Entergy customer’s bills are going up five to seven dollars by September. Matt Doyle has the story.
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A new report says the robots are coming for Louisiana’s jobs, and the state could face a significant loss of jobs due to automation in the next decade…
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The Department of Environmental Quality has issued an air quality action day today for the Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas due to conditions being favorable for the production of ground-level ozone, or smog. DEQ spokesperson Greg Langley says a lack of wind to disperse certain elements contributes to the process.
Cut 3 (11) “…a photosynthetic reaction.”
Higher levels of ozone can be a challenge to those with respiratory issues such as young children and asthma sufferers. Langley says the primary source of the two compounds is automobile exhaust.
Langley advises people not to sit in idling cars at drive-up windows.
Langley says last night’s fireworks also contributes the ozone alert…
Another action day may be called for Saturday depending on the air quality forecast issued this afternoon.
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Within the next three months Entergy customers will see a five to seven dollar monthly increase in electric costs.
Roughly three and a half dollars of that increase will kick in on your July bill, and Entergy Spokesperson Lee Sabatini says that will go towards a new 869 million dollar St. Charles Power Plant.
The June rate hike will generate 109 million dollars in one year.
The rest of the rate increase will begin in September and is related to a steady reduction in federal tax credits that were included in Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Sabatini says those tax credits are set to get smaller every year.
The tax credits saved 140 million dollars for customers in 2018, and have dropped to 115 million this year. By 2020, that number will plummet to 55 million in savings.
Sabatini says these kinds of rate increases are necessary to pay for more efficient facilities, which will more than pay for themselves in the long-term.
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An Oxford Economics report says Louisiana is one of the states most vulnerable to losing a significant amount of jobs due to automation.
The report says Louisiana is particularly vulnerable to the robotics revolution due to its status as a “low-skill” region that relies on manufacturing and service jobs. UNO Business Professor Mark Rosa.
Oregon is most at risk, followed by Louisiana, Texas, and Indiana.
But that loss may not be felt as much in tourism-dependent areas of Louisiana like New Orleans, where you can’t replace the cultural experience with a screen.
Hawaii, Florida, and Nevada were marked as the safest states, due to their statewide status as tourism hubs.
The report noted that the rise of automation will “generate new employment opportunities at a pace comparable with the rate of job destruction” but result in higher income inequality. Rosa adds the revolution will increase the demand for high-skill workers.
The report notes the coming robotic manufacturing revolution destroy 20 million jobs worldwide, with 260,000 being lost in America since 2000.
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This week 600 high school students from across the nation met in North Carolina to participate in the YMCA’s 52nd Annual Conference on National Affairs. One of the six presiding officers at the mock government program was LSU freshman Drake Brignac. The Louisiana Youth Governor says the experience with students from 36 different states was an education like no other.
Cut 12 (11) “…personal experience.”
In addition to debating issues like abortion and the death penalty, Brignac says they are also examined issues like climate change and student loans that will affect his generation. They’ve even discussed the Armenian genocide.
Brignac says while the debates can be heated among students he always sees delegates interacting afterward as friends.
Brignac plans to study political communications at LSU.