Memphis City Council to TVA: Don't bury coal ash here

The Memphis City Council made a clear statement Tuesday — it told the Tennessee Valley Authority, the city's electricity provider, don't bury coal ash within Memphis, Light, Gas and Water's service area. 

The city council passed a resolution Tuesday that asked TVA not to bury coal ash from the retired Allen Fossil Plant in the South Shelby landfill near Whitehaven. The resolution's passage was purely symbolic. It has no binding authority on TVA. It passed without dissent. 

But it is an expression of political will from a body that is still very much divided over the question of whether the city-owned utility, Memphis, Light, Gas and Water, should continue purchasing all of Memphis' electricity from TVA. 

TVA first broke the news that it was going to bury coal ash from the Allen plant in Memphis this summer when it came out during questioning from the city council. After hearing political pushback, the utility pressed pause on those plans. 

They remain paused. For now.

In response to the council's resolution, TVA said it is still listening to Memphis.  

"We are going to continue to do what we said we’re going to do, which is to honor our commitment to listen and engage with the people of Memphis, community partners, and city leaders," TVA said in a statement. 

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Under a 2016 agreement with Memphis, Shelby County, and the Memphis and Shelby County Port Commission, TVA agreed to dispose of the coal ash. It has control over how the ash is buried. Any consultation with Memphis is voluntary, but a lack of cooperation comes with political ramifications. 

The passage comes as MLGW is receiving bids on its electricity supply from the private sector and evaluating whether it would leave TVA. MLGW is TVA's largest customer and represents about 9%  of its revenue. 

Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by email at samuel.hardiman@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter at @samhardiman.