New Orleans considers Entergy penalty

NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans officials moved closer Thursday to imposing a $5 million penalty on a major utility company over the use of secretly paid actors at public hearings last year to support plans for a new gasfired power plant.

The penalty would be part of a settlement that would still allow the plant to be built.

Several dozen protesters amid a crowd of roughly 200 people at Thursday’s hearing booed and shouted as members of the City Council’s Utility Committee and representatives of Entergy New Orleans discussed their agreement. Once approved by the committee, the agreement would go to the full council.

Plant opponents have pressured the council to reconsider approving the plant after it was found that contractors hired by Entergy to seek out support for the plant paid people to support and speak in favor of the plant at public hearings.

Some in the eastern New Orleans area where the plant would be built fear emissions and other environmental consequences from the use of fossil fuel.

Several residents spoke in favor of the plant and Entergy’s contention that it’s needed to ensure power availability at times of peak electricity usage.

Investigators found last year that the utility “knew or should have known” that some who spoke at public hearings were paid to support the project.

The settlement calls for the penalty payment to be used to help provide more reliable power for the city’s troubled street drainage and drinking water system.