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Press Release | January 11, 2023

Revolving Door Project Condemns TVA Decision To Expand Fossil Fuels, Urges EPA and White House To Be More Aggressive

ClimateIndependent Agencies
<strong>Revolving Door Project Condemns TVA Decision To Expand Fossil Fuels, Urges EPA and White House To Be More Aggressive</strong>

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Dorothy Slater, slater@therevolvingdoorproject.org

Revolving Door Project Condemns TVA Decision To Expand Fossil Fuels, Urges EPA and White House To Be More Aggressive

In response to news that Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) CEO Jeff Lyash issued a final decision to construct a new fossil gas plant and pipeline to replace an aging coal plant, Revolving Door Project Climate Research Director Dorothy Slater released the following statement:

“It’s unacceptable that the Biden Administration is allowing Jeff Lyash to move forward with a plan so antithetical to the administration’s climate and environmental goals. As an agency of the federal government, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)’s decision to invest in fossil fuel expansion should not be met with silence from a so-called climate president whose nominees sit on the TVA’s Board of Directors.”

“There is no level of fossil fuel expansion compatible with protecting our planet from catastrophic warning. This brand new gas plant and pipeline, which will stay online for decades, is no exception.”

“We led 112 organizations last week to call for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to refer this decision to the White House Council for Environmental Quality (CEQ), a power given in Section 309 of the Clean Air Act. This little-used power is not time-bound by law, and considering that past government guidance has interpreted the provision to mean that the EPA can make the referral ‘if at any phase of the proposed action it becomes apparent that an unacceptable environmental impact is expected or is occurring,’ we urge the EPA to be aggressive in its precedent-setting and make the referral even after this final decision has been issued.”

“The EPA already deemed this project an environmental disaster in its formal response to the TVA’s plan. A government serious about addressing the climate and ecological crisis should take the EPA’s science seriously and use all available powers to prevent fossil fuel expansion.”

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Read the organizations’ letter to Administrator Regan here

Slater wrote for The New Republic about Lyash and the fossil gas expansion last March.

Image credit: “Tennessee Valley Authority” by timekin is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

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