Can New Orleans withstand climate change?
Climate change is producing more and bigger storms. Now some of these storms start in the Caribbean and rocket across the Gulf of Mexico. Fueled by the hot water in the gulf, they intensify rapidly. Big hurricanes are going to hit New Orleans again and again. We need real plans to protect our great and historic city.
The levee system surrounding the city was fortified by the Corps of Engineers. Mayor LaToya Cantrell secured state infrastructure money to upgrade the city’s storm water capacity. But Hurricane Ida exposed a glaring weakness – an easily decimated electric grid.
RELATED: Entergy Focused on Profits Not Electricity
Expectations were high after Entergy New Orleans(EntergyNO) promised a new gas power plant would power the city even if transmission lines failed. But after Ida passed, families who survived the storms fury, were forced to evacuate. The decimated power grid and the small capacity of the power plant left people in oppressive life-threatening heat.
People were pissed. So politicians, especially those running for office, were infuriated! Chief critic in charge is City Councilmember Helena Moreno. Moreno chairs the committee that regulates Entergy. In the immediate aftermath, she angrily suggested hefty fines, revoking their contract, reducing their rates and kicking them out of the market. She denounced the company daily. Many condemn her actions as pure political theater.
But Moreno’s biggest critic is EntergyNO. They issued/ leaked a response that challenges the very relationship EntergyNO and the city enjoy. EntergyNO suggests either selling the company, spinning it off as a standalone, have the city takeover running the company or remove city council regulation and move to state level regulators.
Both sides have drawn lines in the sand. But a real solution does not require scorched earth. New Orleans must have a power grid that is able to withstand more frequent and stronger storms. EntergyNO must be a well-financed utility that provides services and generates profits. De-escalation is key.
Giving Credit Where Credit is Due
Moreno is correct that EntergyNO did not deliver on the promise to provide power from the gas plant. She is correct despite record profits last year, the company did little to harden the grid. People suffered for nearly a week in constant heat and humidity. There wasn’t any automatic black starting of the gas plant as EntergyNO claimed. Instead, we saw lack of maintenance on old, outdated poles and lines contribute to the misery people endured. Moreno has many backers. Some people believe EntergyNO failed our city.
But after the strongest storm to ever hit the city passed, the company pulled out all the stops. A massive restoral process occurred. Trimmers cut trees. Transformers mounted. They rerouted power from the north shore and installed new poles and lines across the city. Considering that the eight main power sources were snapped, the company unquestionably performed yeoman’s work righting the situation. Most in the city had power restored in a week.
Still the state of affairs is strained. Entergy wanted kudos for quickly restoring power. Instead, they got grief. Moreno and others used their platforms to castigate the corporate giant. We need calm heads not intensifying rhetoric.
Conflict Resolution
Assertiveness and cooperativeness are to keys to conflict resolution. So far, each side has been asserting their own needs. Cooperation requires taking action to satisfy the needs of others. Collaboration is the best tool for this situation. New Orleans needs a great power company. Entergy has done business in New Orleans for 50 years. Can’t we all get along, cause another storm is brewing.
Jeff Thomas
Publisher • Opinion Columnist • Licensed General Contractor • Real Estate Appraiser • New Orleans
Jeff Thomas is the publisher of Black Source Media and one of New Orleans’ most direct voices on civic affairs, economic justice, and Louisiana politics. He writes from the intersection of experience and accountability — as a licensed general contractor,a tech company founder and executive with over 30 years experience, and a businessman who has worked across the city’s civic, media, and construction ecosystems for decades.
His Sunday column covers Louisiana legislative politics, insurance discrimination, housing policy, and the forces shaping Black community life in New Orleans and across the state. Thomas writes in the tradition of Black journalists who hold power accountable without apology — building arguments from data, delivering verdicts from evidence, and speaking to Black New Orleans with the directness the moment demands.
He is also the principal of EA Inspection Services, LLC, a government inspection services company. Black Source Media is his platform for the civic conversation New Orleans has needed and too rarely had.
Selected Articles by Jeff Thomas
Black Neighborhoods Pay the Highest Insurance Rates in Louisiana. Here’s What They Don’t Want You to Know.
They Didn’t Yell the N-Word. They Went to Law School, Bided Their Time, and Rewrote the Constitution Instead.
Vappie vs. Morrell: Why Does Justice Look Different in New Orleans?
The State Has the Money. New Orleans East Just Needs Them to Use It.
The Failure of Mitch Landrieu
Publisher — Black Source Media
Jeff Thomas
Publisher • Opinion Columnist • Licensed General Contractor • Real Estate Appraiser • New Orleans
Jeff Thomas is the publisher of Black Source Media and one of New Orleans’ most direct voices on civic affairs, economic justice, and Louisiana politics. He writes from the intersection of experience and accountability — as a licensed general contractor,a tech company founder and executive with over 30 years experience, and a businessman who has worked across the city’s civic, media, and construction ecosystems for decades.
His Sunday column covers Louisiana legislative politics, insurance discrimination, housing policy, and the forces shaping Black community life in New Orleans and across the state. Thomas writes in the tradition of Black journalists who hold power accountable without apology — building arguments from data, delivering verdicts from evidence, and speaking to Black New Orleans with the directness the moment demands.
He is also the principal of EA Inspection Services, LLC, a government inspection services company. Black Source Media is his platform for the civic conversation New Orleans has needed and too rarely had.
Selected Articles by Jeff Thomas
Black Neighborhoods Pay the Highest Insurance Rates in Louisiana. Here’s What They Don’t Want You to Know.
They Didn’t Yell the N-Word. They Went to Law School, Bided Their Time, and Rewrote the Constitution Instead.
Vappie vs. Morrell: Why Does Justice Look Different in New Orleans?
The State Has the Money. New Orleans East Just Needs Them to Use It.
The Failure of Mitch Landrieu