Hi Reader,
You read ProPublica because you’re looking for stories that haven’t been told — investigations that go much deeper than headlines and soundbites, that provide necessary context and help you understand complexity and nuance in the world. We know these stories often aren’t exactly fun to read. They’re frequently about corruption and injustice. They’re also many times a good bit longer than the usual news story. But as a regular reader of ProPublica, you know that our only mission is to help right the wrongs that we uncover during our investigations.
Just this week, we published an investigation with NPR about New Orleans’ only power supply company, Entergy New Orleans. When Hurricane Ida hit last month, all eight of its transmission lines failed, leaving more than a million residents without power during extreme heat.
Entergy New Orleans, whose parent company made a record profit of $1.4 billion in 2020, claims that Hurricane Ida was simply too much for its system. But our investigation found that ENO has for years aggressively resisted efforts by regulators, residents and advocates to improve its infrastructure, even though it’s had opportunities to do so after several past hurricanes.
The consequences have been dire for residents, especially Louisianians who have low incomes and can’t afford to evacuate or to temporarily fund emergency measures needed to survive while waiting for ENO to make repairs. The New Orleans coroner found that of the 14 people who died as a result of Ida, nine deaths were from “excessive heat during an extended power outage” and two were from carbon monoxide poisoning from generators. ENO’s customers deserve to know if this tragic loss of life could have been avoided, and what reforms are necessary going forward to ensure power to the area is sustainable even after big weather events.
We are only able to produce this kind of deeply researched, complicated journalism because of readers like you. As a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on donations from individuals for the majority of our funding. Today, I’m asking you to join ProPublica at any amount and become a member.
Your donation to ProPublica gives us a dependable source of funding, and that matters for an organization like ours — sometimes our investigations can take months, or even years, to fully report. Other times, as with this week’s New Orleans investigation, we need resources to allow our journalists to be nimble while reporting on stories that continue to develop. Your support helps ensure these resources are there when we need them.
Join us today, during our fall member drive. Your gift will help us shine a light on breaches of the public trust, whenever or wherever they occur.
Thanks so much,
Jill Shepherd
Proud ProPublican
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