With four new Donald Trump appointees confirmed to the board, and now sworn in, The Tennessee Valley Authority has finally been freed from the rust-like wokeness that once stalled its progress. The swearing-in of the four new members in January put enough bodies in seats for a quorum to be held after months without a meeting. Now the Valley can finally say good riddance to the Sleepy-Joe Biden era board members.
The U.S. Senate, under the steadfast direction of Vice President JD Vance, confirmed the Trump appointees just before the Christmas break. Randy Jones, Mitch Graves, Jeff Hagood and Arthur Graham were sworn in mid-January, and have already taken significant corrective action, steering the Federal agency from the disastrous trajectory of the Biden green new scam.
Among the more than qualified picks by the president, Art Graham of Jacksonville is to be applauded. The choice of Graham reflects President Trump’s business acumen, looking beyond the Valley to the wisdom of the state regulated, private sector energy market in Florida. In Graham’s fifteen years as a Florida Public Service Commissioner, he oversaw a grid providing power to a populous twice that currently served by the TVA, which includes five major power providers.
Jones and Graves both served on their city utility boards, offering the wisdom of municipal needs to the direction of the entity, but it is also worth noting the selection of Jeff Hagood of Knoxville, whose mother and family members worked for the TVA, further highlighting Trump’s devotion to working class America. The new board can now take the reins and officially make this Trump’s TVA.
Among the aversion to disaster by the Trump majority board was the decision not to close two coal plants at a time when TVA already can’t meet the valley power demand as it is. Closing Cumberland and Kingston was a Biden-era decision that would have further hobbled TVA, as no generation coming online in the next several years would have been competitive with their output.
Electricity demand is exploding, especially in rural America. Under the direction of this new Trump board, the entity is once again capable of navigating the power and transmission needs of the valley.
Furthermore, the Board has eliminated renewables as a priority, cementing Trump vision and clear minded leadership. Gutting renewables from TVA’s budget eliminates wasteful investments in Chinese infrastructure of diminishing returns that will yield little long-term payout for the Valley public.
As Alabama Senator Katie Britt put it: “The Biden Administration’s anti-energy policies would have resulted in 3,800MW of reliable power being removed from the grid — enough to power 3 million homes!”
The decision is being applauded in conservative circles, and now the entity can work on how to become one of the great successes of the second Trump Administration.
One of the ways being devoting its investments to real, long-term infrastructure, following through on the trajectory laid out by Tennessee Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Haggerty: for TVA to lead the world in nuclear power generation. 70 million homes in America are being powered by less than 100 reactors, running at 90% capacity. It’s not enough. To achieve that success may require brushing dust off some old ideas, which is just what this administration is doing.
Working alongside Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and TVA are re-vamping a plan that congress put on hold over 40 years ago. The Clinch River Nuclear project, which was promised to the valley in 1970, fizzled out over budget disputes like so many others.
Fellow Reaganites may even remember that Clinch River Nuclear Power Plant was supported by President Ronald Reagan, as well as then Senate Republican majority leader and Tennessean, the great Howard Baker. But the greater debate over the Tennessee Valley Authority has long been over.
Reagan, the standard bearer of conservatism and founder of Citizen for the Republic, accepted the fact that TVA as an institution was here to stay and was wildly popular in its service area. Conservatives gave up the notion long ago that TVA could be sold off.
Now this Trump led board will finally deliver on a half century promise to deliver small modular reactors to the valley, under the safe and watchful care of the TVA, and a CEO whose first steps in the industry were in reactor maintenance.
Much to the credit of TVA local Congressman Chuck Fleischmann and other forward-thinking Republican leaders in the House and Senate, the TVA, under this new direction may well deliver on President Trump’s Day 1 promise, to unleash American Energy for our 21st century needs.
Historian and Reagan biographer Craig Shirley is the author of Reagan's Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign That Started It All; Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign That Changed America; December 1941: 31 Days That Changed America and Saved the World; Last Act: The Final Years and Emerging Legacy of Ronald Reagan; Reagan Rising: The Decisive Years, 1976-1980; Citizen Newt: The Making of a Reagan Conservative; Mary Ball Washington: The Untold Story of George Washington's Mother; April 1945: The Hinge of History, as well as many articles and essays on politics and the conservative movement.
