NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — An environmental advocacy group is threatening to sue the Tennessee Valley Authority, alleging the nation’s largest public utility is violating the federal Clean Air Act after reversing course on plans to retire its Cumberland coal plant.
The Southern Environmental Law Center sent TVA a 60-day notice letter, arguing the utility does not have the proper permit under the Clean Air Act to operate its coal plant alongside its new Cumberland gas plant, which was originally designed to replace it.
“Under the Clean Air Act, to put it simply, you need to get the proper permit before you begin to construct or operate a source of air pollution, and the bottom line here is for TVA’s Cumberland site, TVA did not do that,” Delaney King, an associate attorney with the SELC said.
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The legal dispute stems from TVA’s decision earlier this year to continue operating its coal plants after previously planning to retire them once new natural gas plants came online…