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Paradise lost? Trump weighs in on imperiled Kentucky coal power plant

Lucas Aulbach
Courier Journal

Supporting the coal industry has been a major part of President Donald Trump's platform since his days on the campaign trail. So it was little surprise Monday when he pushed for the Tennessee Valley Authority to keep a coal plant in west Kentucky open.

The TVA reported recently that it was considering closing the coal plant in Paradise, Kentucky, (yeah, the place from the John Prine song) due to high maintenance costs and environmental concerns, along with declining coal usage rates.

That news caught the eye of the president, who took a moment Monday afternoon to call on the TVA to "give serious consideration to all factors" before shutting the plant down.

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"Coal is an important part of our electricity generation mix and (the TVA) should give serious consideration to all factors before voting to close viable power plants, like Paradise #3 in Kentucky!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, a vocal supporter of the coal industry and of Trump, piggybacked on the president's tweet, saying Trump was right to speak up and that coal is an important factor in Kentucky's economy and power industry.

"Grateful to (President Trump) for standing up for the importance of an affordable and reliable electricity grid and the working men and women who make that possible for their fellow Americans..We must never lose our ability to effectively use all the resources we have," Bevin wrote Monday.

Sen. Mitch McConnell also weighed in, saying he agreed with Trump and that coal "needs to be part of our energy future."

Paradise Unit 3 started operations in 1970 and is the only remaining coal-burning unit at the Paradise, after two others were closed in 2017 by the TVA.

The TVA board is expected to meet Thursday and talk about the plant's future, according to the Associated Press.

Bevin, speaking over the weekend in Muhlenberg County, called on the TVA to postpone any vote concerning the future of the plant until the company fills open seats on its board of directors and until a study on the nation's electric grid by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is completed, according to the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer.

Lucas Aulbach can be reached at laulbach@courier-journal.com, 502-582-4649 or on Twitter @LucasAulbachCJ. Support strong local journalism and subscribe: www.courier-journal.com/lucasa.

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