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The Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, Tennessee.Paul Harris \/ Getty via Grist<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tGet your news from a source that\u2019s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.<\/a><\/p>\n This story was originally published by\u00a0Grist<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0is reproduced here as part of the\u00a0Climate Desk<\/a>\u00a0collaboration.<\/p>\n This coverage is made possible through a partnership between\u00a0Grist<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0BPR<\/a>, a public radio station serving western North Carolina.<\/p>\n The Tennessee Valley Authority\u2019s quarterly meeting in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, opened with a triumphant video homage to its work during Winter Storm Fern. Yet again, energy had come through to defeat extreme cold. The montage credited this to the utility\u2019s \u201ccoal workhorses,\u201d then noted that nuclear provided \u201cuninterrupted power\u201d and \u201chydro responded instantly.\u201d The list ended there, despite years of promises that the agency would bolster renewables and battery storage. The message was clear: Solar had been unceremoniously dropped from the mix, and coal, which the agency had been phasing out, was back.\u00a0<\/p>\n What the video hinted at, the board made official. Its seven members unanimously dropped renewable energy as a priority, ended diversity programs, and granted two of the agency\u2019s\u00a0four remaining coal plants<\/a>\u00a0a reprieve. The decision followed the seating of four members selected by President Donald Trump, breaking months of paralysis that followed the termination of three Biden appointees.<\/p>\n The changes, made during the February 11 board meeting, signal more than a routine policy reset for the nation\u2019s largest public power provider. They will slow the TVA\u2019s shift away from fossil fuels just as electricity demand is spiking, raising questions about future costs, pollution, and the role of federally-owned utilities in the country\u2019s energy transition.<\/p>\n For years, TVA planners had mapped out a future without coal. That is now on hold.<\/p>\n For years, TVA planners had mapped out a future without coal. That is now on hold. The Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, Tennessee, was scheduled for retirement in 2027, with all nine of its units slated for demolition and replacement with an \u201cenergy complex\u201d of gas generation and battery storage. All of them will remain online alongside the gas plant, but renewables are no longer part of the picture. The board also shelved plans to scuttle the Cumberland Fossil Plant in Stewart County, Tennessee, in 2028.<\/p>\n These moves come despite the agency\u2019s 2025\u00a0Integrated Resource Plan<\/a>, which called for retiring the two facilities because of Kingston\u2019s \u201chigh cost and challenged condition\u201d and Cumberland\u2019s \u201clack of flexibility.\u201d The Kingston coal plant was also the site of a devastating\u00a02010 coal ash\u00a0<\/a>disaster, the largest industrial spill in U.S. history.<\/p>\n The board defended its decision by citing energy affordability for the Tennessee Valley.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs power demand grows, TVA is looking at every option to bolster our generating fleet to continue providing affordable, reliable electricity to our 10 million customers, create jobs, and help communities thrive,\u201d agency spokesperson Scott Brooks said in a statement.<\/p>\n Left unsaid was the fact that a coal-fired power generation unit at the Cumberland Fossil Plant\u00a0failed<\/a>\u00a0during last month\u2019s storm.<\/p>\n Much of TVA\u2019s load growth comes from the rise of artificial intelligence, said\u00a0CEO Don Moul<\/a>,\u00a0and data centers account for 18 percent of its industrial load. During the same meeting, the board allowed the company xAI, owned by Elon Musk, to double the amount of power it draws from the grid.\u00a0<\/p>\n For former board member Michelle Moore, one of the Biden-era appointees President Trump fired in March, the shift aligns squarely with the administration\u2019s priorities. It also signals, she said, that the utility is no longer fulfilling its mission to provide affordable power, economic development, and environmental stewardship across the seven-state Tennessee Valley. \u201cThe politics in Washington may change,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cBut the TVA\u2019s mission does not.\u201d<\/p>\n That independence has at times put the Tennessee Valley Authority at odds with presidents of both parties. The utility resisted Trump administration pressure to keep coal plants open, continuing to retire facilities based on economic reasons. But it also fell short of President Biden\u2019s\u00a0decarbonization\u00a0goals.<\/p>\n Moore worries ordinary ratepayers are no longer an active part of TVA\u2019s decision-making. Typically, a shift as monumental as turning away from renewable energy would have been subject to a lengthy review with input from communities throughout the region, something that simply will not occur now. \u201cThis is one more indicator that the public power model is being eroded and is at risk,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n Last month, the TVA said it would streamline how it reviews the ecological impacts of its projects, allowing some to move ahead with far less, if any, scrutiny. The move follows a broader rollback of the National Environmental Policy Act under President Trump that grants greater discretion over such considerations to entities like the TVA. For nearly 60 years, the law required an assessment of the environmental impacts of federal projects. \u201cOver the past several years, the TVA board has faced pressure to make decisions based on stringent environmental regulations,\u201d said board member Wade White.<\/p>\n The TVA\u2019s willingness to join the Trump administration\u2019s\u00a0push to revive the coal industry<\/a>\u00a0has rankled locals and environmentalists. In the first year of his second term, President Trump\u00a0lifted Environmental Protection Agency restrictions<\/a>\u00a0on the industry,\u00a0used<\/a>\u00a0emergency executive orders to keep aging coal plants open,\u00a0expanded<\/a>\u00a0mining, and\u00a0ordered the Pentagon<\/a>\u00a0to buy electricity from power plants that use coal. The president has since received an award from industry executives, dubbing him the \u201cUndisputed Champion of Clean, Beautiful Coal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n From a public health standpoint, it\u2019s a nightmare. \u201cCoal is one of the worst things you can imagine for the environment,\u201d said Avner Vengosh, a professor of environmental quality at Duke University who leads a coal and coal ash research group. Mining destroys ecosystems and poisons groundwater, polluting rivers and streams with sulfuric acid. Burning the fossil fuel releases fine particulate matter, impacting the health of nearby residents. A 2023 study in the journal Science\u00a0found<\/a>\u00a0that coal plants caused nearly half a million excess deaths between 1999 and 2020, and a Sierra Club report notes that\u00a0TVA coal-fired plants were the nation\u2019s deadliest<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are upset, they feel like we\u2019re going backwards,\u201d said Amy Kelly, a Sierra Club campaign manager. \u201cThe fact that these plants are from the 50s and 60s, and we\u2019re just going to prop them up with Band-Aid solutions to appease the current administration is going to cost people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n