Striving to Be the Cleanest Power Generator in America

ur environmental goal is simple: be the cleanest power generator in America, one that voluntarily adheres to greenhouse gas emission levels and conserves natural resources in as many ways as possible. However, achieving our environmental goal is anything but simple. For nearly 10 years, we have invested in clean generation technologies and pursued a comprehensive environmental strategy that includes stabilizing our greenhouse gas emissions, restoring coastal wetlands, promoting energy efficiency, recycling and pollution prevention. Our comprehensive approach and consistent efforts have delivered solid results.

Entergy is the second-cleanest utility generator among the top 10 U.S. generators, due largely to our portfolio of clean nuclear and natural gas generation resources. We were the first U.S. utility to voluntarily commit to stabilize our greenhouse gas emissions in 2001. We exceeded our first five-year commitment goal and in 2006, made our second voluntary stabilization commitment to stabilize our CO₂ emissions from 2006 to 2010 at 20 percent below year 2000 levels. Since 2006, we have met our cumulative emissions goal set forth in our second voluntary stabilization commitment. With continued diligence, we hope to inspire others to follow our example as we work to be the cleanest power generator in America.

2009: A Year of Continued Progress and Recognition

In 2009, we were listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the eighth consecutive time. Entergy was one of only two U.S. utilities listed on the World Index, which comprises more than 300 companies that represent the top 10 percent of the leading sustainability companies out of the biggest 2,500 companies analyzed. Entergy ranked highest or among the best in corporate governance, scorecards/measurement systems, occupational health and safety, environmental policy/management system, climate strategy and talent attraction and retention. We were also named to the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index for the fifth consecutive year, every year since its inception.

Other performance highlights include:

• We continued our investments in clean generating technologies, announcing the purchase of Acadia Unit 2, a 580-MW, highly efficient, natural gas-fired generating unit in southern Louisiana. Plans for a major upgrade to increase production at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station in Port Gibson, Miss., were also announced.
• We once again met our cumulative emissions goal under our voluntary commitment to stabilize our CO₂ emissions from 2006 to 2010 at 20 percent below year 2000 levels.
• In January 2010, we announced the purchase of 100,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions offsets generated by capturing and combusting methane at a wastewater treatment facility in Texas.
• Using valuable carbon-accounting experience we have gained by working with voluntary programs such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Leaders and transparency efforts such as the Carbon Disclosure Project, we were able to present a third-party verified greenhouse gas emission inventory in our 2009 public reporting.
• Working with the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, we launched the Make an Impact website at FindYourCO2.com, which offers a personalized CO₂ footprint analysis to help visitors better manage their impact on the environment.

• Entergy partnered with Restore America’s Estuaries, the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and Jefferson Parish on the Coastal Bayou Segnette Cypress Planting project, which will re-establish cypress trees that provide critical habitat for migratory birds and provide storm protection for local communities.
• In addition to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Entergy was named in 2009 to the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index for the sixth consecutive year and recognized by the SAM Sustainability Yearbook as one of the top 15 percent of companies in its sector worldwide.

More details on our clean generation portfolio and the progress we made in 2009 to implement our comprehensive environmental strategy are included in this section of our sustainability report.

Investing in Clean, Highly Efficient Generating Technologies

Entergy is the second-largest nuclear generation operator in the U.S. We operate 11 units – both utility and non-utility – located in the Northeast, Midwest and South. We also manage the operations of the Cooper Nuclear Station in Nebraska under a service agreement, and at the end of 2009 the Nebraska Public Power District agreed to extend this agreement for another 15 years.

Our nuclear operations team is focused on delivering safe, secure and reliable nuclear power. Our non-utility nuclear fleet achieved a capability factor for 2009 of 93 percent and its second-highest generation output ever. Collectively, Entergy’s nuclear fleet also achieved its highest generation output ever. This outstanding performance is evidence of our ongoing commitment to operational excellence in every facet of our nuclear operations.

In 2009, we announced an agreement to purchase Acadia Unit 2, a 580-megawatt, highly efficient, load-following generating resource in southern Louisiana. Additionally, we announced plans for a major uprate to the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station in Port Gibson, Miss., that will increase production by 13 percent. Going forward, we will continue to seek attractive investment opportunities to expand our clean generation portfolio.

We also encourage the use of alternative energy sources. For example, Warren Easton Senior High School in New Orleans is now equipped with a 28-kW solar array that will produce roughly enough electricity each year to power three traditional residential homes. It’s the first project of the New Orleans Solar Schools Initiative, a partnership between Entergy, Nike Corporation, Winrock International, the Louisiana Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council and the City of New Orleans. Students and teachers can use the solar array as a learning tool to research and report on the potential of solar power and energy conservation.

