The Tennessee Valley Authority’s rapid expansion of natural gas infrastructure has rushed, ignored or otherwise disregarded major elements of the regulatory process meant to protect environmental concerns, according to two federal court filings in the past week. Both suits come from advocacy groups, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, contesting TVA’s pivot toward natural gas.
Project will run 32 miles from White Bluff to TVA power plant
Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company must pause construction on a 32-mile expansion toward Cumberland City, Tenn., where the TVA is building out gas combustion capacity, following a ruling from the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals issued Friday, Oct. 11. TGP, a subsidiary of fossil fuel giant KinderMorgan, was set to begin pipeline construction as early as Oct. 15. Judges agreed with petitioners Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices that the proposed buildout, which includes 149 “watercourse crossings,” may run afoul of the Clean Water Act.
The SELC sued the TVA directly on Thursday, Oct. 10, alleging the utility did not legitimately consider clean-energy alternatives before choosing to replace coal-fired units with a natural gas power plant in Kingston, Tenn. The National Environmental Policy Act obligates the TVA to justify its decision against alternatives and potential environmental impacts, including on air quality and climate change.
Lawyers for the SELC point out that the TVA had signed contracts with a gas pipeline company, Enbridge, and spent $275 million on the Kingston project before finalizing its decision to go with natural gas at Kingston.
Scenarios show natural gas buildout as an increasing environmental, economic and political liability
“As a federal utility, TVA is required to look before it leaps by studying a project’s impacts and alternatives before making a decision,” says SELC attorney Trey Bussey in a press release. “But here, TVA rushed backwards, spending millions first and doing analysis later. TVA’s premature backroom deals with fossil fuel companies caused the utility to unlawfully put a thumb on the scale in favor of gas while ignoring cleaner, more cost-effective, and more climate-friendly alternatives.”
The TVA plans to replace most of its retiring coal fleet with natural gas over the next two decades, betting big on carbon-capture technology that does not yet exist to stay in compliance with emissions rules. The White House and members of Congress have criticized the TVA’s strategy, which openly conflicts with President Joe Biden’s 2021 executive order calling for a zero-carbon energy grid by 2035.
