Experts, community target Tennessee Valley Authority’s energy plan Thursday in Nashville

PRESS ADVISORY
January 22, 2024

CONTACT
Gaby Sarri-Tobar, Center for Biological Diversity, (240) 594-7271, [email protected]
JT Neal, Sunrise Movement Nashville, (615) 584-1801, [email protected]
Dan Radmacher, Appalachian Voices, (540) 798-6683, [email protected]
Amy Rawe, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, (865) 235-1448, [email protected]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. ― Advocacy groups will hold a public hearing Thursday on the Tennessee Valley Authority’s 2024 long-term energy plan. The country’s largest public power provider has refused to hold its own public hearing on the plan despite criticism of the utility’s lack of transparency or public engagement in its power system planning process.

What: The People’s Voice on TVA’s Energy Plan, a public hearing on TVA’s Integrated Resource Plan, including testimony from expert witnesses and community discussion to provide recommendations to TVA.

When: 1 to 4:30 p.m. CT, expert witness testimony; 6 to 8 p.m. CT, community discussion, Thursday, Jan. 25.

Where: Second Presbyterian Church, 3511 Belmont Blvd., Nashville, Tenn., 37215. Both sessions will be livestreamed. RSVP for link.

Who: The hearing is hosted by Appalachian Voices, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Energy Alabama, Center for Biological Diversity, Sunrise Nashville, Climate Reality Project: Memphis and Nashville chapters, and Vote Solar. Testimony will be given by energy experts Liz Stanton, Taylor McNair, Peter Hubbard and Taylor Allred. The hearing will be chaired by Ted Thomas. Guest speakers include Tennessee Rep. Justin J. Pearson and recorded remarks from federal elected officials including Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Steve Cohen.

Background
TVA, the country’s largest public power provider, generates electricity for 10 million people in seven states. In July TVA announced it would begin planning for the next 25 years of energy generation in its Integrated Resource Plan. TVA’s plan will influence reliability, electricity bill affordability, air and water quality, and regional jobs through 2050.

Unlike most utilities across the country, TVA is not regulated by a public utilities commission. People and organizations in the region are not permitted to formally participate in TVA’s planning process unless selected by the utility to join its working group. The public has historically had little opportunity to shape the resource plan.

For the first time in TVA’s 90-year history, several advocacy groups filed a motion to intervene in TVA’s planning process and called for public hearings.

Information gathered at the hearing will be delivered to TVA’s board, working group and staff.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Sunrise Movement Nashville is a local chapter of the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate justice organization working to stop the climate crisis and creating millions of good jobs through a Green New Deal. Sunrise is building a movement of youth people standing up for their futures and has over 300 local chapters across the country.

Appalachian Voices is a leading nonprofit advocate for a healthy environment and just economy in the Appalachian region, and a driving force in America’s shift from fossil fuels to a clean energy future.

Since 1985, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy has worked to promote responsible and equitable energy choices to ensure clean, safe, and healthy communities throughout the Southeast. Learn more at cleanenergy.org.

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