Preserve Cheatham County (PCC), a community group based in Cheatham County, TN, was presented with the Rural Power Champion Award this week by the nonprofit Groundswell to celebrate PCC’s inspiring work defending its community against a proposed methane gas plant. The award, presented at the Rural Renaissance Roadshow conference, is to honor “extraordinary leaders whose work exemplifies the courage, vision, and commitment that define rural America — proving how local leadership can spark lasting change and inspire communities nationwide.” SACE Decarbonization Advocacy Coordinator Tracy O’Neill is a founding member of Preserve Cheatham County (PCC) and was at the ceremony to accept the award on behalf of the group.
PCC’s history goes back to 2023, when the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) revealed a proposal to build a large, polluting methane gas plant in the middle of the agricultural community. The proposal included a 900-megawatt methane gas combustion turbine plant, new gas pipelines, and electric transmission lines to serve it.
The plant, as proposed, would have emitted large amounts of carbon pollution as well as nitrogen oxides and fine particulate matter, which cause and exacerbate serious health effects. Notably, there was essentially no existing infrastructure to accommodate this project, so the plant, pipelines, and transmission lines would have been on “greenfield” land, cutting through agricultural and residential properties. TVA tried to advance its project with almost no local awareness or input, but locals banded together through PCC to demand answers and accountability from TVA.
PCC and Tracy worked tirelessly over two years to inform the local community about TVA’s intentions for the project and to ensure local people’s voices weren’t left out. As PCC and residents organized, and TVA continued to shut out the communities’ concerns, opposition to TVA’s plant grew and grew until this past summer, when TVA announced it would take its project off the table.
You can read more about the TVA Cheatham County plant saga and the inspiring community action in the following articles:
- From Lifeline to Land Grab (September 2024)
- TVA’s Secret Deals and Lack of Transparency: What Valley Residents Deserve to Know (November 2024)
- TVA Can’t Keep Ignoring Alternatives (May 2025)
- The Fight That United a Community (September 2025)
PCC and Tracy’s work is inspiring. When TVA, one of the country’s biggest companies, came to their community, steamrolling concerns and threatening to pollute the environment with fossil fuels, PCC didn’t sit back — they reached out to their neighbors, united on common ground, made sure their community was heard, and won.
We at SACE also want to extend congratulations and gratitude to the members of Preserve Cheatham County and Tracy for their hard work and well-deserved victory.
