A Contentious Landscape of Pipeline Build-outs in the Eastern US

In July 2022, the Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC) released a notice that the Tennessee Gas Pipeline company had plans to build a 30-inch diameter, 36-mile-long gas pipeline across three counties in Tennessee. The gas would replace coal as a fuel to power the 2600 MW Cumberland Fossil Plant in Cumberland City, TN. Although the Tennessee Valley Authority conducted an environmental review of the project, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found the study inadequate, and lacking a sufficiently forward-looking approach towards renewable energy. The Southern Environmental Law Center also indicated that given the volatility of gas prices, the fuel upgrade from coal to gas would potentially create financial risks to the rate payers.

The advocacy group, Appalachian Voices, issued a report detailing how much more beneficial a renewable energy strategy would be for the region, compared with simply repowering the coal plant with gas.

“…the clean energy portfolios we considered would create an average of 739 direct, long-term jobs and 4,489 direct, temporary jobs for the Tennessee Valley. This figure is in stark contrast to TVA’s currently preferred gas alternative for replacing the plant, which would produce just 25 to 35 long term jobs and only 1,000 temporary jobs.”

FracTracker’s data analysis shows that the pipeline would be located within a half mile of the homes of approximately 1200 people, bisecting farmland in Dickson, Houston, and Stewart Counties. Construction would cross dozens of waterbodies mapped by the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Wetlands Inventory, including at least 30 riverine wetlands and 14 freshwater shrub wetlands, as well as numerous smaller streams.

On August 19, 2022, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) filed an intervention to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) outlining how the Tennessee Valley Authority’s DEIS failed to consider pipeline alternatives, was not transparent in their analysis, and showed a conflict of interest in their leadership. SACE’s recommendation was that FERC conduct its own Environmental Impact Statement, and not rely on the biased TVA document. By mid-September 2022, FERC indicated their intention to follow SACE’s recommendation and prepare their own EIS document on the Cumberland Pipeline project. A draft EIS is expected to be available in February 2023.