Donald Trump · Ars Technica
Trump admin’s coal investments assist plants with repeated violations
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In 2023, after years of pollution, equipment failures, and health concerns, the Cumberland Fossil Plant in Tennessee was slated to close within the decade.
Key facts
- In April the state of Oklahoma proposed an $8,100 fine against the operator of the Grand River plant—to which the Energy Department pledged $28.5 million toward a $76.5 million project—for failing
- Roxboro, meanwhile, will receive $28.4 million toward a $72.7 million project, the Energy Department said
- In January, TVA estimated that maintaining the plant to current regulatory standards would require a $738 million investment, according to internal documents obtained by the Southern Environmental
- Duke Energy, meanwhile, proposed in a December 2025 filing to retire Roxboro’s coal units by 2034
Summary
The coal-fired plant had been part of a multibillion-dollar settlement in 2011 after its operator, the Tennessee Valley Authority, failed to install pollution control technology a decade earlier. Then the Trump administration replaced four of TVA’s board members, and the agency reneged on its retirement plan in February. Cumberland is one of at least three of the 12 plants receiving the Department of Energy grants that have been repeatedly cited for violating the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, or both, an Inside Climate News review found. For Angie Mummaw, a local organizer who lives eight miles from the Cumberland plant, the grant was like a “slap in the face.”