The U.S. Senate, under the steadfast direction of Vice President JD Vance, confirmed the Trump appointees just before the Christmas break. Randy Jones, Mitch Graves, Jeff Hagood and Arthur Graham were sworn in mid-January, and have already taken significant corrective action, steering the Federal agency from the disastrous trajectory of the Biden green new scam.
Among the more than qualified picks by the president, Art Graham of Jacksonville is to be applauded. The choice of Graham reflects President Trump’s business acumen, looking beyond the Valley to the wisdom of the state regulated, private sector energy market in Florida. In Graham’s fifteen years as a Florida Public Service Commissioner, he oversaw a grid providing power to a populous twice that currently served by the TVA, which includes five major power providers.
Jones and Graves both served on their city utility boards, offering the wisdom of municipal needs to the direction of the entity, but it is also worth noting the selection of Jeff Hagood of Knoxville, whose mother and family members worked for the TVA, further highlighting Trump’s devotion to working class America. The new board can now take the reins and officially make this Trump’s TVA.
Among the aversion to disaster by the Trump majority board was the decision not to close two coal plants at a time when TVA already can’t meet the valley power demand as it is. Closing Cumberland and Kingston was a Biden-era decision that would have further hobbled TVA, as no generation coming online in the next several years would have been competitive with their output.
Electricity demand is exploding, especially in rural America. Under the direction of this new Trump board, the entity is once again capable of navigating the power and transmission needs of the valley.
Furthermore, the Board has eliminated renewables as a priority, cementing Trump vision and clear minded leadership. Gutting renewables from TVA’s budget eliminates wasteful investments in Chinese infrastructure of diminishing returns that will yield little long-term payout for the Valley public.
As Alabama Senator Katie Britt put it: “The Biden Administration’s anti-energy policies would have resulted in 3,800MW of reliable power being removed from the grid — enough to power 3 million homes!”
The decision is being applauded in conservative circles, and now the entity can work on how to become one of the great successes of the second Trump Administration.
One of the ways being devoting its investments to real, long-term infrastructure, following through on the trajectory laid out by Tennessee Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Haggerty: for TVA to lead the world in nuclear power generation. 70 million homes in America are being powered by less than 100 reactors, running at 90% capacity. It’s not enough. To achieve that success may require brushing dust off some old ideas, which is just what this administration is doing.
Working alongside Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and TVA are re-vamping a plan that congress put on hold over 40 years ago. The Clinch River Nuclear project, which was promised to the valley in 1970, fizzled out over budget disputes like so many others.
Fellow Reaganites may even remember that Clinch River Nuclear Power Plant was supported by President Ronald Reagan, as well as then Senate Republican majority leader and Tennessean, the great Howard Baker. But the greater debate over the Tennessee Valley Authority has long been over.
Reagan, the standard bearer of conservatism and founder of Citizen for the Republic, accepted the fact that TVA as an institution was here to stay and was wildly popular in its service area. Conservatives gave up the notion long ago that TVA could be sold off.
Now this Trump led board will finally deliver on a half century promise to deliver small modular reactors to the valley, under the safe and watchful care of the TVA, and a CEO whose first steps in the industry were in reactor maintenance.
Much to the credit of TVA local Congressman Chuck Fleischmann and other forward-thinking Republican leaders in the House and Senate, the TVA, under this new direction may well deliver on President Trump’s Day 1 promise, to unleash American Energy for our 21st century needs.
Historian and Reagan biographer Craig Shirley is the author of Reagan's Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign That Started It All; Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign That Changed America; December 1941: 31 Days That Changed America and Saved the World; Last Act: The Final Years and Emerging Legacy of Ronald Reagan; Reagan Rising: The Decisive Years, 1976-1980; Citizen Newt: The Making of a Reagan Conservative; Mary Ball Washington: The Untold Story of George Washington's Mother; April 1945: The Hinge of History, as well as many articles and essays on politics and the conservative movement.
