Happy Nice Mall

WASHINGTON — Despite President Biden’s commitment to rapidly move away from fossil fuels and remove greenhouse gases from the energy sector in little more than a decade, the nation’s largest federal utility plans to invest more than $3.5 billion in new gas-fired power plants.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, which provides electricity to nearly 10 million people in the Southeast, is replacing aging power stations powered by the dirtiest fossil fuel, coal. But critics say using gas instead of coal will lock in decades of additional carbon dioxide emissions that warm the planet and could be avoided by generating more electricity from the sun, wind or any other renewable source.

This marks the second time in recent months that a federal entity has clashed with Mr. Biden’s climate agenda. United States Postal Service, Replacing 165,000 old mail trucks with mostly gasoline powered vehiclesDespite the desire of the White House and leading Democrats to convert the fleet to all-electric vehicles.

It raises the question of whether President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s great 20th-century experiment with electrification can adapt to a 21st-century climate crisis that requires a radical rethinking of power generation.

Like the Postal Service, the Tennessee Valley Authority is an independent agency governed by a board of directors appointed by the president. And in both cases, the board is led by members nominated by former President Donald J. Trump, who often mocks climate science and is an ally of the fossil fuel industry.

In discussions about replacing coal-fired generators, TVA has found that solar or other zero-emission sources will be less reliable and more expensive than gas, TVA spokesperson Catherine Butler said.

Although the average cost of generating electricity from wind and solar sources is currently lower than fossil fuels in the United States, it will be more expensive to harness solar power for its needs, TVA said.

“We have an obligation to serve and keep the lights on.” “So, when renewable resources are not available, natural gas will be available to ensure reliable, resilient service is available to power our communities.”

TVA plans to add about 5,000 megawatts of new gas capacity, enough to power nearly 3 million homes. It is currently the third largest electricity provider in the United States.

At one point in the 1960s, TVA, which operated 12 coal-fired power plants, was the largest consumer of coal in the country.

But changes over time have turned the TVA into a rare utility that gets almost half of its power from zero-emissions sources. Former hydroelectric dams provide 11 percent of the agency’s power, while nuclear power accounts for 39 percent and wind and solar power 3 percent. It gets 19 percent of its power from coal by shutting down its coal power plants.

Yet environmental advocates argue that TVA executives are lagging on energy efficiency and are slow to transition to solar and other renewable energy. Scientists say countries need to cut pollution from fossil fuels sharply and quickly or you could face a planet that will dangerously overheat.

“It also sends a terrible message,” said Leah C. Stokes, a political scientist and environmental policy expert at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “The president has very bold goals to decarbonize the energy sector by 2035, and we have a major federal authority here that is really meddling in that goal.”

President Biden swore To help limit total global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to temperatures before the Industrial Revolution. That’s the threshold that scientists say increases the likelihood of catastrophic effects dramatically. To help with this, the country aims to reduce its emissions to almost half of 2005 levels by 2030; Reforming the energy sector is the key to achieving this goal.

“We can’t build any new fossil fuel infrastructure and limit warming to 1.5 degrees,” Ms Stokes said. The planet has already warmed an average of 1.1 degrees Celsius.

Two independent organizations appear to have thwarted Mr Biden’s climate agenda, underscoring the challenge he faced in trying to reduce emissions.

Ambitious climate legislation, which includes billions of dollars in tax incentives to promote wind and solar power, has been stalled in Congress. this Supreme Court may further confine Mr. Biden by restricting the government’s ability to regulate emissions in the energy sector. Same time, The administration is faced with a legal challenge. Calculating the impact of climate change when writing federal regulations.

Mr. Biden has appointed four new members to TVA’s nine-member board pending approval sessions. If confirmed by the Senate for a five-year term, newcomers, many of whom have environmental or labor ties, could change the direction of authority.

White House spokesman Vedant Patel said in a statement that he expects Mr. Biden’s appointments to be confirmed this spring, at which point the White House “looks forward to additional opportunities to accelerate clean energy investment in the region.” ”

“Although TVA’s board of directors operates independently of the federal government, we work hard with all federal and non-federal electricity providers to provide clean, affordable and reliable energy to all Americans,” Mr. Patel said.

Meanwhile, Representative Frank Pallone, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has launched an investigation into TVA’s new gas-fired power plant plans. He and other Democrats argued that residents paid too much for Tennessee Valley Authority energy and utility does not do enough to decarbonize.

“Instead of investing in new, cheaper clean technologies, TVA trashed its energy efficiency program, interfered with the adoption of renewable energy and is considering building additional and costly fossil fuel projects,” Pallone said in a statement. Rhode Island Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said the civil service plans to push candidates about gas plans when they come before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, where he sits.

“as are “TVA, the largest federally owned public utility, must lead the way in clean energy.” “Right now it’s going in the wrong direction with more gas burning.”

As part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal, the TVA was established in 1933 to take advantage of the Tennessee River’s floodwaters and improve farmers’ living standards. It currently supplies electricity to 159 municipalities, utility and industrial customers in Tennessee, as well as parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia.

According to current plans, TVA It aims to build two gas-fired power plants to replace a coal plant in Cumberland, Tenn., as well as the retired coal plants in Kingston, Tenn., where a bad coal ash spill occurred in 2008. New combustion turbine plants in Kentucky, Alabama and Tennessee.

TVA certificate submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission. He noted that the civil service board has already approved $3.5 billion for the two projects.

TVA’s goal is to reduce emissions by 80 percent by 2035, when President Biden wants the entire country’s electricity generation to be free of fossil fuel pollution.

Ms. Butler described the TVA’s less ambitious goal as one that “we now know is possible today”. He also rejected the argument made by environmentalists that the authority should focus solely on adding more renewable energy, noting that TVA is working with Oak Ridge National Laboratory on technology to capture carbon dioxide emissions and develop small modular nuclear reactors.

TVA currently generates only 3 percent of its electricity from solar and wind power and has a construction target of 10 percent by 2035.

“It’s very small,” said Amanda Garcia, Tennessee director of the Southern Environmental Law Center, a nonprofit.

“If the government has to lead by example, and the only federal agency the president appoints the board of directors for doesn’t plan to decarbonize by 2035, what does this mean for all other non-mission utilities? Will TVA serve the public good?” said.