Blackburn Praised Shitstain As Guy To Push TVA Nuclear Buildout; He Then Fired 2 Board Members; Now TVA Board w/o Quorum
In March, in a thunderous op-ed in Power Magazine, a trade publication covering the electricity industry, Republican senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee called for President Donald Trump to make some major institutional changes in the Tennessee Valley Authority, America’s biggest public utility. A couple months earlier, TVA’s CEO Jeff Lyash had announced his retirement. When the board of directors, whose seats are appointed by the president, chose Lyash’s successor, they selected someone from among the utilities current staff — Don Moul, who had been the executive vice president and chief operating officer since 2021. Blackburn and Hagerty expressed concern over the utility’s direction and leadership, saying a new direction was needed if it was to move quickly on building nuclear technology and lead “America’s Nuclear Renaissance.”
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“If we, as a nation, fail to meet this moment,” they wrote, “American leadership in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, and the ability to win conventional wars will be put at risk. If we choose to lead, a Golden Age lies ahead.” About a week after the op-ed was published, President Trump fired two members of the board — including the chair. It appeared as though the senators were getting what they wanted. But the move may end up backfiring.
Under its prior leadership, the TVA was already moving toward an expansion of nuclear power. During the Biden administration, which touted nuclear as a key ingredient of its decarbonization plans, the TVA marketed itself as a clean energy leader, pointing to its massive fleet of hydroelectric dams and nuclear plants. Lyash was a proponent of nuclear power. He sat on the board of the Nuclear Energy Institute and oversaw plans to build a new small modular reactor in TVA territory.
Now, though, according to Simon Mahan, the executive director of the Southern Renewable Energy Association, the recent changes could slow down any movement toward new nuclear plants rather than, as Blackburn and Hagerty hope, speed it up. The TVA’s board is operating without the quorum it needs to make major decisions, including electing a new board chairperson and approving new energy projects — like, for instance, a nuclear plant.
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https://grist.org/energy/the-trump-administration-says-it-wants-a-nuclear-renaissance-these-actions-suggest-otherwise/
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Those pesky leopards.
