People’s Policy Project has released its seventh major paper: “Fighting Climate with a Green Tennessee Valley Authority.” Matt Bruenig authored the paper. Jon White designed the paper.
The paper contains a brief proposal outlining how to use the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a public power company that is fully owned by the federal government, to decarbonize electricity generation across the country. For the plan to be implemented, four amendments to the TVA Act should be made:
- The TVA Act should be amended to mandate that the TVA decarbonize all of its energy production by a certain date, e.g. 2027. TVA workers displaced by these decarbonization efforts should be given first priority for new jobs in the TVA’s clean energy installations.
- The TVA Act should be amended to authorize the TVA to operate all over the country, not just in its current service area.
- The TVA Act should be amended to establish that the installation of clean energy production across the country is one of the main objectives of the TVA.
- The TVA Act should be amended to permit the TVA to issue a new class of green power bonds to finance the capital expenditures required by its green energy buildout. These bonds, unlike those currently issued by the TVA, should be guaranteed by the full faith and credit of the federal government and there should be no limit on how many green power bonds the TVA can issue.
– People’s Policy Project