Tenn. Valley Authority to Close 8 Coal Plants

One of nation's biggest users

The Tennessee Valley Authority, one of the nation's five biggest users of coal for electricity generation, said Thursday it would close down eight coal-fired power plants with 3,300 megawatts of capacity.

TVA executives said at an open meeting of its board of directors that it aims to reduce coal to 20 percent of its total generating capacity, about half of what it was in 2010.

The plant closures include two coal-fired units in Kentucky, despite an appeal from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who tried to convince TVA President Bill Johnson to leave them open. McConnell and most of the Kentucky congressional delegation wrote to Johnson warning that the closure would lead to job losses.