Cumberland Fossil Plant Retirement Environmental Impact Statement, 3767-3771 [2023-01102]

Agencies

• Tennessee Valley Authority

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 13 (Friday, January 20, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3767-3771]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-01102]


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TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY


Cumberland Fossil Plant Retirement Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Tennessee Valley Authority.

ACTION: Record of decision.

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SUMMARY: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has made a decision to 
adopt the Preferred Alternative identified in the Cumberland Fossil 
Plant Retirement Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The Notice 
of Availability of the Final EIS for the Cumberland Fossil Plant 
Retirement was published in the Federal Register on December 9, 2022. 
TVA's preferred alternative, Alternative A, involves the retirement and 
demolition of TVA's two-unit, coal-fired Cumberland Fossil Plant (CUF) 
and the construction and operation of a natural gas-fueled combined 
cycle (CC) plant on the CUF Reservation to replace the generation 
capacity of one of the two retired units. This least-cost alternative 
would achieve the purpose and need of the project to retire and 
decommission the two CUF units, one unit by the end of 2026 and the 
other unit by the end of 2028, and to provide replacement generation 
that can supply 1,450 megawatts (MW) of firm, dispatchable power by the 
time the first unit is retired by the end of 2026 to ensure that TVA is 
able to meet required year-round generation, maximum capacity system 
demands and planning reserve margin targets, particularly during peak 
load events.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ashley Pilakowski, NEPA Project 
Manager, Tennessee Valley Authority, 400 West Summit Hill Drive, 
Knoxville, Tennessee 37902; telephone 865-632-2256; or email 
[email protected]. The Final EIS, this Record of Decision (ROD) and 
other project documents are available on TVA's website https://www.tva.gov/nepa.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is provided in accordance with 
the Council on Environmental Quality's regulations for implementing the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (40 Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR) 1500 through 1508) and TVA's NEPA procedures (18 CFR 
1318). TVA is a corporate agency of the United States that provides 
electricity for business customers and local power distributors serving 
10 million people in the Tennessee Valley--an 80,000-square-mile region 
comprised of Tennessee and parts of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, 
Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky. TVA receives no taxpayer funding 
and derives virtually all revenues from the sale of electricity. In 
addition to operating and investing revenues in its power system, TVA 
provides flood control, navigation, and land management for the 
Tennessee Valley watershed and provides economic development and job 
creation assistance within the Service area.
    In 2019, TVA completed its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) and 
associated Final EIS. The IRP identified the various energy resource 
options that TVA intends to pursue to meet the energy needs of the 
Tennessee Valley region over a 20-year planning period.
    Following the completion of the TVA 2019 IRP, TVA began conducting 
end-of-life evaluations of its operating coal-fired generating plants 
not already scheduled for retirement to inform long-term planning. This 
evaluation confirmed that the aging TVA coal fleet is among the oldest 
in the nation and is experiencing performance challenges as well as 
deteriorating material condition. The performance challenges are 
projected to increase because of the coal fleet's advancing age and the 
difficulty of adapting the fleet's generation within the changing 
generation profile. The continued long-term operation of TVA's coal 
plants is contributing to environmental, economic, and reliability 
risks. CUF is the largest plant in the TVA coal fleet with a summer net 
generating capacity of 2,470 MW. CUF is situated on a 2,388-acre 
reservation on the Cumberland River in Cumberland City, Stewart County, 
Tennessee.
    CUF was built between 1968 and 1973 and used primarily as baseload 
generation. As TVA's generating fleet evolved, primarily with the 
additions of nuclear, gas, and renewable resources over the past 10-15 
years, there was less of a need for CUF to consistently operate at full 
power. This has resulted in frequent cycling of the large super-
critical units or turning them on and off as needed to meet demand. The 
plant was not originally designed for this type of operation, which 
presents reliability challenges that are difficult to anticipate and 
expensive to mitigate. As TVA continues to transition the rest of its 
fleet to cleaner and more flexible technologies, CUF will continue to 
be challenged to reliably operate on this as-needed basis. Based on 
this analysis, TVA has developed planning assumptions for CUF 
retirement. These assumptions include retirement of both CUF units and 
the addition of at least 1,450 MW of firm, dispatchable generation to 
replace the generation capacity lost from retirement of one of the CUF 
units, which is in-line with the recommendations in the 2019 IRP. 
Replacement generation of this kind will allow TVA to replace the 
dependable capacity of the first unit as well as account for modest 
anticipated load increases. The replacement generation would need to be 
online prior to retirement of the first CUF unit by the end of 2026. 
Planning for the replacement generation for the second retired CUF unit 
will be deferred to allow consideration of a broader range of 
replacement generation alternatives depending on system needs and the 
state of technology at the time replacement is needed.
    TVA has prepared the Final EIS pursuant to NEPA to assess the

[[Page 3768]]

environmental impacts associated with retiring and decommissioning the 
two coal-fired CUF units and constructing and operating the replacement 
generation for one of the retired units.

