The Tennessee House just passed its latest preemption bill that’s designed to help fossil fuel companies build new infrastructure like pipelines.
The bill passed 68-25 on Monday, and it’s expected to be signed by Gov. Bill Lee within the next two weeks.
The legislation preempts local governments from taking action that would prohibit fossil fuel development or expansion. Although the bill was modified with some amendments, it does not define what a prohibitive action is – and energy experts said the vague text could allow fossil fuel companies to intimidate local governments with lawsuits to fast-track construction.
“I think there’s still a lot of history to be written about what the implications of the bill are,” said George Nolan, an attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center.
During a floor speech on Monday, Rep. Kevin Vaughan, R-Collierville, repeatedly described what the bill doesn’t do, but skipped over some key details of what it does, including preventing cities or counties from regulating or enforcing safety standards for pipelines. The bill “voids local action if such action is, or acts as…regulation or enforcement of safety standards for pipeline facilities or pipeline transportation.”
The bill, which explicitly excludes solar energy, also preempts local governments from blocking a fossil fuel entity to “exercise its rights related to the siting of energy infrastructure or industrial infrastructure.”
The Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and the Tennessee Fuel and Convenience Store Association supported the legislation. Both groups receive financial support from fossil fuel companies.
Earlier this month, the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report warned that nations must peak emissions by 2025 and halve them by 2030 to avoid catastrophic warming. The report said nations should rapidly transition to clean energy and away from fossil fuels, which accounted for about 86% of global greenhouse gas emissions in the past decade.
In the absence of state or federal action, some cities have taken steps to reduce emissions. Subsequently, some states have been passing preemption laws to block such action. For example, in 2020, Tennessee became one of the first states to preempt cities from being able to ban gas for heating and cooking in new buildings.
The Tennessee Valley Authority, the state’s largest utility, is planning to build more gas plants for electricity, which also means new pipelines and potentially decades of fossil fuel use – or, at least, fossil fuel investments. TVA recently filed a document with the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding its board’s approval of $3.5 billion for two of its projects.
TVA declined to comment on the legislation and said it follows state and federal regulations. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation also declined to comment on the legislation.
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