A regional coal plant will be closing after action from a federal utility board Thursday.
Media reports indicate the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) voted to retire the Paradise Fossil Plant in Muhlenberg County by December 2020. The plant located along the along the Green River currently employs 131 and the closure will also affect an additional 135 people who work in nearby coal mines that supply the plant. The board also voted to close the Bull Run Fossil Plant near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, by December 2023.
President Donald Trump and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly made several pleas to keep both plants open and in full operation.
TVA CEO John Thomas says the closures will save the company around $320 million. The Paradise Fossil Plant opened in Muhlenberg County in 1963 and was designed to produce power all the time.