Stabilizing CO₂ Emissions

We are in the fourth year of our second voluntary five-year commitment to stabilize our greenhouse gas emissions. Our cumulative 2006 to 2009 emissions were 160.1 million tons (third-party verified) which was nearly 6 percent below our cumulative stabilization goal of 170.2 million tons. Since we made our first stabilization commitment in 2001, we have emitted 364.6 million tons of CO₂, which is 16.4 percent below our cumulative stabilization goal for the nine-year period.

We pursue a comprehensive approach to emissions stabilization, which includes internal projects and a variety of external projects, such as the purchase of innovative emissions offsets. In 2010, we announced the purchase of 100,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions offsets from Blue Source, LLC, a leading climate change offset portfolio in North America. The offsets are generated by capturing and combusting methane at a wastewater treatment facility in Texas. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that is 21 times more damaging than CO₂. Multiple carbon registry programs managed the accounting for the offset purchase, which was a first in North America.

Entergy is also taking a leadership role in the areas of carbon accounting and disclosure. Working with voluntary programs such as EPA’s Climate Leaders and transparency efforts such as the Carbon Disclosure Project, Entergy has gained valuable experience with carbon accounting and disclosure. As a result of these and other efforts, we now are able to present a third-party verified greenhouse gas emission inventory in our public reporting.

Additionally, Entergy and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change launched the Make an Impact program, which is a new website at FindYourCO2.com that helps visitors take action to save money and reduce their carbon footprints. The website offers customized tools for our employees, customers and communities to learn about and better manage their individual impact on the environment, reduce their energy usage and become part of the solution to global climate change. In 2009, more than 8,500 unique visitors from more than 30 states logged onto the Make an Impact site. Since launching in July 2009, users of the carbon calculator tool have identified 1 million pounds of potential carbon offsets amounting to potential savings of $1.7 million and have pledged to make changes totaling 130,000 potential carbon offsets and $38,000 in savings.

We believe efforts like these and our efforts to stabilize our own emissions make Entergy a credible advocate for action in the climate change debate. We continue to advocate aggressively for the development of a U.S. carbon policy that is effective, efficient and equitable. In previous reports, we presented our guidelines for a sustainable carbon policy, which included:

• Take meaningful economy-wide action now to slow, stop and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• Use market forces intelligently to find the most efficient solutions.
• Be realistic about carbon prices. We believe $50 per ton by the 2020 to 2025 time frame is in the right range to encourage the development of clean generating technology.
• Understand the social effects. We need to build in permanent low-income protection.
• Support research and development to develop a technology fix for existing coal plants.

This year, we add to this list of guidelines the need for a “pledge and review” structure so that the U.S. takes the lead but does not continue – if the rest of the world does not follow – down a path that would lead to economic disadvantage.

In 2009, Entergy co-sponsored a study with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to evaluate the issues, opportunities and possible next steps related to retrofitting coal-fired plants for CO₂ emissions mitigation. Summary observations from the discussions among the diverse group of participants in the study include:

“There is today no credible pathway towards stringent greenhouse gas stabilization targets without CO₂ emissions reduction from existing coal power plants, and the U.S. and China are the largest emitters.

The U.S. government must move expeditiously to large-scale, properly instrumented, sustained demonstration of CO₂ sequestration, with the goal of providing a stable regulatory framework for commercial operation.”

Following the publication of the MIT report, Entergy executives committed significant time and effort to communicate the summary observations to a variety of stakeholders. For example, Entergy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer J. Wayne Leonard met with a number of policymakers one-on-one, participated in the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Post-Combustion Carbon Capture Forum and spoke at the Clinton School of Public Service as part of the Arkansas Public Service Commission docket to explore the expanded development of sustainable energy resources. The conclusions of the report have been widely accepted and work is under way toward the study’s recommended first step, which involves an inventory of the U.S. coal fleet to determine the plants that are eligible for retrofit.

We continue to believe there is a compelling urgency to the climate change debate. Climate change science is about probabilities, risks and expected outcomes – not absolute certainties. Scientific evidence that we are altering the climate goes far beyond any one dataset or model, some of which have been implicated in recent controversies. Science demonstrates we face a non-trivial probability of catastrophe – and that should be the basis for public policy. Too often an appropriate sense of urgency is missing. However, given our limited ability to bend the trend line of ever-growing greenhouse gas emissions, we must act now – with urgency – to achieve significant emissions reductions by mid-century.

