New Orleans, La. – Entergy Corporation has won the Edison Electric Institute’s first-ever Advocacy Excellence Award. The award recognizes Entergy’s comprehensive campaign to defend its Indian Point Energy Center outside New York City against efforts to force its closure in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
 

The presentation was made during EEI’s winter CEO Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. yesterday. Accepting the award on behalf of Entergy was Curt Hébert, Jr., executive vice president of external affairs.
 

The campaign, which began in January 2002, continues today, focuses on a combination of efforts by Entergy to educate the public, media and governmental entities with facts to demonstrate that the twin nuclear reactors at the Indian Point Energy Center, located in Buchanan, New York, operate safely, function under the highest level of security, and are a vital part of New York''s energy marketplace.
 

Entergy’s campaign is largely driven by employee volunteers who attend public meetings, post yard signs and bumper stickers, and draft letters to local newspapers and legislators. “This campaign touches all facets of the business and can not be executed without the total participation and coordination of the entire Entergy family, which includes employees, retirees, union groups, vendors, and suppliers, to name a few,” said Hébert. “This campaign, and the recognition we have received today from EEI, proves what I have always believed, that none of us are as good by ourselves, as we are together.”
 

In addition to the grassroots employee activism and organizing efforts, the company executed an advertising campaign covering radio and print media in New York City, the Hudson Valley suburbs and Albany. Briefings and plant tours are also conducted for government officials, and the company launched an informational Web site specifically targeting Indian Point at www.safesecurevital.org to share factual information regarding the plant’s security and vitality to the local area.
 

The Indian Point Energy Center, which employs more than 1,500 highly skilled workers, contributes 20 percent to 40 percent of the electricity in the New York metropolitan area, depending on the season. Millions of homes, thousands of businesses and hundreds of critical transportation, health and municipal systems rely on its reliable, low-cost power. Without Indian Point’s 2,000 megawatts, energy costs would rise over an estimated $1 billion a year in the New York area.
 

Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, and it is the second-largest nuclear generator in the United States. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.6 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of over $9 billion and approximately 14,000 employees.

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Entergy’s online address is www.entergy.com.