TVA Files Plan To Study Retirement Of Cumberland Coal Plant
Tuesday, May 11, 2021
The Tennessee Valley Authority on Tuesday submitted notice of its intent to file an Environmental Impact Statement for the retirement of the Cumberland Fossil Plant in Cumberland City, Tn. Through the upcoming EIS process, TVA will identify the timeline to retire the plant’s two coal units and if any replacement generation is needed.
“This is an opportunity for TVA to show that it is listening to the people of the Tennessee Valley when they ask for clean technologies such as solar power and battery storage,” said JoAnn McIntosh, a clean energy advocate with the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club based in Clarksville, Tn. “Cumberland is one of the nation’s largest and most polluting coal plants, releasing over 8 million tons of carbon pollution into the air each year, as well as 20 times more mercury into the water than any other U.S. coal plant. It makes no environmental or economic sense to keep running this polluter for another decade, and it certainly makes no sense to replace it with methane-leaking, CO2-emitting gas plants. We urge TVA to transition from Cumberland to clean energy as quickly as possible -- to protect the health of our communities, provide jobs and economic growth in the Valley, and ensure TVA’s leadership in the clean energy economy.”