Thread by @CleanUpTVA

.@TVAnews’ fossil plants failed on Christmas Eve, leaving thousands in the TVA service territory without power in one of the worst cold spells in recent memory. Now they’re doubling down on fossil fuels. Here’s what we know. #PassOnGas #ChooseSolar #CleanUpTVA 🧵 (1/X)

.@TVAnews announced in April ‘21 its plans to retire all remaining coal plants by 2035. TVA released a notice of intent to file an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to examine 3 replacement options for the Cumberland Fossil Plant in TN: (2/X)

A: Fossil gas Combined Cycle (CC) power plant which requires a new gas pipeline
B: Smaller fossil gas Combustion Turbine (CT) power plants throughout Middle TN
C: Large-scale solar & storage throughout Middle TN
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In Nov ‘21, TVA’s Board of Directors delegated all authority around Cumberland & Kingston coal plant replacement decisions to CEO Jeff Lyash (the highest-paid public employee at $10 million per year).
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The draft EIS filed by TVA in May ‘22 suggested option A (fossil gas plant with pipeline) was the best/preferred replacement option for Cumberland. …astus-cdn-ep-tvawcm-prd.azureedge.net/cdn-tvawcma/do…
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Various groups, including the CleanUpTVA coalition, organizers from @SunriseMvmtTN, @SunriseNashTN, @SunriseKnox, @SunriseChatt, @SunriseMemphis and the federal @EPA spoke out against Alt A & encouraged TVA to #PassOnGas and instead #ChooseSolar ☀️
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In Dec ‘22, TVA announced plans to ignore public and gov’t input, 😱 choosing a gas plant and pipeline and locking ratepayers into decades of volatile electricity bills and reliability issues…
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like the Christmas Eve rolling blackouts caused by the struggling Cumberland and Bull Run coal plants, and TVA’s fossil gas plants! wpln.org/post/tva-bet-o…
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This came after TVA arrogantly and incorrectly assured us they were more prepared than TX utilities for extreme cold after an arctic blast in that state caused large scale power outages in 2021 timesfreepress.com/news/2021/feb/…
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Since the TVA Board delegated all authority to Lyash, he can make the final decision unilaterally as soon as TODAY. We urge the newly confirmed TVA board members to ask Lyash to delay the decision until they have an opportunity to review.
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We are also urging @EPA to defer this to the @WHCEQ so they can stop this reckless decision that will impact TVA ratepayers and Tennessee’s water supply for decades to come. subscriber.politicopro.com/eenews/f/eenew…
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This course of action is also likely to be similar to what TVA elects to do for the Kingston Fossil Plant retirement in East TN. Again, we urge TVA to #PassOnGas and #ChooseSolar instead. #TimeForSomethingNew 🎤
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Take action at cleanuptva.org/actions/tell-t…
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Clean Up TVA coalition orgs include: @SunriseMvmtTN, @SunriseNashTN, @SunriseKnox, @SunriseChatt, @sunrisemvmt, @AppVoices, @SierraClub, @CenterForBioDiv, @DsaKnox, @energyalabama, @MemphisNAACP, @SowingJ, SOCM, One Knox Legacy Coalition, and TN @interfaithpower

@TNLookout @TheTNHoller

& @ClimateReality!