Restoring Coastal Wetlands and Protecting Biodiversity

We believe that biodiversity is an ecological asset that should be valued and protected. Forty-three percent of threatened and endangered species in the U.S. depend on wetlands during some stage of their life cycle. Coastal wetlands also are the first line of defense against storm surge and sea level rise. Despite their recognized value, more than 80,000 acres of wetlands continue to be lost in the U.S. each year.

Since 2007, Entergy has partnered with Restore America’s Estuaries, contributing $280,000 to its wetlands preservation efforts. In 2009, Entergy partnered with RAE, the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and Jefferson Parish to re-establish cypress trees in Bayou Segnette, which is located south of New Orleans. The project will enhance habitat quality for migratory birds and a variety of other coastal species, decrease erosion and positively impact climate change by sequestering carbon dioxide.

Entergy is also an active participant in America’s Energy Coast, an initiative of America’s Wetland Foundation. The initiative is designed to find comprehensive solutions to sustain the vital economic region and environment along the Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama coasts. We chaired the America’s Energy Coast Climate Stewardship task force in 2009, presenting Entergy’s point of view on climate change and coastal wetlands at its meetings.

Promoting Energy Efficiency

We are working at the corporate level to promote energy conservation among our employees, customers and community members. For example, we held our first companywide We’ve Got the Power to Care Week during which 150 Entergy volunteers in 14 communities in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas distributed 5,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs and weatherized 32 homes.

Entergy’s utility operating companies are also working at the state and local level to support efforts to improve energy efficiency. Below are a few examples of 2009 energy-efficiency efforts and results.

• Entergy Texas met its energy efficiency program goals for reducing residential and commercial customer demand growth by 20 percent through market-based standard offer programs and limited, targeted market transformation programs.

• The New Orleans City Council collaborated with Entergy New Orleans on an Energy Smart program, which offers customer rebates for improvements such as adding insulation, sealing ducts and weatherizing homes or offices using a qualified contractor.
• Entergy Mississippi expanded its energy efficiency efforts through a rider approved by the Mississippi Public Service Commission to provide weatherization kits to the first 20,000 customers that complete an online home audit. In addition, student weatherization kits and energy efficiency curriculum guides will be provided to five public high schools in a related pilot program.

In total, we helped support the weatherization of more than 5,200 homes across our utility service territories, which lowers utility bills for our customers and reduces damaging CO₂ emissions.

Encouraging Recycling and Pollution Prevention

Recycling and pollution prevention are key elements of our efforts to operate our business in ways that preserve and protect our environment. In 2009, we took the following steps to recycle:

• We sold or recovered more than 12.3 million pounds of scrap material, reducing the quantity of scrap sent to landfills.
• We recycled or sold more than 430,000 tons of coal ash, which is 60 percent of the amount we generated in 2009. Our ash-recycling rate is significantly higher than the industry average. As a result, our local communities face lower risk from waste storage sites. When the ash is recycled in ready-mix concrete, roofing shingles and aggregate for road construction, it reduces the environmental impact associated with the production of these materials.
• We recycled 1,934 pounds of rechargeable batteries from Entergy locations enrolled in Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation’s “Call2Recycle” program.
• We standardized our process for recycling of computer and electronic equipment in 2009, resulting in about 111 tons of assets being resold, redeployed or recycled.
• We converted 303.7 tons of copy paper to 30 percent recycled-content paper, which resulted in 2,357 fewer trees used, 8,331 million BTUs less energy used and 1.6 million pounds less of CO₂ equivalent emissions. In the second phase of this effort, we promoted the use of recycled paper for stationery, envelopes and business cards, which resulted in the use of 680,243 pounds of recycled-content paper. The third phase of Entergy’s recycling initiative will begin as the company continues to illustrate its commitment to the environment and sustainability. Phase 3 targets the recycling of paper, plastics and aluminum, including the beverage cans that have become ubiquitous in today’s workplace. Phase 3 will begin as a pilot program at four New Orleans work sites, with an expected expansion to other facilities in 2010. In the meantime, Entergy will continue to work with other recycling programs currently in place at certain locations around the company.
• We placed bins around Entergy’s corporate offices following Mardi Gras to collect and recycle plastic Mardi Gras beads.

We continue to work to minimize pollution from our operations. In our generation facilities, we produced 54.2 tons of hazardous waste compared to 46.0 tons in 2008. We also recognize that availability of clean water is vital to the sustainability of our planet. We strive in all our operations to improve our water consumption and reduce water pollution. We had 32 NPDES exceedances, up from 17 exceedances in 2008, and our compliance rate was 99.95 percent.

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