Nashville Electric Service (NES) made the live stream of its Tuesday press conference hosted by YouTube private on Wednesday, leaving the video inaccessible to the general public.
The decision came some time after The Michael Patrick Leahy Show analyzed the claims by CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin on Wednesday morning, concluding the top NES executive appeared to falsely conflate the company’s budgeting for tree trimming and vegetation management with the amount it actually spent.
As The Tennessee Star reported on Tuesday, Broyles-Aplin on Tuesday appeared to contradict the NES 2024 annual report she previously signed, which detailed a $7 million cut to tree trimming expenses helped generate a 6 percent decrease to operating expenses.
It also included an expense table that showed contracted tree and grass spending decreased from more than $21 million in 2023 to $13.9 million in 2024.
“We actually have not cut the budget; the budget has increased every year over the past four years,” claimed Broyles-Aplin during the press conference. She added, “We’re spending, I think, $21.6 million this year on tree trimming.”
Of the decision to remove the video from public access, NES told The Star on Wednesday afternoon, “It is standard for all NES livestreams on YouTube to become private after a certain time period.”
The company made the video private sometime earlier on Wednesday, apparently after 10 a.m., as the production team for The Michael Patrick Leahy Show was able to access the link in order to include a portion of the press conference for the radio program, which broadcasts nationally on the John Fredericks Radio Network.
“It is a different number than I’m talking about. The budgeted number was really the question, and we have not cut the budget in tree trimming, and it has increased every year of the last four years,” said Broyles-Aplin in the portion of the press conference included by Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Star, in the program on Wednesday.
Live February 04 https://t.co/CsWz8DHSyM
— Michael Patrick Leahy (@michaelpleahy) February 4, 2026
Noting Broyles-Aplin’s assertion that the amount budgeted on tree trimming and vegetation management in 2024 “is a different number” from the amount spent on the same services two years later, Leahy concluded on the radio program that the NES executive apparently conflated the company’s budget with its expenses to justify her Tuesday claim that appeared to contradict the report she signed.
“One reporter said, ‘Well you had a budget cut of $7 million,'” explained Leahy. Analyzing the clip, he said Broyles-Aplin’s statement that the budget was not reduced, even though the annual report shows a $7 million decrease in spending, amounted to deception.
Leahy argued, “Instead of saying, ‘That annual report showed our expenditures went down, that’s accurate, but we didn’t actually have a budget cut?’ That is so deceptive.'”
Its decision to remove the video from public access notably comes after Mayor Freddie O’Connell, who initially defended the company’s performance, on Sunday criticized NES’ ability to communicate during a crisis.
“The proposed pace of restoration is unacceptable. Nashvillians deserve better,” said O’Connell in one statement. He declared in a second, “What I learned today, NES is unequipped to communicate about a crisis.”
In a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) called for those responsible for the company’s response to Winter Storm Fern, which left more than 10,000 customers without power for more than a week, to be fired and replaced.
“So let me be clear: Whomever is responsible for the disaster should be fired, and should be replaced with competent leadership. This can never happen again,” said Blackburn.
U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05), whose district includes part of Nashville, similarly urged state lawmakers to take control of the public utility and dissolve the board in a Wednesday letter to leaders in the Tennessee General Assembly.
The calls come after Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) wrote in a Tuesday post to X that lawmakers were considering all possible options to see executive-level terminations at the company.
“[NES’] lack of a strategic disaster relief plan, pro-tree canopy policy and being more concerned about a DEI contract renewal – all of which jeopardized public safety – requires executive management to be fired and the board to be replaced,” wrote Sexton. “The General Assembly will explore every option available with the stance NES cannot stay the same.”
Watch the portion of the NES press conference included on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show:
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
I am a lineman for the county,
And, the CEO don’t know what to do.
She ain’t never been in a bucket,
And, all she knows is DEI.
We looking forward to a big storm,
And, that stretch down south won’t never stand the strain
She stopped cut’en branches to preserve that tree canopy
But when power goes out, thousands of folk gonna be feel pain
(With apologies to Glenn Campbell, but it seem right for music city. )
According to her write-up, her 16 years in FINANCE with NES made her imminently qualified for the CEO position. She should have been able to provide accurate answers regarding budgeting issues, her capabilities to run a power company notwithstanding. HOWEVER, full responsibility for this fiasco falls directly on the shoulders of the mayor – he is the one who appointed her, and HE valued her DEI values above all else. The shame-blame game lies with him.