Alternatives Considered

    TVA assessed a No Action Alternative and three action alternatives. 
Under all action alternatives, two CUF units would be retired and 
demolished. The three action alternatives assessed in the Final EIS 
provide at least 1,450 MW of replacement generation for one retired 
unit using one of the following: (1) construction and operation of a 
natural gas-fueled CC plant on the CUF Reservation (Alternative A); (2) 
construction and operation of natural gas-fueled simple cycle 
combustion turbine (CT) plants at two alternate locations (Alternative 
B); and (3) construction and operation of solar generation and energy 
storage facilities at alternate locations primarily in Middle Tennessee 
(Alternative C). The Final EIS also evaluated related actions 
associated with the gas supply and transmission components of the 
respective alternatives.
    The alternatives considered by TVA in the Draft and Final EIS are:
    No Action Alternative--Under the No Action Alternative, TVA would 
not retire the two CUF units. These units would continue to operate as 
part of the TVA generation portfolio. For the existing units to remain 
operational, additional construction, repairs, and maintenance would be 
necessary to maintain reliability and comply with applicable regulatory 
requirements, such as the Effluent Limitation Guidelines under the 
Clean Water Act (CWA). Under the No Action Alternative, TVA would not 
construct new replacement generation. Based on the age, material 
condition, and cost required to ensure reliability of CUF, this 
alternative does not meet the purpose and need of TVA's proposed 
action.
    Alternative A--TVA's preferred alternative, Alternative A, involves 
retirement of CUF, demolition of the units, and construction and 
operation of a 1,450-MW natural gas-fueled CC plant on the CUF 
Reservation. The CC plant and associated 500-kilovolt (kV) switchyard 
and gas compression station would occupy approximately 196 acres. The 
30-inch diameter gas pipeline to supply natural gas to the CC plant 
would be constructed and operated by Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, 
L.L.C. (TGP) in a 100-foot-wide corridor adjacent to an existing TVA 
transmission line crossing portions of Dickson, Houston, and Stewart 
Counties, Tennessee.
    The pipeline requires approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission (FERC) through issuance of a Certificate of Public 
Convenience and Necessity under section 7 of the Natural Gas Act. TGP 
has submitted an application for certification of the pipeline to FERC. 
The pipeline project, named the Cumberland Project, is FERC Docket No. 
CP22-493-000 and the subject of a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an 
EIS issued by FERC on September 13, 2022. Details of the pipeline and 
its potential environmental impacts, provided in resource reports 
prepared by TGP and submitted to FERC, are incorporated into the TVA 
Final EIS.
    Alternative B--Alternative B would provide the necessary 
replacement generation through the construction and operation of a 4-
unit combustion turbine (CT) plant on TVA's Johnsonville reservation in 
New Johnsonville, Humphreys County, Tennessee, and a 3-unit CT plant on 
TVA's Gleason Reservation near Dresden in Weakley County, Tennessee. 
The two CT plants would have a combined generating capacity of 1,530 
MWs. The Johnsonville CT plant would occupy the site of a demolished 
coal plant and the Gleason CT plant site is relatively undisturbed. 
Both sites have an adequate existing natural gas supply. The Gleason CT 
plant would require the construction of a 40-mile, 500-kV transmission 
line and 500-kV substation in Weakley and Henry Counties, Tennessee.
    Alternative C--Under Alternative C, the necessary replacement power 
would be provided by the construction and operation of 3,000 MW of 
solar photovoltaic generating facilities and 1,700 MW of battery energy 
storage facilities. Due to an average annual capacity factor of 25 
percent for solar resources, in order to match the total energy output 
lost to the TVA system from the retirement of the first CUF unit, a 
higher nameplate capacity would be required for a solar resource than 
the 1,450 MW minimum resource requirement for a fully dispatchable 
resource, such as a CC or CT plant. These facilities would be located 
at numerous sites totaling approximately 22,000 acres for the solar 
facilities and 640 acres for the battery storage facilities that are 
primarily in Middle Tennessee. Each solar and storage facility would 
also require the construction of an interconnection to the TVA 
transmission system.
    TVA identified Alternative A, the retirement of CUF and the 
construction and operation of a 1,450-MW natural gas-fired CC plant on 
the CUF reservation, as the preferred alternative in both the Draft and 
Final EISs. This was largely due to Alternative A best meeting the 
purpose and need of the proposed action, particularly its ability to 
provide replacement generation that can supply 1,450 MW of firm, 
dispatchable power by the time the first CUF unit is retired by the end 
of 2026. The replacement described in Alternative A aligns with the 
2019 IRP near-term actions to evaluate engineering end-of-life dates 
for aging generation units to inform long-term planning; enhance system 
flexibility to integrate renewables and distributed resources; increase 
reliability and resiliency; and meet near-term energy production goals. 
Alternative A costs approximately $1.8 billion less than Alternative C 
in project costs which include capital, fuel, transmission, and 
production costs. Financial and system analysis indicates that 
replacement of the first CUF unit with a CC plant is the best overall 
solution to provide low-cost, reliable, and cleaner energy for the TVA 
power system. TVA has also selected Alternative A because the proposed 
CC plant at CUF provides the flexibility needed to reliably integrate 
10,000 MW of solar onto the system by 2035 and significantly reduces 
carbon emissions as compared to the No Action Alternative.
    While the Alternative B replacement generation by the two CT plants 
could likely be constructed by the end of 2026, the planning, 
permitting, and construction of the associated 500-kV transmission line 
would be unachievable by the end of 2026. Likewise, for Alternative C, 
the construction of the multiple solar and storage facilities, as well 
as their associated transmission system interconnections, would be 
unachievable by the end of 2026.

