When the Tennessee Valley Authority considers building a power plant, the decision affects Tennesseans for decades. It also affects the global climate.

The TVA board oversees these decisions. Right now, the nine-seat board has only three members with unexpired terms, and they were all appointed by former President Donald Trump.

Their next big decision is approaching fast: TVA is planning to build a new natural gas plant near Nashville at its Cumberland Fossil Plant, and the utility is expected to complete the federal environmental review for the project in the coming months.

“TVA is putting up blockades for clean, cheap energy while rolling out the red carpet to polluting facilities that are going to blow through our clean energy targets,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.

Markey made this comment during a hearing last week for the remaining three of President Joe Biden’s six nominees for the TVA board.

He probed the candidates about their commitment to renewable energy and climate action, while also expressing disquiet regarding the federal agency’s 2050 deadline for net-zero emissions.

“You guys figure out nuclear power plants, brag about it, but energy efficiency or wind or solar eludes the scientists? Eludes the management of TVA?” Markey said. “It’s kind of disgusting.”

TVA board nominees say they will use ‘common sense’

The three nominees examined in the hearing were Joe Ritch, an attorney from Alabama; Adam Wade White, a judge executive in Kentucky; and William J. Renick, a former Mississippi gubernatorial chief of staff. Each nominee was backed by a Republican senator (Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, for example, backed White’s nomination).

They were questioned about TVA’s plans for Cumberland.

“We have to look at all types of forms of generation of electricity,” said Ritch, who sat on the TVA board from 2013 to 2017 and served as board chairman for three years. In the power sector, this refrain has historically conveyed “open to fossil fuels.” Later, Ritch agreed with a statement that TVA should be “decarbonizing the mix as fast as prudently feasible.”

The other two candidates did not state whether they would support TVA’s gas plans. They said they would study the issue and use “common sense.”

Technically, the current TVA board already voted to give decision-making power on the Cumberland plant to CEO Jeff Lyash, who has been leading the federal agency toward additional fossil fuel infrastructure. But there has been hope that new board members could impact that decision.

During the hearing, Senate Republicans maintained that fossil fuels were necessary. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., said TVA’s Cumberland plan “upset many climate alarmists.” But the decision has received pushback from many individuals and entities, including Nashville Mayor John Cooper, the Nashville Electric Service board and even the Environmental Protection Agency.

TVA has said it needs a new natural gas plant to make their system capable of handling significant additions of renewables, but Markey said this logic was false because TVA already has a massive supply of nuclear power — which represents about about 40% of TVA’s power mix.

“Nuclear gives you a baseload capacity. You don’t have the excuse that other regions might have to need some additional natural gas,” Markey said.

Markey said building a natural gas plant did not make sense because of the climate crisis. Natural gas pipelines leak methane, and gas plants release carbon dioxide when the fossil fuel is burned.

The TVA board is political

The TVA board has been understaffed for nearly two years while the political process, which usually takes just a few months, has been stalled. It works like this: presidents nominate candidates to the TVA board, and the U.S. Senate must confirm them after hearings with the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

President Biden first nominated four candidates to empty seats in April 2021, but Republican senators pushed back on the choices and requested more “geographic diversity.” The initial candidates — minus one individual who dropped out — have remained unconfirmed for about 17 months.

Those three candidates are Beth Geer, of Brentwood, who was chief of staff for former vice president Al Gore; Michelle Moore, a CEO of a nonprofit; and Robert Klein, of Chattanooga, a former vice president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union.

Now that all six nominees have underwent hearings, the Senate could hold a vote soon.

“For years, TVA has been hijacked by a board that’s been a rubber stamp for the fossil fuel industry. We need new board members to jumpstart the just transition to 100% renewable, distributed energy and a livable planet,” said Gaby Sarri-Tobar, a campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity’s energy justice program.

During the hearing, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., also brought up allegations that TVA funded political activity, as TVA paid the Utility Air Regulatory Group about $7.3 million in the past two decades. Sheldon described UARG as an anti-climate industry lobbying group, “a hostile force,” which has opposed clean air and climate regulations.

The group disbanded in 2019, but former UARG lawyers continue to be paid by TVA, Whitehouse told the potential board members.

“We are certainly going to continue to look at that,” Whitehouse said.