It’s Not Acceptable for Adam Schiff and Bernie Sanders to Have Veto/Approval Authority Over TVA Board Appointments

President Trump’s three new appointees to the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority (“TVA”) were just narrowly approved by a 10-9 vote of the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works. All nine Democrats on the committee voted against Trump’s appointees. Having (barely) received the committee’s approval, the nominations now proceed to the full Senate where a simple majority vote is needed from the Republican-controlled Senate for final confirmation. The TVA is the nation’s largest public power company, providing electricity to over 10 million people in Appalachia and the southeast, including most of Tennessee.

Among those Democrats on the senate committee who voted against Trump’s TVA nominees were Sen. Adam Schiff of California, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Sen. Ed. Markey of Massachusetts. With the “net zero” abolition of carbon-based energy now a foundational priority of Democrats and blue state leftists, it is unacceptable that TVA customers in the Tennessee Valley are in any way subject to the Green New Deal zealotry of blue state senators such as Schiff, Sanders, and Markey.

I’d like to propose an alternative method for selecting board members: TVA Directors should be appointed by the governors of the states served by the TVA, without requiring US Senate confirmation.

Specifics would need to be worked out, but I might suggest something along the lines of nine total directors, with three from Tennessee (which is by far the largest TVA customer and constitutes most of the footprint), and one each from the other six states (Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky.)

As I have previously documented, Joe Biden’s TVA appointees were anti-fossil fuel activists. Fortunately, President Trump promptly fired them after taking office, ensuring that their green delusions about “renewable” energy wouldn’t interfere with the TVA continuing to provide reliable, affordable electricity to its service area…for now.

But there will be almost certainly be another Democrat president in the future, and s/he too will appoint directors with a commitment to shutting down TVA’s carbon-based energy production. An “energiewende” will be inflicted upon Appalachia that is just as devastating as the energy poverty inflicted upon Germany by Angela Merkel. That cannot be allowed to happen.

I live in Tennessee, where we have no say in how California and Massachusetts get their electricity. Residents of those states should not have any say over Tennessee’s electricity either, but when blue state Democrats vote for leftists like Schiff and Markey, they are also casting votes to deny Tennesseans affordable, reliable energy. Again, that is not acceptable.

In the confirmation hearings, Senators Schiff and Markey demanded that the TVA appointees commit to carbon-free, “net zero” electricity production within 25 years. Trump’s nominees would not make that promise, in part because it is not feasible, but also because they do not share the climate alarmism that Democrats have embraced as their post-Christianity religion.

There is some discussion about privatizing the TVA. Chattanooga’s Republican Congressman, Chuck Fleischmann, is opposed to the idea, while Knoxville’s Republican Congressman, Tim Burchett, is willing to entertain the idea. Since a highly regulated, private utility that has no competition is hardly a free market entity, I won’t argue for privatization. Further, since the prevailing business school mindset found in C-suites these days is to cut costs, cut quality, and reduce service, all while treating customers as prey to be gouged, and while vilifying employees as an expense that reduces executive bonuses, I am fine keeping the TVA publicly owned. However, it needs to be accountable to the voters in its service area. That is why I want the governors in the seven states to be the ones appointing directors. The directors then hire the TVA leadership.

If control of the TVA is left to Washington DC, the day is coming that a President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will appoint a full board of Greta Thunbergs to de-carbonize the TVA. The Green New Deal is not a joke. It’s a communist plan for re-organizing society in a way that turns prosperity into poverty, death, and despair. Venezuela’s trajectory is a role model for the Green New Dealers on what they would like to impose domestically.

The Tennessee Valley needs to have energy independence from Washington DC and the Green New Dealers. It is literally a life or death issue.

The map below is the TVA’s service area. I will be reaching out to my Congressman and Senators, and also to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, to promote this idea. Senator Marsha Blackburn is the frontrunner to be elected governor of Tennessee in 2026, so I will also reach out to her campaign team and press secretary.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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