Alternatives Considered Environmentally Preferable

    The anticipated environmental impacts of the No Action Alternative 
and the three action alternatives are described in the Final EIS. For 
Alternative A, as noted above, the description of the anticipated 
impacts of the associated natural gas supply pipeline are based on 
information provided to TVA by TGP and will also be addressed in the 
EIS for the Cumberland pipeline project being prepared by FERC. For 
Alternative B, the route of the 40-mile, 500-kV transmission line and 
the location of the associated substation are unknown at this time and 
their potential impacts are described generally based on impact

[[Page 3769]]

assessments of previous TVA transmission projects. Similarly, the 
locations of the multiple solar and battery storage facilities for 
Alternative C are unknown at this time and the descriptions of their 
impacts are also described generally based on impact assessments of 
similar previous TVA projects. For several environmental resources, the 
differences in the impacts of the three action alternatives are 
negligible.
    The No Action Alternative would avoid the impacts of constructing 
and operating new generating facilities and associated gas pipeline and 
transmission system connections. It would, however, continue to produce 
relatively large quantities of air pollutants, including greenhouse 
gases, from continued operation of the CUF coal-fired plant, as well as 
wastewater discharges and solid wastes from coal combustion.
    The Alternative A and Alternative B generating plants have been 
sited and designed to largely avoid or minimize impacts to water 
resources, including streams and wetlands. The Alternative A natural 
gas pipeline would require trenching across several streams, resulting 
in short-term, localized impacts. The Alternative B transmission line 
would likely also cross streams and possibly wetlands, although with 
minimal impacts. Adverse effect to a historic house listed on the 
National Register of Historic Places resulting from the construction of 
the Alternative A CC plant would be mitigated by TVA in accordance with 
a Memorandum of Agreement with the Tennessee State Historic 
Preservation Office (SHPO). The Alternative B transmission line and 
Alternative C solar and storage facilities would, to the extent 
feasible, be sited to avoid impacts to historic properties and any 
unavoidable impacts would be mitigated.
    All of the action alternatives would affect land use and prime 
farmland. The various components of Alternatives A, B, and C would have 
long-term effects on the land use of approximately 585 acres, 1,000 
acres, and 22,500 acres, respectively. For Alternatives A and B, the 
effects on prime farmland would largely occur during the construction 
of the pipeline and transmission line and long-term effects would be 
minimal. Based on past experience in developing solar facilities in the 
TVA region, a large proportion of the 22,500 acres occupied by 
Alternative C facilities would be prime farmland. Aside from potential 
use as pasture, the solar facility sites would be unavailable for 
agricultural production. The sites could, however, be returned to 
agricultural production with little loss of soil productivity following 
decommissioning of the solar facilities. A portion of the approximately 
640 acres occupied by storage facilities would likely be farmland, 
which would be converted to industrial use.
    All of the Alternative A, B, and C components have been or would be 
sited to minimize impacts to threatened and endangered species. Most 
impacts to listed species would be avoided although all alternatives 
would likely adversely affect habitat for tree-roosting threatened and 
endangered bats through the clearing of forest. The clearing of forest 
would also result in local adverse effects to other forest-dwelling 
wildlife.
    For the Cumberland Final EIS, TVA completed its consultation under 
section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) with the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service (USFWS) on August 26, 2022. Since conclusion of that 
consultation, the USFWS reclassified the northern long-eared bat (NLEB) 
as ``endangered'' under the ESA on November 30, 2022. This 
reclassification becomes effective on January 30, 2023. Further, on 
September 13, 2022, the USFWS issued a proposed rule to list the tri-
colored bat as ``endangered'' under the ESA. TVA will ensure that 
project activities are conducted in a manner consistent with any 
protections established for the tricolored bat, and with the up-listing 
of the NLEB to ``endangered'' that will become effective on January 30, 
2023 pursuant to the ESA and its implementing regulations.
    Locally adverse impacts to visual resources would likely result 
from all of the action alternatives. The main sources of visual impacts 
from Alternatives A and B would be from the cleared right-of-way for 
the 32-mile natural gas pipeline associated with Alternative A and the 
