The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is reviewing the potential impacts of retiring the Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County. They are asking for the public’s input.

The utility will host a virtual open house Tuesday, June 29, 2021, at 6:30 pm to discuss and allow comment on the scope of the Environmental Impact Statement, alternatives being considered, and environmental issues that should be addressed related to the proposed retirement of the nine coal-fired units at Kingston, and the facility created to replace it.

The following is a statement from TVA:

Following the publication of the 2019 IRP, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) began conducting end-of-life evaluations of our coal fleet to inform long-term planning. TVA’s recent evaluation confirms that the aging coal fleet is among the oldest in the nation and is experiencing deterioration of material condition and performance challenges. The performance challenges are projected to increase because of the coal fleet’s advancing age and the difficulty of adapting the fleet’s generation within the changing generation profile; and, in general, because the coal fleet is contributing to environmental, economic, and reliability risks.

Because of the reasons listed above, TVA intends to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to assess the impacts associated with the proposed retirement of the nine coal-fired units at the Kingston Fossil Plant (KIF) and the construction and operation of facilities to replace the retired generation. To recover the generation capacity lost from retirement of the KIF units and to account for future load growth, TVA is proposing the addition of approximately 1,450 MW of replacement generation.

TVA plans to consider three action alternatives in the EIS: (A) Retirement of KIF and construction and operation of a Combined Cycle Combustion Turbine (CC) Gas Plant at the same site; (B) Retirement of KIF, investment in local and regional transmission, and construction and operation of Simple Cycle Combustion Turbine (CT) Gas Plants at alternate locations; (C) Retirement of KIF and construction and operation of Solar and Storage Facilities, primarily at alternate locations. All retirement options will also include the demolition of the KIF plant. Whether these or other alternatives are reasonable warranting further consideration under NEPA would be determined in the course of preparing the EIS. Potential connected actions, such as the natural gas pipeline and transmission upgrades as necessary for any particular alternative, will also be considered in this assessment.

TVA is requesting public comments on the scope of the EIS, alternatives being considered, and environmental issues that should be addressed as a part of this EIS. TVA is also requesting data, information and analysis relevant to the proposed action from the public; affected Federal, State, tribal, and local governments, agencies, and offices; the scientific community; industry; or any other interested party.

The public scoping period runs until July 15, 2021. Written comments should be sent to Chevales Williams at the address listed below. Comments may also be submitted online here, or by email at [email protected]. To ensure consideration, comments on the scope and environmental issues must be postmarked, emailed or submitted online no later than July 15, 2021. Please note that, because of current TVA requirements many employees are working remotely, TVA recommends the public submit comments electronically to ensure their timely review and consideration.

A virtual public meeting room will be available throughout the entire 30 day public comment period. You can enter the virtual public meeting room by clicking the following link:

https://tvavirtualroom.com/kingston/

TVA will also host an online open house on June 29, 2021, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. eastern time. You can register for this by clicking the following:

https://events-na6.adobeconnect.com/content/connect/c1/2331332518/en/events/event/shared/default_template/event_landing.html?sco-id=2713216066&_charset_=utf-8