Committee members heard an extended briefing from Entergy Arkansas and other utility owners about a recently negotiated transaction among the co‑owners of White Bluff and Independence generating stations intended to simplify ownership and prepare the sites for replacement generation as coal operations wind down.

John Bethel, Director of Public Affairs for Entergy Arkansas, and Kurt Casselberry, Entergy resource‑planning staff, told the committee the deals concentrate Entergy Arkansas’s interest at the White Bluff site and concentrate Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation’s (AECC) and some municipal utilities’ interests at Independence. Casselberry said the transaction “simplifies our co‑ownership relationship in a dramatic way” and leaves utilities free to pursue replacement generation that fits their portfolios.

The panel discussed the consent‑decree timelines that set coal‑burning retirement dates: White Bluff is expected to cease coal operations at the end of 2028 and Independence in 2030, dates identified as part of prior litigation and settlement. Entergy and counsel told the committee those dates are in the consent decree and that attempting to reopen or overturn the decree would create prolonged litigation and regulatory uncertainty.

Utility representatives emphasized a primary objective: preserve and re‑use the sites’ transmission interconnection capacity. Casselberry described roughly 3,600 megawatts of interconnection capacity at the two sites combined (he later said the combined figure could be closer to 3,200 megawatts in round numbers), and said maintaining the existing interconnection avoids “hundreds of millions of dollars” in new transmission investment and preserves the sites’ attractiveness for replacement generation.

Entergy and the other owners described replacement options that include natural gas (combined‑cycle and simple‑cycle units), repowering existing boilers for different fuels, battery storage and, over a longer horizon, small modular reactors (SMRs). Entergy said it expects to file specific replacement resource plans with the Arkansas Public Service Commission and to pursue options that deliver dispatchable and base‑load capacity where needed.

AECC representatives (Buddy Haston, CEO, and Andrew Lohosky, vice president for market operations) said the cooperative will build and partner on replacement generation. AECC described plans for advanced combined‑cycle natural‑gas capacity (an approximate combined output figure cited at about 1,350 megawatts across planned projects) and said liquid‑fuel backup will be permitted at new plants to mitigate winter‑event natural‑gas interruptions; AECC said a liquid‑fuel backup supply would cover about five days of operation in extreme conditions.

Municipal utilities — Conway Corporation (Brett Carroll), City Water & Light Jonesboro (Jake Rice) and West Memphis Utilities (Bob Atkins) — said they supported the transaction and that it positions their systems to serve growth, including prospective industrial or data‑center customers. Jonesboro said local peaking turbines and existing contracted generation plus anticipated replacement resources should meet its projected needs; Conway said it plans to be a minority owner in replacement generation at Independence.

Speakers warned of execution risks: gas‑turbine lead times are long (speaker estimates in the hearing put delivery lead times for modern turbines at roughly 48–60 months), and interconnection study queues at regional transmission operators present scheduling constraints. Entergy and co‑owners emphasized coordinated planning to stage new capacity before coal retirement dates and said they will coordinate in outages to avoid supply gaps. Entergy and others also described a 30‑year environmental monitoring obligation following coal operations and said the transaction allows economies of scale for decommissioning and environmental maintenance to reduce customer costs.

Why it matters: The two plants provide large transmission capacity and significant generation that utilities and economic developers consider essential to attract industry. The co‑owners’ transaction attempts to preserve transmission value and give each owner capacity and timing flexibility to pursue replacement resources tailored to their customer base.

What happens next: Utility owners will file resource plans and permitting applications as needed. The committee received the briefing and asked questions; no committee vote was recorded on the transaction during the session.