Chatt TFP: 5 takeaways on TVA's future under Trump from Senate hearing
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5 takeaways on TVA’s future under Trump from Senate hearing
Board nominees praise nuclear, downplay solar and wind energy
12 hours, 3 minutes ago by Daniel Dassow
Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / On Sept. 9, 2025, from left, Noah Abbas, Braxton Stratton and Trent Waters protest with the Party for Socialism and Liberation outside the TVA offices on Market Street, calling for protecting the agency from the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump's nominees to the Tennessee Valley Authority board committed to keeping the utility public in a Senate hearing but questioned a series of climate goals the company adopted under the Biden administration.
The TVA board approved a long-term power plan in 2019 that predicted essentially flat demand for electricity, but artificial intelligence data centers have led to a scramble for more electricity with their sky-high power use.
Trump has fired three members from the board since March, leaving it with three of nine members, too few to form a quorum to approve new policies and programs.
The four nominees -- Mitch Graves of Memphis, Jeff Hagood of Knoxville, Randall Jones of Alabama and Art Graham of Florida -- are poised to restore the board's quorum and vote to approve a new long-term power plan drafted in 2024. The plan worried clean energy groups, who argued it relied too heavily on new fossil fuel plants to meet rising demand.
TVA, created by Congress during the Great Depression, funds itself by selling power to local utilities that serve 10 million people in Tennessee and parts of six neighboring states. It maintains an operations hub and several large power plants in the Chattanooga area.
(READ MORE: Small TVA board turns up heat in defense of public power)
The nominees and senators praised TVA's public power model during Wednesday's hearing and focused on keeping electricity bills affordable. Nashville businessman and GOP donor Lee Beaman, a fifth nominee, did not appear at the hearing after his paperwork was not completed in time.
Though the second Trump administration has not proposed selling off TVA assets, advocates for the nation's largest public utility have worried aloud for months an unpredictable White House will revive a push for privatization.
Trump's nominees to the utility board echoed his administration's focus on maximizing electricity output while downplaying the role of solar and wind power. Their nominations will move through a committee vote and a full Senate vote.
Here are five things the hearing suggested about TVA's future under Trump.
NUCLEAR, COAL WIN
Each of the four nominees agreed that nuclear energy is the future at TVA and coal isn't yet the past.
TVA became a national leader on reducing pollution in the 2010s by closing six coal-fired power plants and bringing the first new U.S. nuclear reactor of the 21st century online at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Rhea County.
When its three nuclear plants operate according to plan, TVA gets 40% of its electricity from the carbon-free source. The utility is leading its peers in developing a small modular reactor and has entered multiple partnerships with private companies to develop advanced reactors.
"Our best hope is nuclear," said Hagood, an attorney who grew up in Persia, Tennessee.
TVA adopted a plan in 2021 to retire its four remaining coal-fired power plants by 2035, but a coal-friendly Trump administration has offered the utility a chance to keep the plants running longer.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., asked the nominees if they would stick to the planned retirements of coal plants. None of the nominees made that commitment, citing the new power plan under development.
"I think it's a little bit more complicated than answering yes or no," said Graves, who sits on the board of TVA's largest utility customer. "I think we have got to use all of our energy sources right now to meet the demand."
Photo via screenshot of government livestream / On Oct. 22, 2025, four of President Donald Trump's nominees to the TVA board of directors sit at a Senate hearing. From left are Mitch Graves, Jeff Hagood, Randall Jones and Art Graham.
PIPE DREAM?
A key moment in the hearing came when committee Chair Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., asked the nominees what the greatest challenge will be to meet rising demand for electricity.
TVA's power needs are forecast to grow between 30% and 80% over the next decade, Capito said, citing utility planning documents.
Graham, who regulates private utilities in Florida as a public service commissioner, warned TVA needs to make certain the demand will actually come before making large investments.
"I think No. 1 is to make sure that the numbers that people are talking about are legitimate," Graham said. "Is this a pipe dream, or is this actually going to come true?"
TVA overestimated power demand in the 1960s and 70s as it embarked on the largest nuclear construction project in the U.S., with 17 nuclear reactors planned. It finished only seven of the reactors, leaving the company with billions in debt and multiple unfinished plants, some of which it still owns.
