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 At the board meeting in Oxford, Miss., Tennessee Valley Authority
CEO Bill Johnson said increasingly stringent environmental
regulations and flat power demand have made it necessary to rethink
how the utility generates electricity.
"This is a personal nightmare for me," said Peter Mahurin, a board
member from Bowling Green, Ky., said of the decision. "But I must
support what I believe to be in the best interest of TVA's
customers."
In fiscal year 2013, coal accounted for 38 percent of TVA's
portfolio while natural gas made up 8 percent. Johnson said he would
like to see those numbers closer to 20 percent each over the next
decade.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell met with Johnson last month
to seek continued operation of all three coal-burning units at
Paradise Fossil Plant in Drakesboro, Ky. The board had previously
approved upgrading the two oldest units with environmental controls.
But on Thursday, Chief Operating Officer Chip Pardee recommended
building a gas plant there instead.
He said the third unit at Paradise is newer and has sufficient
environmental controls to continue operating on coal.
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The board also voted to close all five units at the Colbert plant in
northwest Alabama and one of two remaining units that had not been
marked for closure at the Widow's Creek plant in northeast Alabama.
Board member Joe Ritch, of Huntsville, Ala., echoed Mahurin's
comments on the closures, saying, "As painful as it is, it's the
right thing to do."
He said that saving a few jobs now would reduce TVA's
competitiveness for years to come.
[Associated
Press; TRAVIS LOLLER]
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