us for this free, family-friendly festival filled with food, music and fellow Gulf Southerners. We love our way of life here in the Gulf South, and we deserve a future where we can sustain it.

Learn More & RSVP

Louisiana lawmakers propose study for wind energy pilot project in Gulf by Wesley Muller

5/5/2022

Article by Wesley Muller
Originally Published on the Louisiana Illuminator
May 3, 2022

Resolution calls for a power-generating wind farm by 2026.

Louisiana lawmakers want state regulators to study the most cost-effective pathways to complete an offshore wind energy pilot project in the Gulf of Mexico within four years.

The state House of Representatives made its request official Monday with the adoption of House Resolution 25, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Orgeron, R-Larose. According to the resolution, the House “urges and requests” the Public Service Commission to study the benefits, costs and best ways of achieving a demonstrable offshore wind pilot project by 2026.

Studies show Gulf of Mexico wind power is one of the largest untapped energy resources in the nation. The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory found Gulf winds can provide double the energy currently being used in all five Gulf states.

Say no to HB 564! What are regulatory sandboxes and why are they potentially bad for consumers?

5/2/2022

Originally published by The Sierra Club Delta Chapter (Louisiana)

The Sierra Club Delta Chapter and The Alliance are opposed to HB 564, which would create the financial technology regulatory sandbox program.

We agree with Sen. Jay Morris' statement last year when Sen. Mark Wright proposed a similar bill: "I have a problem just saying, 'If you come up with a product, you can ask the regulators to waive all the laws that we put in place, presumably for a good reason."

The idea behind regulatory sandboxes sounds tempting: temporarily relieving businesses of various regulatory burdens and associated costs while they deliver new products, services, and business models to market. The concept is that with less regulation, barriers to new developments are reduced and new ideas can be tried and tested at lower risk, allowing businesses to invest less and gain more.

Conceptually, the upstart firms will graduate from the sandbox and become full-fledged competitors in the business world, but so far in states that have already accepted the sandbox idea, the trend has been for established companies to acquire firms that have benefitted from the regulatory sandbox, essentially acquiring research and development conducted at public expense.

Solar + storage bill at the Louisiana Legislature will help create resilience hubs & allow people to stay safe in their homes during outages

5/2/2022

The Aimee Freeman Solar+ Storage Bill (HB 806) will introduce a program to fund solar with battery storage at the Louisiana Legislature so that people can stay safe in their homes during outages and so that resilience hubs can build these systems to help with rapid response.

The bill was expected to be heard/debated in the Commerce Committee at the Louisiana Legislature today, May 2nd, but was deferred.

Important Details About the Freeman Bill:

Cap annual and total per-project rebate to encourage efficient use of funds.
Tie rebate to system size rather than % of total cost.
Systems must be able to “island” and serve customers in event of outage
Ensure significant carveout for low-income households, including multi-family buildings - 40% or more.
Enable systems to feed the grid on normal days to improve whole-grid reliability.

EPA investigates Louisiana environmental, health agencies for racial discrimination in issuing air pollution permits by Mark Schleifstein

4/29/2022

Article by Mark Schleifstein
Originally Published on Nola.com
April 7, 2022

The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating whether two state agencies discriminated against Black residents when they were involved in permitting decisions for two chemical plants and a grain terminal in St. John and St. James parishes.

The probe centers on actions taken by the state Department of Environmental Quality and Health when DEQ considered permits during the past 2 years for the Denka Performance Elastomers plant, the proposed Formosa Plastics Sunshine plant and the proposed Greenfield Exports grain terminal, according to letters EPA sent to environmental groups announcing the start of its investigation. They come five months after EPA Administrator Michael Regan promised a crackdown on permitting decisions along Louisiana’s chemical corridor.

Environmental Groups have long called that area “Cancer Alley,” due to federal studies that show higher concentrations of airborne pollutants and more instances of cancer in that region than elsewhere in the state.

Congressional Hearing on Carbon Capture in the Gulf

4/28/2022

Originally published by Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)

The House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources is hosting a hearing on "The Opportunities and Risks of CCS in the Gulf of Mexico".

Center for International Environmental Law's (CIEL) President, Carroll Muffett, will be testifying, speaking about the limited potential, high costs, and history of failures of CCS, and how the false promise of CCS threatens to entrench fossil fuels and slow the transition to clean and renewable energy.

The hearing started at 8:30am CT on April 28th.

Watch the Hearing

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