Tennessee plans to spend 64% of its next environmental budget on internet service

Internet service will be Tennessee’s top environmental spending priority next year.

On Tuesday, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation formally proposed a $55 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2024. 

The agency plans to spend nearly two-thirds of that amount, or about $35 million, on expanding “broadband infrastructure” in state parks. 

There is one new law that will affect this buildout. 

Last year, Tennessee’s state legislature passed a law that provides tax breaks to broadband companies, like AT&T, to expand internet networks until 2025. The Tennessee General Assembly Fiscal Review Committee estimated that broadband companies would save about $68 million annually — enough to build a new park every year, the Tennessee Lookout reported. 

“The broad nature of the tax bill and the process of its passage exposed the power of AT&T in the Tennessee legislature, where it has used its money to maintain a vast influence over telecommunications and broadband policy in the state,” the Lookout found, calculating that AT&T has spent $9.6 million to influence Tennessee politics since 2009.