Two new Tennessee programs set to help residents and businesses save energy and reduce costs

The State of Tennessee announced two separate energy efficiency programs this week: one to assist residents in the purchase of energy efficient heating and cooling equipment, and the other to provide low interest financing to Tennessee businesses for energy efficiency and renewable energy retrofits.
On Monday, the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD) announced [...]

TVA Announces Old Coal Retirements

Last Friday the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) announced a new vision for its energy portfolio at their August Board meeting. (We will be blogging on this in more detail soon.)
TVA CEO Tom Kilgore expressed the hope that TVA will become “one of the nation’s leading providers of low-cost and cleaner energy by 2020″. One of [...]

Comments from Stephen A. Smith at EETNs Ribbon Cutting for Largest Solar Site in TN

Comments from Dr. Stephen A. Smith, Executive Director, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, August 12, 2010 at EETN’s Ribbon Cutting for Tennessee’s largest solar site.
First let me thank Robbie and Harvey and their team at EETN for seeing this project through and allowing myself and my SACE team to be a part of it. It [...]

Dysfunctional politics continues to stall confirmation of TVA Board nominees

Nearly a year after President Obama nominated four people to fill vacant seats on TVA’s Board of Directors, and 6 months after the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works unanimously approved the nominations, it seems backdoor politics and partisan bickering are keeping the Board nominees from final confirmation by the Senate.
We see no reason [...]

Appeals Court Undermines Regional Clean Air

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Virginia, struck a very serious blow to Southeast air quality last week when it overturned an interstate nuisance ruling in the case of Tennessee Valley Authority vs. North Carolina. The appeals court ruled that the state of North Carolina could not claim a public nuisance against a [...]

Evidence Mounts As We Wait For Meaningful Coal Ash Regulation

In a preliminary announcement on May 4, EPA proposed two distinctly different options for regulating the toxic mess left behind from burning coal at fossil plants. . . Given all the evidence about the dangers of coal ash, its a simple choice between Subtitle C’s toxic waste regulations and Subtitle D’s household garbage guidelines.

TVA wind purchases open the door to new opportunities

Quietly, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has been signing contracts with several wind developers that will put the federal utility in a position to significantly grow its wind energy portfolio in 2012, if all goes to plan.
Over the past 5 months, TVA has announced multiple contracts with Invenergy Wind, CPV Renewable Energy Co., Iberdrola [...]

A year since the Kingston disaster and still no coal ash regulations

How long will it take before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lives up to its responsibility to protect human health and the environment?  With respect to coal combustion waste, apparently a little longer.  The EPA’s December 17th announcement that it will delay a proposal for regulating coal combustion waste (CCW) is another disappointing turn in [...]

Out With The Coal, In With The New

Recently in the Southeast we’ve had some exciting announcements about utility plans to begin retiring and repowering some of their oldest and dirtiest coal plants.  By our estimate, eleven retirements are in the works representing over 25 million tons of annual carbon dioxide emissions.  As the proverbial ‘writing on the wall’ gets clearer that global [...]

Live in Copenhagen: Rep. Blackburn plays politics at the expense of the planet

It was with great disappointment that I watched the congresswoman’s republican response to the President’s weekly radio address last Saturday. She is now in Copenhagen as part of the U.S. Congressional Delegation. Her grandstanding appears to be more aimed at her growing Sara Palin wannabe ambition and appealing to the hard right teabag wing of the [...]