On Oct. 22, 2025, four of President Donald Trump's nominees to the TVA board of directors testified before a Senate hearing and said they are all in on nuclear.
SOLAR TENSIONS
Solar and wind energy, two energy sources subsidized by the Biden administration and targeted by the Trump administration with project cancellations, almost went unmentioned by the TVA nominees.
Each nominee said they support deploying renewable energy like solar panels and batteries when pressed by Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.
"I think we've got to look at all energy generation," Graves told Kelly. "We aren't going to have any option but to look at everything."
The utility adopted a goal under Biden to add 10,000 megawatts of solar power to its grid by 2035, more power than it currently generates at nuclear plants. But while nuclear plants run around the clock, solar panels only produce electricity when the sun is shining, so their actual power output is far below their stated capacity. Solar panels produced 23% of their theoretical power output in 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The vast majority of the solar energy would be purchased through contracts from private companies, like a 177-megawatt solar project in Lake County, Tennessee, which came online Tuesday.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., called the 4% of TVA's energy from purchased wind and solar power a "staggeringly low" number. He tried to get each nominee to commit to a previously adopted goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Photo via screenshot of government livestream / On Oct. 22, 2025, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., questions four of President Donald Trump's nominees to the TVA board of directors during a hearing about whether they will commit to climate goals adopted during the Biden administration.
"I commit to making sure we've got enough power to take care of our citizens," Graves said.
"You're not committing," said Markey, an environmentalist who has criticized TVA for years over its construction of natural gas plants to replace coal plants.
TVA broke ground Wednesday on a 500-megawatt gas-fired plant in Mississippi, part of an ongoing construction effort totaling almost 7,000 megawatts of new electricity generated by the fossil fuel. That's enough power for more than 4 million homes.
LOCAL POWER
Two nominees, Graves and Jones, serve on the boards of local utilities that buy wholesale power from TVA. Their presence on the TVA board would bring a more direct representation of the company's central customers.
Graves was chair of Memphis Light, Gas and Water -- TVA's largest customer -- when the local utility studied options for getting power from other providers. The utility ultimately stayed in the TVA fold, which Graves told senators "underscores both TVA's value and its importance to Memphis."
Jones is chair of the Electric Board of Guntersville in northern Alabama. That area sits on the edge of TVA's service territory.
"Even now, our residential rates remain 30% below those of our neighboring providers," Jones, a prominent insurance agent, said.
TVA officials said they strengthened partnerships with local utilities over the past five years by offering them incentives in exchange for 20-year power contracts. Most utilities signed onto longer terms, but Memphis did not.
HAGERTY CRITIQUES
Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., introduced his home state nominees at the hearing but also used his time to rehash critiques he's made of TVA leadership since March.
Two of Hagerty's colleagues in Congress confirmed to the Chattanooga Times Free Press that lawmakers have discussed for months the possibility he wants to be the utility's next CEO. Spokespeople for Hagerty have not responded to requests for comment about the speculation. Hagerty is running for reelection for a second term.
He supports Trump's nominees, who would be charged with selecting, or firing, CEOs once they are sworn in. The three TVA nominees from Tennessee have donated to Hagerty's campaigns, according to public records.
The board selected Don Moul, previously chief operating officer, as CEO in March when it had a quorum.
"Unfortunately, TVA's potential has too often been constrained by bureaucracy and a lack of vision," Hagerty said at the hearing. "For too long, the board prioritized process over progress and metrics over mission. But today, we have an opportunity to change that."
Hagerty and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., published an opinion piece in March criticizing the board of Biden appointees one week before the White House fired the first of three members it has removed.
Trump's nominees would "cut through the red tape" on nuclear energy, Hagerty said. The TVA board of directors previously approved $350 million for the utility's new nuclear program.
"If TVA succeeds, the United States will lead the world in reliable and scalable energy production. If it fails, we risk ceding that ground to adversaries like China," Hagerty said. "The stakes could not be higher."
Contact business reporter Daniel Dassow at dda...@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.
Daniel Dassow is a business reporter for the Chattanooga Times Free Press. He earned degrees in English and religious studies from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2023, where he served as editor-in-chief of The Daily Beacon. He previously worked as a tech and energy reporter for the Knoxville News Sentinel. He is the youngest of six siblings. Contact him at 423-757-6318 or dda...@timesfreepress.com.