Tennessee
Community reacts to proposed 122-mile natural gas pipeline
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – A Tennessee natural gas company has proposed a 122-mile pipeline stretching across 8 Tennessee counties. It includes three East Tennessee counties: Fentress, Morgan and Roane counties.
Tennessee Valley Authority spokesperson Scott Brooks said, “We would be customers of the pipeline for the Kingston Generation Project and Kingston Energy Complex, which would be a first of its kind for TVA.”
According to the Federal Energy Regulator Commission, the pipeline would provide new firm natural gas transportation and a customized delivery service to the TVA Kingston Plant from multiple providers.
Brooks said this will help TVA with their goal to shut down the coal plant and create an energy complex using natural gas, storage and solar.
“It would be considered an important milestone for the project to keep us on track to retire the Kingston Fossil Plant and bring on the natural gas plant in a timely fashion,” Brooks said.
WVLT News spoke with a couple of people in Kingston. They said they’re okay with this move.
Kingston resident James Pelham said, “I think it’d be a better idea because you don’t want to worry about the ash spill. That could happen at any time.”
“I’m not necessarily happy about it, but I’d rather have natural gas over coal,” Kingston resident Jack Sims said.
The Sierra Club Tennessee Chapter is opposed to the pipeline. Kent Minault, a volunteer with the group, said there are a handful of concerns which include cost and environmental risks.
“They can get far lower cost electricity, by their own estimates, by using solar and storage,” Minault said. “It’s really terrible for the climate.”
There are two more public meetings scheduled for people to discuss the project.
- Wednesday, June 12 from 6 to 8 p.m. CDT at Cookeville High School in Cookeville
- Thursday, June 13, from 6 to 8 p.m. CDT at Trousdale Community Center in Hartsville
If approved, Enbridge would start construction in the fall of 2025.
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Tennessee
Trump pardons former Tennessee House speaker and his aide, who were convicted on federal corruption charges
President Donald Trump pardoned former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada and his former chief of staff, Cade Cothren, who were convicted on federal corruption charges.
Casada, a Republican, was sentenced in September to 36 months in prison after being convicted on 17 charges, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Cothren, the aide, received a shorter sentence.
Casada confirmed the pardon on Thursday in a statement to NBC affiliate WSMV in Nashville, saying: “Yes the president called me today and granted me a full pardon. I am grateful of his trust and his full confidence in my innocence through this whole ordeal.”
In a statement, a White House official confirmed Trump’s decision to pardon Casada and Cothren and blamed the Biden administration for over-prosecuting the two men.
“The Biden Department of Justice significantly over-prosecuted these individuals for a minor issue involving constituent mailers — which were billed at competitive prices, never received a complaint from legislators, and resulted in a net profit loss of less than $5,000. The Biden DOJ responded with an armed raid, perp walk, and suggested sentences exceeding 10 years — penalties normally reserved for multimillion-dollar fraudsters,” the official told NBC News.
The investigation of both men began during Trump’s first term — and the raids of their homes — were conducted in January 2021, while Trump was still in office. The judge who oversaw the case and handed down Casada and Cothren’s sentences was appointed by Trump in his first term.
The charges against Casada and Cothren centered on a consulting firm they founded with another lawmaker, called Phoenix Solutions. Prosecutors alleged that the former House speaker and his aide used the company to illegally funnel money to themselves for campaign and taxpayer-funded work, including by organizing a $52,000 mailer program for Tennessee lawmakers.
Prosecutors said they used a false name — Matthew Phoenix — to run the company.
Several years before Casada was charged, he served as House speaker in Tennessee, but resigned in 2019 after a no-confidence vote by his fellow lawmakers. The vote came in the wake of another scandal involving Casada and Cothren, where the two were accused of exchanging sexually explicit text messages about women. Casada apologized for the texts and said that they were “not the person I am.”
The president this term has also pardoned several other former politicians, including former Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, former Tennessee GOP state Sen. Brian Kelsey and former GOP Las Vegas City Councilmember Michele Fiore. He also commuted former GOP Rep. George Santos’ prison sentence.
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