By Lorelei Goff
Soon after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency criticized the Tennessee Valley Authority for underestimating climate and air pollution impacts of converting the Kingston coal-fired power plant to methane gas, TVA decided on April 2 to move forward with its gas buildout plans for the plant.
The decision ignores the EPA’s concerns that TVA was not transparent, failed to reasonably consider clean energy alternatives and did not address other issues the EPA identified with TVA’s draft environmental analysis.
This comes after the TVA Board of Directors again abdicated final decision-making authority on the proposed Kingston gas plant to the TVA CEO last year. Residents and congressional representatives continue to call for more transparency from TVA on plant decisions and TVA’s long term energy planning process.
Rep. Steve Cohen (D- Tenn.) and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), introduced the TVA Increase Rate of Participation Act in March. The bill proposes changes to increase public participation in the federally owned utility’s long-term planning process, while also requiring the utility to take into account certain factors to ensure the plan will result in clean, sustainable, reliable and affordable energy for people in the Tennessee Valley.
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