The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Cumberland Fossil Plant. (Photo: Courtesy of TVA)
A federal appeals court will hear arguments Dec. 10 over the future of a proposed pipeline supplying the planned Cumberland Gas Plant in Stewart County.
The 32-mile pipeline, which would cut through parts of Dickson, Houston and Stewart Counties, is needed to supply methane gas to Tennessee Valley Authority’s Cumberland Gas Plant as TVA replaces former coal-burning power plants with methane gas power plants.
The case, brought by environmental groups, brings legal scrutiny to the environmental impact of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s multibillion-dollar pivot from coal to gas.
Environmental groups sue federal agency over Middle Tennessee pipeline approval
Earlier this month in a 2-1 decision, a panel of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily froze two permits issued to Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company to begin construction of the pipeline, which would cross 149 streams, creeks and wetlands, until the court can consider arguments about the environmental impact of pipeline construction.
Environmental groups — including the Southern Environmental Law Center, Appalachian Mountain Advocates, Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices — argued the plans to blast and install 8-feet-deep trenches to construct the pipeline run afoul of the federal Clean Water Act.
TVA argued that the federal appeals court lacked jurisdiction to hear the legal challenge over permits issued by state environmental regulators.