NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced four nominees for the Tennessee Valley Authority's board, which for months has not had enough members to take many actions because Trump fired some of former President Joe Biden's picks.
TVA is the nation's largest public utility and provides power to more than 10 million people across seven southern states.
The White House said Trump's nominees for the federal utility are Tennesseans Lee Beaman, Mitch Graves and Jeff Hagood; and Randall Jones of Alabama.
The selections follow Trump's firing of three Biden-nominated board members since late March. The board normally has nine members and requires five to make a quorum. It currently has three. Trump's picks would not be seated until the U.S. Senate confirms them.
Without a quorum, TVA's board can take actions needed for ongoing operations but cannot jump into new areas of activity, start new programs or change the utility's existing direction.
Beaman is a businessman who sold his Nashville-area fleet of car dealerships. He is also a prominent Republican political fundraiser.
Graves is the CEO of West Cancer Center & Research Institute in Germantown, Tennessee, and he sits on the board of Memphis Light, Gas and Water.
Hagood is a Knoxville attorney and sits on the Knoxville Sports Authority Board. He was helping fundraising efforts for Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, the former WWE wrestler who had been flirting with a run for governor.
Jones is an insurance agent and sits on the Jacksonville State University board, the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame board and the city of Guntersville Electric Board.
In a March 20 guest column, Tennessee’s two Republican U.S. senators urged TVA officials to opt for “an interim CEO trusted by the president” before hiring someone long-term. They wrote that studies and hurdles under the TVA board were bogging down a project that seeks to build a small modular nuclear reactor.
Then, Trump fired board member Michelle Moore on March 27.
On March 31, the five remaining board members picked TVA’s executive vice president and chief operating officer Don Moul to become the new CEO. Moul has since called for reevaluating the lifespan of TVA’s fleet of coal plants. The utility has been planning to retire the last of them by 2035. But Trump has signed executive orders aimed at boosting the coal industry.
On April 1, Trump fired board member Joe Ritch, leaving the board without a quorum. Months later, he fired Beth Geer from the board on June 10.
This weekend, a guest column by Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee called for a “a new board and a clear, aggressive mission” to further Trump's goal of quadrupling domestic production of nuclear power within the next 25 years. Trump signed executive orders in May to speed up the development.
Blackburn and Hagerty called for the new nominees' quick confirmation in the Senate.
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