The Trump administration’s coal investment is helping the plants to break even more

There was no mention of the record in the government’s announcement that it will take a grant from the Department of Energy and spend $48 million on the upgrade. Oklahoma Watch said that the investment will give the plant several years of operation.

“Extending the life of Unit 2 represents the most cost-effective option for GRDA, compared to new development options,” Dan Sullivan, the authority’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. “This grant allows us to leverage existing infrastructure to continue to provide affordable and reliable energy to GRDA customers well into the future.”

Meanwhile, Duke Energy proposed in a December 2025 delivery phasing out Roxboro coal units by 2034. Norton said that has not changed and that the subsidy will remain reliable and reduce costs for future projects.

When TVA announced its plans to dismantle the 50-year-old Cumberland plant, it he realized “Environmental, economic, and reliability risks” in all its coal fields. To keep the Cumberland in motion, a utility said“it will continue to emit more pollutants.”

The job, which is federal, changed after Trump replaced four TVA board members in 2025. TVA Chief Financial Officer Tom Rice, thanks “beautiful, clean coal” at a February board meeting, echoing Trump’s strong words.

Shober, with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, denounced the decision as a “tit-for-tat refund” that would “destroy and hurt TVA’s customers, the people who live in the Tennessee Valley.”

Fiedler, the TVA spokesman, said Trump’s push for coal is consistent with TVA’s sustainability goals.

In January, TVA estimated that keeping the plant up to current standards would require an investment of $738 million, according to internal documents obtained by the Southern Environmental Law Center through a public records request and reviewed by Inside Climate News. That’s more than six times the project listed on federal grant announcement. However, the agency said the move would save money.

King, with the Southern Environmental Law Center, doubts that. He said TVA’s plans for Cumberland mean its customers “will have to pay costs that many of them didn’t want.”

Sellers, a history professor, said the Trump administration’s willingness to invest in plants “is causing pollution again.”

“We will pay the price,” he said. “Certainly, the people living in the vicinity of the plants, will pay the first price and very hard.”

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