Latest news with #TVAActof1933
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump fires TVA board chair, stripping power from governing body of largest US public utility
The Trump administration fired the chair of the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors, stripping the governing body of the nation's largest public power provider of its ability to conduct business with only four members left. Joe Ritch, a Huntsville, Alabama, lawyer and community leader who had previously served as chair of the TVA board, was terminated at the direction of the president via an email from the White House Office of Presidential Personnel on April 1, the federal utility confirmed to Knox News on April 1. TVA is a federally owned and self-funded utility created by Congress during the Great Depression. It produces electricity for 10 million people across seven Southeast states today and provides economic development and environmental stewardship to the Tennessee Valley. The White House' second firing of a TVA board member in less than a week emphasizes the administration's attention on TVA as the board moved swiftly to select a new CEO and faces pressure to meet growing power demand. "We appreciate Chair Ritch's service at TVA," a spokesperson for the utility told Knox News in a statement. The remaining four members do not constitute a quorum to conduct business, according to the amended TVA Act of 1933. The board voted at its February meeting to make Bill Renick of Mississippi its next chair, effective in May, or earlier if Ritch was unable to fulfill his duties. Ritch was nominated to a second term by President Joe Biden in July 2022 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2022. His term was set to expire May 18. Though board members are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, the governing body is nonpartisan and its members typically serve under multiple presidents. Trump fired board member Michelle Moore on March 27, but neither he nor his administration publicly said why. Trent Morse, deputy director of presidential personnel under Trump, has not responded to a Knox News request for comment about Moore's termination. The lack of public statements about the terminations stands in stark contrast to when Trump fired two TVA board members in 2020 over outsourcing of labor and called for TVA CEO Jeff Lyash to be fired, a power the president does not hold. Trump lashed TVA in several public venues, including a press conference and a recorded signing of an executive order barring federal agencies from outsourcing jobs overseas. The TVA board, which makes critical decisions about TVA spending and operations, selects new CEOs and can fire them. Just days before the Trump administration fired Moore, the board offered the job of president and CEO to Don Moul, TVA's chief operating officer. Moul will assume the role April 9. Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty opposed an inside hire for the next CEO in a biting op-ed calling for the Trump administration to replace the board and insert an interim CEO. Blackburn and Hagerty asserted the board was moving too slowly to develop new nuclear technologies that could cement Trump's legacy as "America's Nuclear President." "While maintaining the status quo, an 'inside job' forgoes the chance to recruit a top-quality leader from the outside," the senators wrote in POWER Magazine on March 20. The board conducted both an external and internal search for the next CEO, Moul told Knox News in an interview. The board determined a leader familiar to TVA employees and the utility's unique model would provide needed continuity at a critical time. 'Don's vision, depth of industry knowledge and favorability among TVA employees position him well to unleash TVA's potential from Day One, with little to no learning curve,' Ritch said in a press release announcing the new CEO on March 31. Ritch was fired a day later. He previously served on the TVA board from 2013-2017, including a stint as board chair. Ritch is something of a folk hero in Huntsville for his leadership of the Redstone Regional Alliance, formerly called the Tennessee Valley BRAC Committee, a group that helped create jobs and attract employers to Huntsville as the Redstone Arsenal Army base expanded through a military program. Are you a current or former federal employee with a story to tell? Contact Daniel Dassow, a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy, at or on Signal @danieldassow.24. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Trump fires TVA board chair Joe Ritch at largest US public utility
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
TVA board can't do business post-Trump firings: What to know for the 10M who use TVA power
