KNOXVILLE, TN-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 according to authorities at TVA. The firing of Ritch, a longtime attorney from Alabama and the board’s last remaining Obama-era appointee, is Trump’s fourth dismissal of a TVA board member after firing L. Michelle Moore last week and two board members during his first term. Board members serve five-year terms. Ritch’s current term was set to expire in May.
The dismissal comes one day after the board of directors appointed Don Moul, the utility’s chief operating officer, to take over as CEO. Moul’s elevation defied criticism from Tennessee’s Republican senators, who chastised the utility’s leadership for slow progress in deploying nuclear energy and urged Trump to ensure the next CEO come from outside TVA.
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.
Media Release/Associated Press
