The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved plans to build a natural gas pipeline to supply a power plant the Tennessee Valley Authority plans to build near Clarksville, Tennessee, at the site of TVA’s biggest coal plant.
Despite opposition from environmental groups, the commission authorized the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. LLC to build a 32-mile-long gas pipeline in Middle Tennessee sought by TVA to power a new combined cycle natural gas plant to replace a portion of the 2,470 megawatts of coal-fired generation planned to be idled within the next five years at the Cumberland Fossil Plant near Clarksville.
By a 2-1 vote, the regulatory agency approved the proposed pipeline after TVA said earlier this month that without immediate approval of the gas line, the shutdown of the coal-fired plants at Cumberland would have to be delayed.
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