Just one day after President Donald Trump signed four executive orders aimed at increasing coal energy production, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on Wednesday issued a statement supporting the use of clean coal for energy production.
Calling the executive orders “historic action to help American workers, miners, families, and consumers,” Trump said they represented his administration “ending Joe Biden’s war on beautiful, clean coal once and for all.”
The president added, “It wasn’t just Biden, it was Obama, and there were others. But we’re doing the exact opposite. And all those plants that have been closed are going to be opened.”
In response to the president’s executive orders, WATE 6Â reported TVA stated it was carefully reviewing the documents to determine “how they might apply to and benefit the region,” with the outlet reporting TVA called its coal plans “critical in meeting energy demands” of the region.
TVA’s support for Trump’s executive orders was announced days after Trump terminated board members Joe Ritch and L Michelle Moore, who were both originally appointed by former President Joe Biden. Ritch previously served on the TVA board after being appointed by former President Barack Obama.
It also comes shortly into the tenure of new TVA CEO Don Moul, who was appointed to lead the public energy utility following the departure of Jeff Lyash, who Trump feuded with during his first term in the White House.
Moul’s nomination, in turn, followed an op-ed by Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who urged the agency to appoint an outsider who is pro-nuclear energy to lead the nation’s largest public utility under the Trump administration.
“The current TVA board focused on the diversity of its executives ahead of job creation for hungry workers in the region it is supposed to serve,” wrote the senators last month. “We won’t be satisfied by half-measures. Nor will President Trump. Nor will the American people. The time for bold action is now.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
