June 14, 2018 By Hand Delivery Lora W. Johnson Clerk of Council Room 1E09, City Hall 1300 Perdido St. New Orleans, LA 70122 RE: New Orleans City Council Approval of Entergy New Orleans Power Station Dear Ms. Johnson, Enclosed please find an original and three copies of the attached letter. Please file the attached this letter and return one time-stamped copy to our courier, in accordance with normal procedures. Thank you for your assistance with this matter. Sincerely President, The 4313 Palmyra New Orleans, (504) 434-0745 eighborhood Organization CC: Councilmembers Williams, Moreno, Giarrusso, Banks, Gisleson Palmer, Brossett, and Nguyen June 14, 2018 TO: Joseph Giarrusso City Hall, Room 2W80 1300 Perdido Street New Orleans, LA 70112 Jay H. Banks City Hall, Room 2W10 1300 Perdido Street New Orleans, LA 70112 Honorable Members of the New Orleans City Council: We, the undersigned neighborhood and civic groups, are writing in response to the signi?cant de?ciencies in the process that led to the City Council?s March 8? 2018 approval of Entergy?s gas power plant. This decision will impact every neighborhood in the City for at least the next 30 years because it will raise electric bills, and pollute our air and soil. It will also gravely imperil our City?s resiliency because this decision will divert a quarter of a billion dollars from gravely needed resiliency investments such as batteries, solar power, and microgrids that would enable our City to quickly rebound from hurricanes and other severe weather events. Furthermore, it will contribute to Climate Change, which imperils the City of New Orleans, along with the rest of coastal Louisiana. The undersigned neighborhood and civic organizations believe that the City of New Orleans should be moving away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable and renewable energy sources, in conjunction with a prioritization for energy ef?ciency and resiliency projects and programs. We believe that in order to regain the public?s trust our City Council must act to remedy the de?ciencies of its decision making process, and ensure the integrity of the public process on major utility decisions. Speci?cally, we urge this Council to provide early noti?cation and genuine opportunities for public engagement and input with respect to a_l! decisions that will have a city-wide impact on the critical utilities and infrastructure of New Orleans. In addition to hosting meetings and opportunities for public input, Council Members should actually be present at these public meetings to hear citizen input. Council Member presence at such meetings is essential to provide a meaningful opportunity for public education and comment. Steps should also be taken to ensure citizens are not prevented from entering the meeting room and having their voices heard, instead of being crowded out by paid actors, utility shareholders, and funding recipients. We applaud the Council investigation of Entergy?s interference with public participation in the meetings leading up to the Council?s March 8, 2018 approval of the New Orleans East gas plant. We urge the Council to suspend the effects of its March 8 decision pending the completion of this investigation. It is also time that meaningful structural and process changes be made in how the Council conducts its energy policy and utility regulatory work to prevent similar problems in the future. As our newly elected representatives we ask that you suspend the March 8, 2018 approval and reopen this proceeding with a renewed commitment to evaluating all potential options, including not just the power plant proposals provided by Entergy; but also options that de-emphasize or eliminate the future use of fossil fuels for The City of New Orleans?, in exchange for developing an infrastructure reliant upon cleaner, more sustainable and more resilient sources of energy. Emily Leitzing President, Mid-Ci CC: Jason Williams Helena Moreno Kristen Gisleson Palmer Jared Brosset Cyndi Nguyen