The Trump administration has laid off tens of thousands of workers from the federal government, but the firing of just two Tennessee Valley Authority board members could jeopardize policy-making for the nation's largest public power provider. The Board of Directors is responsible for establishing the policies, long-term plans, goals and strategies for TVA, which has an expansive self-funded mission to produce power for 10 million people across seven states in the Southeast. The nine-person board ensures the utility's CEO is carrying out the mission, but its membership is down to just four leaders after President Trump directed the terminations of Michelle Moore and Chairman Joe Ritch without publicly stating why. Though the board has lost its quorum, it can still assure continued operations at TVA, according to the utility's bylaws. But it cannot approve new programs or change the direction of TVA until it has at least five members. "TVA will continue to operate and deliver reliable, affordable energy to the 10 million people we serve across our seven-state region," TVA spokesperson Scott Brooks said in a statement. The Trump administration is tasked with nominating members to fill the five vacant seats, though it has not announced any nominees. TVA is funded through sales of electricity to 153 local power companies and around 60 large industrial customers. It also stewards 293,000 acres of federal land, prevents around $260 million in flood damage every year and attracts businesses and jobs to the Tennessee Valley with relatively cheap electricity. Unlike private investor-owned utilities, TVA doesn't have shareholders and isn't subject to oversight by state and federal regulators. It's governed by the TVA Act of 1933 and overseen by a part-time board chosen by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Here's what to know about the TVA board as Trump fixes his attention on the governing body. The TVA board deliberates and votes on the policies that govern the federal utility. It holds meetings open to the public four times a year at various locations in the Tennessee Valley, including a listening session the day before the meeting at which members of the public can address the board. The board makes a range of decisions for the utility, such as how much to pay the CEO and which buildings TVA no longer needs. It also approves the annual budget and investments in new power plants and technologies, such as small modular reactors. Any changes to electricity rates must go through the board, which also selects new CEOs. Don Moul will become the next president and CEO of TVA on April 9. In order to serve on the TVA board, members must be U.S. citizens with management expertise at large for-profit or nonprofit entities, according to the TVA Act. They cannot otherwise be employees of TVA, but they must support the utility's public power mission. At least seven of the nine members must be legal residents of the region TVA serves. Across nearly 92 years, the TVA board has included David Lilienthal (nicknamed the "father of public power"), notable Knoxville business leaders Bill Baxter and Bill Sansom, and former Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives Beth Harwell. Congress reformed the TVA governance structure in 2005 from a general manager and a three-person, full-time board – which acted more like a three-person CEO – to an actual CEO and a nine-member, part-time board. The president nominates members to the TVA board and must rely on recommendations from elected officials, citizens and organizations in the Tennessee Valley, according to the TVA Act. The president is legally obligated to seek members "who reflect the diversity, including the geographical diversity, and needs of the service area," the act states. After the president nominates TVA board members, their nominations move to the U.S. Senate for confirmation. This process can take months or even years as the Senate often delays confirmation hearings and votes until the end of the congressional session. Nominations to the TVA board expire when the two-year session of Congress ends, and some nominees never get the chance to be confirmed. That was the case for Patrice Robinson, a former Memphis City councilwoman nominated by President Biden in 2023. TVA board members serve five-year terms, but they can serve after their term expires until the end of the current session of Congress if a successor does not take office before. Yes. The part-time members of the TVA board receive annual stipends to support the time-consuming job. Those stipends ranged from $61,100 to $68,100 in 2024, according to a report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The chair of the board and chairs of board committees receive a higher stipend. Four Biden nominees remain on the TVA board after the Trump administration fired Michelle Moore on March 27 and Joe Ritch on April 1: Bill Renick of Mississippi, the board's new chair and former chairman the Commission on the Future of Northeast Mississippi Beth Geer of Tennessee, chief of staff for former Vice President Al Gore Bobby Klein of Tennessee, former vice president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and a longtime lineman and foreman Wade White of Kentucky, former Lyon County Judge Executive and market president at Farmers Bank & Trust With only four members, the board no longer has a quorum to conduct business. The board can still exercise powers to ensure "continuity of operations," but it does not have the power "to direct the Corporation into new areas of activity, to embark on new programs, or to change the Corporation's existing direction," according to the utility's bylaws. The board is allowed to delegate certain powers to the CEO or other executives in order to ensure the utility carries out its mission. TVA will invest $16 billion over the next few years for reliability upgrades and new power plants, mostly natural gas plants, to meet growing demand for electricity. Are you a current or former federal employee with a story to tell? Contact Daniel Dassow, a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy, at or on Signal @danieldassow.24. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: TVA board can't do business after President Trump firings: What to know
