On the contrary, Council members saw fit to close out 2024 by enfranchising a brand-new, private equity-backed, fossil gas-only utility.
Meanwhile, the city of Chicago just announced that it would meet its own goal of powering all municipal operations with renewable energy by 2025 by celebrating the construction of a new 593 MW solar farm, the largest east of the Mississippi River. In a deal with the developer of the project, the windy city has agreed to purchase enough of the installation’s output to power about 70% of municipal operations.
While the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene in Appalachia and the recent wildfires in the Los Angeles area underscore the fact that no location is safe from the effects of a changing climate, New Orleans is arguably more at-risk than Chicago being a coastal city that has already suffered multiple serious climate disasters in the last two decades. Yet, our Council continues to act with a lack of seriousness and urgency around climate change, as its complete inaction to achieve the goals set forth in its own resolution attest.
Empty promises will not ensure that New Orleans remains a livable place, and the Council has unique regulatory authority to do far more than it has to make a clean energy economy thrive.
