Trump Fires TVA Board Member Days After Sens. Bill Hagerty, Marsha Blackburn Condemn Directors’ ‘Atrophy’ on Nuclear Policy

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) confirmed on Friday the departure of one of its board members at the behest of President Donald Trump in an announcement made only days after U.S. Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) argued that the TVA Board of Directors was unfit to oversee a critical part of the nation’s nuclear energy program.

In a brief announcement, the TVA confirmed the appointment of L. Michelle Moore to its board of directors “ended March 27, 2025, at the direction of the President of the United States.”

Moore (pictured above), an author and former nonprofit CEO, was among the six board members appointed by former President Joe Biden in January 2023. According to the TVA, Moore previously “worked to connect clean energy with affordability and quality of life for more than 25 years, including leading federal sustainability and infrastructure project deliver for the Obama White House.”

Her term was originally scheduled to expire in May of next year.

The announcement came the same week Power Magazine published an article by Blackburn and Hagerty, who wrote that “TVA could be to the nuclear race what NASA was to the space race” but warned that board members are presently occupied by increasing “the diversity of its executives.”

Blackburn and Hagerty wrote, “The group looks more like a collection of political operatives than visionary industrial leaders.”

They urged the appointment of an interim CEO who would file applications for a Small Modular Reactor (SMR) nuclear site, seek federal funding to increase nuclear energy production, “stop analysis paralysis” from stalling the completion of such facilities, and create a plan to “ensure American leadership” on energy “throughout this century and beyond.”

Trump’s decision comes as TVA CEO Jeff Lyash, who German-owned Politico reported was criticized by Trump during his first term, is expected to retire later this year.

Lyash and TVA submitted their draft plan for energy production over the next quarter century last year. The plan included traditional energy sources as well as increased solar energy.

– – –

Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “L. Michelle Moore” by Climate One. Background Photo “Office” by Tennessee Valley Authority.