Community Members, Organizations, and the Sierra Club Voice Demand Answers At TVA Listening Session

NORRIS, TN — As the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) continues to plow ahead with plans to replace its Kingston and Cumberland Fossil Plants with new methane gas facilities, concerned community members and environmental organizations faced TVA’s board at it’s listening session to demand that the utility prioritize the safety and health of the communities and transition to 100% clean, renewable energy. The listening session will be followed by a TVA board meeting on May 10th.

The grassroots, environmental justice organizations and impacted residents packed the listening session in gray-colored shirts in solidarity with community groups across the Tennessee Valley to ensure that TVA hears their calls specifically for worker safety and sustainable energy for the future that includes no expansion of fossil fuels and rectifying its coal plants by properly cleaning up coal ash.

Among them, the Remember Kingston group honors the hundreds of workers, more than 60 of whom have died, that became sickened from cleaning up the toxic coal ash at the Kingston coal plant. Last Fall, Tennesseans commemorated the Kingston coal ash spill’s anniversary with the release of the Tennessee Unifying Principles on Coal Ash. The shared principles outline steps for decision-makers to take that prioritize justice, safety, and transparency in all future handling of coal ash so that no other workers and communities suffer. The principles, along with other tributes to the Kingston cleanup workers, can be found on the Remember Kingston website.

There is also significant public opposition to the reckless gas plants and pipelines that will cut through Tennessee communities, imperil popular waterways, and threaten endangered species. The utility’s fossil fuel legacy and lack of public engagement has already disproportionately harmed workers and environmental justice communities. The transition to gas plants and pipelines will only exacerbate the damage TVA has brought upon communities and release dangerous carbon pollution for decades to come.

The following are statements from advocates and local residents:

"I'll be speaking at the listening session on my efforts to publicize the importance of protecting the Flynn Creek Impact Crater, a unique, valuable and vulnerable resource lying directly in the path of the proposed Kingston pipeline project." - Michael Hawkins, SAGE TN

“You have to speak up to make change and that’s why I’m speaking to the TVA board of directors today to make sure they understand how important it is that workers are protected when TVA makes plans to clean up coal ash landfills.” - Julie Bledsoe, wife of Kingston coal ash cleanup worker

“Studies are telling us that there are over half a million leaks in our gas distribution system, and the leakage is five times greater than EPA estimates. The climate consequences of more gas are just catastrophic.  TVA needs to scrap the planned gas plants and go for renewables, storage and energy efficiency.”  - Kent Minault, Sierra Club, Knoxville, TN

“When Director Lyash states that TVA plans to be carbon neutral by 2050 I wonder if he appreciates that this is a statement of science denial? The IPCC climate report makes clear this is the decade in which we must act, and this action must include abandoning new fossil fuel development!” - Joe Schiller, Clarksville, TN

“When you want to increase your chances of avoiding lung cancer you stop smoking, not cut down to a pack a day. We want TVA to avoid the most terrible effects of climate disruption and stop all greenhouse gas emissions now, not say that we might get there in 2050.” - Brian Paddock, Baxter, TN

###