TRUMP THREATENS TO CHARGE U.S. TOLLS IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ 8A
N O L A.C O M
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S u n d ay, J u n e 21, 2026
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Ratepayers may foot the bill for buying power plant PSC report says plan benefits Meta, but Entergy cites rising La. demand
BY SAM KARLIN Staff writer STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
A proposed $101 million restoration plan would rebuild more than 1,300 acres of the East Orleans Landbridge, a critical stretch of marsh that helps protect communities around Lake Pontchartrain from flooding and preserves the lake’s ecology, seen from the U.S. 90 Rigolets Bridge on Wednesday.
LAY OF THE
LANDBRIDGE
Plan would restore vital coastal defense for N.O. BY MIKE SMITH
SLIDELL
Staff writer
Out on the far fringes of New Orleans, a lone chunk of land stands guard against an invading army of contemporary threats. Those threats no longer involve invading British warships — the reason the now-crumbling Fort Pike was built in the same location on the northeastern edge of the city. They instead have to do with the range of enemies now tearing at south Louisiana’s existence: storm surge, saltwater intrusion, sea level rise and erosion. The problem? That land is gradually disappearing. The state’s long struggle to maintain what is known as the East Orleans Landbridge, which divides Lake Pontchartrain, Lake St. Catherine and Lake Borgne, is costly and painstaking. But it is now in line for an important boost with what would be the largest restoration project yet for the landbridge. A plan to restore the equivalent of roughly 1,000 football fields of wetlands at a cost of $101 million is moving toward final approval. The project would be paid for with funds related to the 2010 BP oil spill, money that has allowed Louisiana to pursue a wide array of coastal restoration projects. It will by no means solve the problem. The restoration plan addresses only one portion of a far larger stretch of land and marsh that is under threat every minute.
ä See LANDBRIDGE, page 4A
The Rev. Kurt young teaches homiletics at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. young spends three semesters teaching seminarians the process of writing and delivering effective homilies during Mass. STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
WEATHER HIGH 91 LOW 79 PAGE 8B
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St. Tammany Parish
The Rigolets
State aiming to restore wetlands
Lake Pontchartrain
ä See PLANT, page 5A
Lake St. Catherine Orleans Parish
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Entergy Louisiana’s plans to buy a gas-fired power plant for $1.8 billion are drawing concerns from a consultant for the state’s Public Service Commission, who recently warned in a report that the plant is unreliable and needed mostly because of Meta’s massive north Louisiana data center. If approved, the acquisition would cost Entergy Louisiana’s average residential customer roughly $8 a month, according to documents Entergy filed in the case. The fate of the plant in southeast Texas will be decided at the state Public Service Commission, which will hear arguments about it over the next few months. The five-member elected body that regulates utilities will ultimately decide, likely in the fall, whether to let Entergy buy the plant and recover the costs from ratepayers. Entergy says the plant, a facility called Cottonwood near the Louisiana border, is needed to meet “urgent demands” for power, regardless of Meta’s data center. If it doesn’t buy the plant, the company says customers will pay more in the long run as Entergy sees energy demand outstrip supply. But an analysis commissioned by the PSC as part of its standard review of the plans found that the primary reason Entergy will need the 1,200 megawatts of power from the plant is because of the massive power needs of Meta’s data center in Richland Parish.
Lake Borgne Staff map
“You can look at a map and see how critical it is to separating the waters. Restoring the marsh will give it a longer lifespan so it can serve that important purpose.” APRIL NEWMAN, project manager for the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority
STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
The construction of the Meta data center site is seen in Holly Ridge on March 10.
For clergy, sermons come from the heart, not AI Pope Leo warns priests to write their own homilies
“But sometimes four is better,” DeRouen said. “C’mon, you know the listening capacity of most people. If you’re just making one point, you don’t have to say it 16 times.” Different clergy, different BY BOB WARREN tips for inspiring congregations Staff writer in the digital age. But each is clear on one thing: The Rev. Kurt Young says nothing is off-limits, but treads When it comes to crafting a carefully around hot topics. homily, letting AI handle the Deacon Eddy Beckendorf writing is not OK. Pope Leo XIV is clearly conworks to make it relatable, such as telling the story about the cerned about the rise of artifitime he got hit by a truck. And cial intelligence, and what it’s Monsignor Keith DeRouen is going to mean not only to the a stickler for the eight-minute ä See SERMONS, page 6A rule.
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13TH yEAR, NO. 313