SACE Files Comments to FERC Regarding TVA’s Flawed Environmental Review for New Gas Plant at Cumberland

TVA's proposed combined cycle gas power plant to replace the retiring unit of the coal-fired Cumberland Fossil Plant is based on multiple flaws in TVA's Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

Amy Rawe | August 19, 2022 | Legal Documents
On August 19, 2022, SACE intervened to ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to do its own review of the need for TVA to build a new gas plant at Cumberland. TVA’s environmental review, which has yet to be finalized, was flawed and skewed the results toward TVA leadership’s desired outcome: to build a new gas combined cycle (CC) power plant instead of renewable energy. 

In the comments SACE submitted to FERC today, we lay out several key reasons that FERC should not use the analysis TVA presented in its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on Cumberland, namely: 
  • TVA’s DEIS lacks transparent analysis to justify the need for a gas plant
  • TVA failed to consider all the alternatives in its DEIS
  • TVA leadership has a conflict of interest
  • Governmental entities agree that TVA’s DEIS is flawed
  • FERC has new information to improve the analysis of alternatives to replace Cumberland

Read the full comments here: SACE Comments CUF pipeline – CP22-493