Entergy 2010 Annual Report Download - page 16

growth of 6 to 8 percent for 2010 through 2014 (off 2009
base levels) driven by improving returns and investing
capital wisely to meet customers’ needs. At Entergy
Wholesale Commodities, we’ve executed signifi cant
hedging for 2011 and 2012, providing certainty in a
bearish commodity-price environment, while retaining
longer-term optionality to capture the benefi ts of
ongoing economic growth and new environmental
regulation. In addition, we believe it is critical to ensure
we have cash available to invest in opportunities as
they arise or return it to our owners. To that end, we are
maximizing cash generation in each business to further
enhance our liquidity position and solid credit metrics
that support ready access to capital on reasonable terms.
We have historically returned cash to our shareholders
through a combination of dividends and share
repurchases, a strategy we expect to continue. In 2010,
we completed the $750 million repurchase program
authorized by our board of directors in 2009, and we
announced the authorization of a new $500 million
share repurchase program. In addition, we increased
our dividend for the fi rst time since 2007. Absent other
attractive investment opportunities, capital deployment
through dividends and share repurchases could total
as much as $4 billion to $5 billion from 2010 through
2014 under the long-term business outlook updated in
October. The amount of share repurchases may vary as
a result of material changes in business results, capital
spending or new investment opportunities.
Aspiring To Achieve an
Accident-Free Work Environment
We believe safety should be the top priority for every
Entergy employee and contractor. We maintain policies,
systems and metrics that support a safety culture and
we strive to achieve an accident-free work environment.
Although we achieved certain records in 2010, our
overall safety performance was not a record for our
company. While Entergy employees reported 111
recordable accidents in 2010, down from 324 in 1998,
this performance was overshadowed by the tragic death
of a contractor this year. We are reminded again that in
the area of safety, improvement is inadequate. We are
redoubling our efforts to build a stronger, safer work
environment and culture among Entergy employees and
contractors so that every job can be performed without
accident or loss of life.
Approximately 70 of Entergy’s work sites have earned
Star status in the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health
Administration Voluntary Protection Program, which
is the highest rating in the most prestigious workplace
safety and health recognition program in the United
States. Among our VPP Star sites are nearly 20 fossil
sites, more than 40 transmission and distribution sites
and all nuclear sites but one. This represents nearly
60 percent of the Entergy sites that can feasibly fi le for
VPP certifi cation. Achieving and maintaining VPP Star
status is clear evidence of our employees’ ongoing
commitment to workplace safety.
Aspiring To Be the Cleanest
Power Generator in America
Ten years ago, our board of directors began to discuss
the impact – beyond day-to-day legal compliance – that
our operations have on the environment, especially
relating to climate change. In 2001, our board approved
an environmental vision for our company related to
sustainable development, performance excellence and
advocacy. Subsequently Entergy made and successfully
achieved two voluntary fi ve-year commitments to
stabilize CO
2
emissions at the year 2000 levels and at
20 percent below the year 2000 levels, respectively. We
completed our second commitment in 2010, beating our
cumulative emissions target for the 2006 to 2010 period
by more than 3 percent. Last year we also continued to
advocate for public policies to address the environmental
risk posed by increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
Entergy has long believed in the negative impacts
of climate change, especially in high-risk coastal
areas found in our utility service territory. U.S. Gulf
Coast communities and businesses are increasingly
vulnerable to environmental risks. Building resilient
communities that can stand up to these risks is
vitally important to the future of the region and the
livelihood of 12 million people living and working near
the coast. In 2010, Entergy and America’s WETLAND
Foundation commissioned a study entitled “Building a
Resilient Energy Gulf Coast” that quantifi ed the potential
economic losses that communities along the Gulf
Coast may incur over the next 20 years due to growing
environmental risks. Based on the study’s estimates
and applying the multiplier effect, economic losses from
wind damage, storm surge, fl ooding and associated
losses could reach nearly $700 billion, which is
equivalent to the gross domestic product for the entire
14