FERC Approves Natural Gas Pipelines, Enabling TVA to Replace Coal Plant Amid Environmental Concerns and Controversy.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved two natural gas pipeline projects, including one that will supply a planned power plant the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) intends to use to replace a 2,470-MW coal-fired generating station. The TVA had threatened to delay retiring its Cumberland power plant in Tennessee if FERC didn’t approve a 32-mile pipeline built by Tennessee Gas Pipeline. The project is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 7 million metric tons a year by allowing the TVA to replace coal with gas at its power plants. The Southern Environmental Law Center, leading a challenge to a state permit for the pipeline, criticized FERC’s decision, claiming it was based on a misleading comparison of carbon emissions. FERC Commissioner Allison Clements disagreed with the agency’s conclusion that it is impossible to assess the significance of greenhouse emissions with the social cost of carbon protocol. Clements also voted against a planned gas project by Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co., a subsidiary of The Williams Companies, citing that Transco failed to prove the project was in the public interest.