New Orleans City Council Utility Committee has voted to mandate Entergy New Orleans go carbon free by 2050. Should the vote be passed by the full city council it will put the utility on a 30-year schedule to free itself from carbon fuels.
The vote would also set the bar for the utility to 90% free of carbon fuels by 2040.
"This is the catalyst for New Orleans' transition away from fossil fueled power generation and towards a clean and resilient future," Council member-at-large Helena Moreno, who leads the committee, was quoted in Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate. "New Orleans is on the front line of climate risk, as we recently saw with the storms we had. The coast, the economy and our future depend on our bold action."
Not only is it a tall order for Entergy, the utility is also prohibited from raising rates by more than 1%.
According to the paper, Entergy has a myriad of choices of energy generation at its disposal to offset carbon emissions. This includes wind, solar, and nuclear power. This also includes energy efficiency efforts.
The City Council would also be allowed to penalize Entergy if it doesn’t make yearly goals in progressing toward carbon-free energy generation.
Penalties would be paid into a “Clean NOLA Fund.” That money will go to local renewable energy projects.
