Entergy Offsets 100,000 Metric Tons of Carbon Emissions

    NEW ORLEANS, March 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Taking advantage of an
 opportunity to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and work toward the
 company's voluntary greenhouse gas reduction commitment, Entergy (
 ETR) has purchased emission reduction credits totaling 100,000 metric tons.
     The purchase of these credits was made available through Environmental
 Resources Trust by Nike Inc., which verified and registered the credit as a
 result of exceeding its carbon footprint goals with the World Wildlife
 Fund's Climate Savers program.
     "Much of the Entergy service area is particularly vulnerable to the
 predicted effects of climate change," said Entergy Director of Corporate
 Environmental Programs Brent Dorsey. "Our service area has many low-income
 customers who are least able to bear the costs of recovering from
 disastrous climatic effects, so Entergy is particularly interested in
 reducing greenhouse gas emissions."
     The utility further believes that greenhouse gas regulation is needed
 to provide market certainty and send the right pricing signals to utilities
 as they look to replace aging generation capacity and meet a demand that is
 expected to increase by up to 50 percent over the next 30 years.
     "The key to shifting markets and the economy to a more carbon-neutral
 position includes a robust carbon offset market to bridge the gap between
 now- a time in which no cost-effective, bolt-on carbon capture and
 sequestration technology exists-and a future in which technological
 innovations including new nuclear, clean coal, renewable fuels and energy
 efficiency measures will make it possible to generate zero and low-emission
 electricity economically," Dorsey said.
     Entergy's ongoing efforts to seek sustainable environmental solutions
 include:
      *  Entergy was the first U.S. utility to voluntarily stabilize GHG
         emissions. Entergy surpassed its first commitment to stabilize GHG
         emissions at 2000 levels through 2005 by 23 percent while increasing
         megawatt hour sales by 21 percent for the period from 2001 to 2005.
         The company has further committed to reducing its GHG emissions to 20
         percent below 2000 levels through 2010.
 
      *  Entergy is the only U.S. utility to be named to the Dow Jones
         Sustainability Index for five consecutive years, and the only U.S.
         utility to be named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index-World for
         2006.
 
      *  Entergy is the second cleanest utility generator among the top 10
         generators. This is due to the company's clean generation portfolio,
         which includes significant nuclear and natural gas generation.
 
      *  As an active proponent of mandatory GHG emission caps, Entergy
         supports a fuel-neutral, market-based cap and trade approach that
         provides credit for early action.  A mandatory approach is necessary
         to help provide regulatory certainty for decision makers as the
         industry plans for significant growth in demand and capital stock
         turnover of the generation fleet.
 
      *  Entergy's second GHG commitment includes more than $3 million in
         funding to actively participate in GHG offset markets. The funding
         will be used to help develop new markets, products and innovations to
         help address GHG emission reductions.
     Created in 1996 as an offshoot of Environmental Defense, Environmental
 Resources Trust (http://www.ert.net) is a nonprofit organization that
 harnesses economic forces to protect the environment, specifically to
 promote markets for renewable energy and climate change protection. The
 goal of ERT's EcoRegistry(R) program is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
 and climate change by measuring and registering emission reductions of
 companies and governments.
     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 more than $10 billion and approximately 14,000
 employees.
              Entergy's online address is http://www.entergy.com .
 
 

SOURCE Entergy Corporation