Entergy Donates $250,000 to America's Wetland Foundation

GALVESTON, Texas, Nov. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) is giving a $250,000 grant to America's Wetland Foundation to help the group build public support for policies that protect the Gulf Coast region against a changing environment.

Entergy announced the donation Wednesday evening following a Blue Ribbon Resilient Communities/America's Energy Coast forum in Galveston. The Galveston event is the latest in an ongoing series of community forums being held across the Gulf Coast by America's Wetland Foundation and its America's Energy Coast initiative as they build public support for policies and projects to make the coast more resilient.

The meetings are intended to build on the findings of a $4.1 million study, the first of its kind for the Gulf Coast, commissioned by Entergy in 2010. The study showed environmental changes could cost coastal communities up to $350 billion in losses over the next 20 years if economically sensible steps aren't taken to make the Gulf Coast more resilient.

The study, "Building a Resilient Energy Gulf Coast," determined that economic losses could increase up to 65 percent by 2030 due to economic growth, subsidence and rising sea levels. The study recommends a range of adaptation measures – from increasing beach nourishment to retrofitting roofs – that can prevent a large part of the expected increase in losses. The study found that an investment of $50 billion over the next 20 years will lead to estimated avoided losses of $135 billion over the lifetime of the measures. The focus area of the study was the four energy-producing states along the Gulf Coast (Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas).

In presenting the grant Wednesday night, Joe Domino, president of Entergy Texas, Inc., said, "Our resiliency planning as a major power provider is laser focused on the impacts that sea level rise, land subsidence and more intense storm conditions have on the people and communities we serve."

"Entergy has stepped in with both money and people to assist Gulf Coast communities move toward resilience," said Valsin A. Marmillion, America's Wetland Foundation managing director. "We thank them for partnering with the foundation to produce important research that local governments could not likely afford. This is a perfect example of corporate stewardship and social responsibility."

Funding for the grant came through Entergy's Environmental Initiatives Fund.

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 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of more than $11 billion and approximately 15,000 employees.

Entergy's online address is entergy.com

Twitter: @Entergy

SOURCE Entergy Corporation