Environmental groups have sued the Tennessee Valley Authority over its decision to build a new natural gas power plant in Middle Tennessee.
The suit, filed in federal court on Wednesday, alleges that the TVA ignored the National Environmental Policy Act and disregarded the “significant impacts its decision will have on the climate, the environment, and power customers.” The Southern Environmental Law Center is representing environmental groups Appalachian Voices, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club in litigation. Scott Brooks, a spokesperson for TVA, says the agency is aware of the filing but has not yet been served.
Aging coal assets, once the backbone of TVA’s fleet, have started going offline across its seven-state service area. Recent choices by the agency indicate that it will replace coal with high-carbon gas. Plaintiffs argue that the agency did not properly consider alternatives, including zero-carbon power generation, as required by federal law. They cite a contract, signed by TVA with fossil fuel giant Kinder Morgan before the agency had completed its review process, as evidence that the agency made its decision prematurely and in violation of federal law.
In a complaint, plaintiffs point out that the agency’s decision conflicts with four executive orders issued by President Biden that outline a long-term effort to reduce carbon emissions and eliminate carbon-based power generation. The agency, the nation’s largest federal utility, was censured last year by Congress for gouging ratepayers and blocking progress on renewable energy. Local power providers and government officials, including Nashville Mayor John Cooper, have also criticized TVA for inflexible business practices and clinging to fossil fuels.
“We would like to see TVA disclose all relevant information and give a fair look to renewable and zero-carbon alternatives to a new gas plant,” says attorney Amanda Garcia, director of SELC’s Tennessee office, based in downtown Nashville. “We also ask for an injunction — for the court to prohibit TVA from proceeding with construction and operation of a new plant until the agency complies with NEPA.”
The gas expansion at Cumberland City — about 70 miles west of Nashville — relies on supply from a new gas pipeline that has not yet been approved by the federal government. Kinder Morgan, acting via subsidiary Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., has been fighting for approval for the past 18 months. The corporation needs to secure miles of private property from hundreds of landowners in order to build its expansion.
“TVA takes our environmental compliance obligations seriously, and the Cumberland Fossil Plant Retirement Environmental Impact Statement fully complied with all NEPA requirements,” Brooks tells the Scene via email.
Last month, TVA notified the public that it intended to build an additional 900-megawatt gas facility outside of Ashland City in Cheatham County to partially replace units at the Cumberland Fossil Fuel Plant. That process includes a June 21 public meeting at the McCullough Community Room at 334 Frey St. in Ashland City.
