U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on Wednesday called for members of Nashville Electric Service (NES) leadership, who presided over sustained power outages across Nashville and the surrounding areas following Winter Storm Fern, to be “fired and replaced” in a Senate floor speech that referenced reporting from The Tennessee Star.
“By failing to properly prepare for Winter Storm Fern, the Nashville Electric Service, the 11th largest electric utility in the nation, put Tennesseans in harm’s way,” said Blackburn. “Across Nashville, hundreds of tree branches have broken off into power lines due to ice buildup. It’s the main reason for power loss, and it’s the responsibility of NES to trim trees around power lines to ensure this does not happen.”
Referencing reports about NES and CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin from The Star, she stated, “But between 2023 and ’25, the utility’s leadership cut funding for tree trimming services by $7 million. The reason? As the NES CEO told local media in August, and I’m quoting, ‘We care about the tree canopy. We have to live here too.'”
Broyles-Aplin made the statement about employing “species specific trimming” to preserve Nashville’s “tree canopy” during an appearance on NewsChannel 5 last year.
As The Star reported on Saturday, the annual report NES published for 2024, signed by Broyles-Aplin, specifically stated that a $7 million reduction in tree trimming spending helped drive a 6 percent decrease to the company’s operating expenses.
The annual report also included an expense table showing that NES cut “Contract Tree [and] Grass” spending from over $21 million in 2023 to $13.9 million in 2024.
Teresa Broyles-Aplin, the company’s CEO, on Tuesday contradicted details in the NES annual report and asserted, without evidence, that the company’s budget for vegetation management and tree trimming increased during this period.
Blackburn also cited The Star’s reporting on NES’ commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), as outlined in the company’s 2024 environmental and social governance (ESG) report.
“Instead of funding tree trimming, the utility is focused on DEI,” said Blackburn. “Between 2023 and early ’24, NES held 102 DEI training sessions for employees. It should be no surprise that when disaster struck, the utility was unprepared.”
The senator additionally noted that about 230,000 of NES’ 470,000 customers were without power during the storm, calling it a “50 percent fail rate” for the company, and added that more than 10,000 remain without power, with NES not anticipated to completely restore power until February 8.
Blackburn also said the company’s response to her letter last week, which sought answers from Broyles-Aplin for the sustained outages, was insufficient.
“In response, the company refused to take any responsibility, and said that power should be fully restored by, get this, next week,” she said. “That would be a full two weeks of no power for many Nashville homes and businesses. Businesses that have lost a lot of money.”
Ultimately, Blackburn said the company’s performance during Winter Storm Fern should provoke firings.
“So let me be clear: Whomever is responsible for the disaster should be fired, and should be replaced with competent leadership,” said Blackburn. “This can never happen again.”
The call for firings at NES comes after U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) called for the Tennessee General Assembly to “take direct oversight” over the company and “dissolve” its current board of directors.
“The city of Nashville has demonstrated it cannot handle municipal authority over NES, and therefore, the people’s representatives in the state must take control,” said Ogles.
Both calls follow the Tuesday statement by Tennessee House Majority Leader Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville), who confirmed state lawmakers are considering options to take control of the utility.
“[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,” stated Sexton. “The General Assembly will explore every option available with the stance NES cannot stay the same.”
Watch Blackburn’s remarks:
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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].
This is what happens when Nashville votes for incompetent Leftist Democrats. Just think how great Nashville would be with a good mayor. Nashville could have elected Carol Swain a few years back, but ended up with buffoon Cooper and the current clown instead.