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Hopi Tribe Agrees to Consider Joint Development of Power Plant
Potential project seen as major advance in Hopi self-sufficiency

"We are the custodians of our ancient homeland," explained Chairman Taylor. "As good stewards of the land, only a facility with minimum impact to the environment will be acceptable to us. When we undertook to consider this project, we laid out two guiding criteria: clean air and low water use. With today's technologies, we can produce energy in a water-short environment, and we can do it cleanly."

THE HOPI TRIBE
P.O. Box 123 For Immediate Release
Kykotsmovi, Arizona 86039 For more
information contact:
Hopi.nsn.us Claire Heywood (928) 734-3283 and
Janet Regner (602) 370-4836
or Richard Wheatley of Reliant Resources
(713) 207-5881


KYKOTSMOVI, Arizona - The Hopi Tribe has entered into a Joint Development
Agreement (JDA) with Reliant Energy Mesa Vista, LLC, a subsidiary of Reliant
Resources, Inc., of Houston, Texas. The Hopi Tribe is exploring the
development of a 1,200-megawatt, 'dry-cooled', coal-fired power generating
station on its reservation lands in northern Arizona.

The Hopi Reservation overlies large deposits of clean-burning,
sub-bituminous, low-sulfur coal.

The agreement is an initial but significant step toward the potential
development, and provides a framework for discussions, negotiations, and
feasibility studies. Tribal leaders said the agreement is part of the
tribe's ongoing efforts to make the Hopi Reservation a self-sufficient and
economically viable homeland for current and future generations of Hopi
people.

"Our vision is to make our ancestral homeland a place that will support the
culture and economy of our people and generations to follow," said Tribal
Chairman Wayne Taylor, Jr. "The Hopi unemployment rate is about 50 percent
and our current economy cannot absorb this potential workforce. The proposed
generating station has the potential to provide the operating revenue, jobs,
and investment resources needed to help make our vision a reality."

The proposed project would construct a large generating facility
that would be jointly-owned by the Hopi Tribe and Reliant and provide jobs
and other opportunities for the Hopi people. The Tribe will exercise voting
rights along with Reliant in asset management.

The Tribe initiated discussions with Reliant in 2001, seeking its
involvement as a plant financing and operating partner.

"Reliant brings valuable technical expertise, electric power marketing
skills, and the ability to put together the financing necessary for such a
project," Chairman Taylor said.

According to Chairman Taylor, " We are working to overcome the
challenges and isolation of our geographic location by utilizing new
technologies for the 21st century in order to ensure a sustainable homeland
for ourselves."

Chairman Taylor emphasized that any development project undertaken would
have to be in keeping with the Hopi Tribe's commitment to the long-term well
being of its homeland.

"We are the custodians of our ancient homeland," explained Chairman Taylor.
"As good stewards of the land, only a facility with minimum impact to the
environment will be acceptable to us. When we undertook to consider this
project, we laid out two guiding criteria: clean air and low water use.
With today's technologies, we can produce energy in a water-short
environment, and we can do it cleanly."

The plant design, as outlined by the Hopi and proposed by Reliant, employs
state of the art control technology for minimizing unwanted air emissions.
Using this technology in the plant under consideration would make it among
the very cleanest coal-fired plants not only in the country, but in the
world. Emissions would be far below national standards and substantially
lower than those from other coal-fired plants in the Southwest.

Of major significance to the Hopi, the plant will require approximately
85-90 percent less water than the volumes normally used in a traditional
water-cooled facility. This is accomplished by a technological process that
employs 'dry-cooled' air condensers in combination with closed-loop water
recycling.

"By limiting the water requirements for this project, we will ensure that
our domestic water needs are not sacrificed to the needs of industrial
development. This project will use Hopi water on the Hopi Reservation for
the benefit of a Hopi-owned project," Chairman Taylor said.

Detailed studies, negotiations, and development of a definitive contractual
agreements around the framework of the JDA will get underway in coming weeks
and are expected to last into summer. Following these negotiations, the
Hopi Tribal Council - based upon its further analysis of the project - will
decide whether to enter into formal agreements and begin construction.

"We're going to make sure this project truly serves the best interests of
our people," said Clifford Qötsaquahu, chairman of the Hopi Energy Team.
"We're first going to listen to what our people have to say about this
opportunity, and only then will we make a final decision."

Reliant Resources is a leading provider of electricity and energy services
to wholesale and retail customers in the U.S. and Europe. The company has
more than 21,000 megawatts of power generation capacity in operation and
under construction in the United States, including almost 5,200 megawatts of
existing capacity in the western region of the U.S. in Arizona, Nevada, and
California.

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