Tennesseans rally at TVA headquarters to protest construction of Ridgeline pipeline

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Community members with Ridgeline Voices and other groups rallied at the TVA headquarters on Wednesday evening to protest the start of construction of the 122-mile-long Ridgeline Expansion Project, coinciding with the TVA board meeting. Ridgeline is a methane gas pipeline that threatens water quality and wildlife habitat in hundreds of east and middle Tennessee streams and allows a proposed 1,550-megawatt gas plant to fuel devastating climate change.

"Tennessee deserves energy that does not hurt the amazingly unique creeks and rivers in our state, " said Sue Havens, community advocate with Ridgeline Voices .

"TVA has not shown us why clean energy was not the obvious choice for Tennessee's future," said Keith Havens, Sue's husband. The Havens live along Clear Creek, a threatened waterway on the pipeline route .

Coming from rural Morgan County to the city of Knoxville, affected community members and speakers urged TVA to abandon its plans to build nine costly and polluting gas plants and three pipelines throughout the region, and to stop the construction of the Ridgeline pipeline.

In its study for replacing the Kingston coal plant, TVA identified the possibility of building solar and energy storage options, but opted for the polluting gas project that economists have found to be over $1 billion more expensive .

"TVA is putting us on a collision course with high energy costs coupled with high environmental costs," said Kent Minault, Sierra Club volunteer leader . "They've dragged their feet on solar for so long that they're justifying the gas buildout by saying spikes in demand are too urgent to wait. It's all deceptive. No matter how urgent they think the demand curve is, solar and storage are the fastest way to ramp up supply. Digging up our farmland and our scenic ridges for a pipeline is the dumbest way to respond to energy needs."

The rally at the TVA headquarters brought several hundred demonstrators together with music and speakers to call for clean, affordable energy in the Tennessee Valley, including members of Third Act Tennessee, the American Indian Movement Indian Territory TN, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Appalachian Voices, the Sierra Club and Ridgeline Voices. Protestors promised to continue resisting TVA's plans for methane gas.

" We are young enough to do what it takes, " said Emily Cathcart of Third Act TN, who is mobilizing seniors against fossil fuels.

"Our electric bills are going up, our air quality is suffering, and storms like Hurricane Helene are devastating our region," said Gabi Lichtenstein, Tennessee Energy Democracy Field Coordinator for Appalachian Voices . "We cannot accept this. We will continue to fight for TVA to invest in clean energy and good union jobs to power our communities."

Appalachian Voices and the Sierra Club also announced the launch of a collection of stories from people impacted by high-pressure methane gas pipelines TVA has contracted for in Tennessee, including five stories of people impacted by the proposed Ridgeline pipeline. They urged the media and the public to center the stories of people along the route. More information can be found at NoTVAPipelines.com .

Photos from the rally are available here .