cleared right-of-way and approximate 100-foot tall transmission 
structures and conductors for the 40-mile transmission line associated 
with Alternative B. The Alternative C solar and battery storage 
facilities would alter the scenery at multiple locations. Overall 
visual impacts are likely lowest under Alternative A.
    Based on currently available site-specific information, effects 
experienced by environmental justice populations may be amplified, 
specifically for adverse effects to surface water, waste, safety, 
noise, transportation, and visual aesthetics under Alternative A; for 
adverse effects to recreation, air quality, transportation, waste, 
noise, and visual aesthetics under Alternative B; and for adverse 
effects to land use, vegetation, recreation, water resources, wildlife, 
transportation, noise, safety, and visual aesthetics under Alternative 
C. However, none of the action alternatives are likely to result in 
significant disproportionate adverse impacts to qualifying low-income 
and minority environmental justice populations. All of the action 
alternatives would have local beneficial impacts from employment during 
the construction of the generating and storage facilities. For 
Alternative C, this construction employment would be dispersed over a 
much larger area than for Alternatives A and B. The retirement of CUF, 
however, would likely result in an overall decline in employment by 
plant operators, as the replacement facilities would require fewer 
employees.
    All of the action alternatives would result in large decreases in 
emissions of air pollutants, including greenhouse gases (GHGs, ethane, 
nitrous oxide), compared to the No Action Alternative. Specifically, 
with respect to GHGs, TVA's primary analysis for GHG impacts is based 
on the use of ``proxy emissions.'' This proxy analysis shows similar 
GHG impacts for all action alternatives. Despite uncertainties 
surrounding the use of Social Cost of GHGs (SC-GHG), TVA conducted a 
life cycle analysis using the SC-GHGs as a secondary analysis that 
could be given appropriate and due weight by the decision-maker. Under 
such a secondary GHG analysis, Alternative C generates, compared to the 
No Action Alternative, the most cost savings (approximately $4.8 
billion), followed by Alternative A (approximately $4.4 billion), then 
followed by Alternative B (approximately $3.9 billion). In sum, all 
action alternatives would have a long-term beneficial impact to air 
quality and climate compared to the No Action alternative, with 
Alternative C resulting in the largest decrease of air emissions. 
Alternatives A and B facilitate future integration of solar on the 
grid, thereby advancing TVA's path towards reducing carbon emissions by 
about 80 percent by 2035. The difference in impacts to most other 
environmental and socioeconomic resources amongst all action 
alternatives is small, with the exception of impacts to land use and 
prime farmland that are potentially the greatest under Alternative C.
    TVA notes that the 2019 IRP (Chapter 5) accounts for the resiliency 
of TVA's power system, detailing the annual outage rate assumptions for 
all selectable resources including CC, CT, solar and battery 
(Alternatives considered in the Final EIS). For plans between IRPs, TVA 
regularly updates outage rates based on actual performance, and current 
planning

[[Page 3770]]

assumptions remain largely consistent with those discussed in the IRP. 
Appendix D of the 2019 IRP explains how the reserve margin study 
approach and analysis captures uncertainty that arises due to weather, 
load forecast error, and plant outages. The decision evaluated in the 
Cumberland EIS falls within the parameters of the broader, 
comprehensive asset strategy established by the 2019 IRP, which 
considers the resiliency of TVA's entire power system. Similarly, the 
IRP's evaluation of risk and the required planning reserve constraints 
appropriate to account for risk are inherently part of the broader 
asset strategy with which this decision evaluation and analysis is 
aligned.

Public Involvement

    TVA initiated a 30-day public scoping period on May 11, 2021, when 
it published the NOI in the Federal Register (86 FR 25933) announcing 
the preparation of an EIS for the retirement of CUF and construction 
and operation of facilities to replace part of the retired generating 
capacity. TVA also announced the proposal and requested comments on the 
proposal in news releases; on its website; in notices in CUF-area 
newspapers; and in letters to federal, state, and local agencies and 
federally recognized Indian tribes. TVA held a live virtual public 
scoping meeting on May 27, 2021, and hosted a virtual meeting room with 
project information for the duration of the scoping period. TVA 
received approximately 830 scoping comments, the majority of which were 
through a form letter campaign. These comments were carefully 
considered during the preparation of the EIS.
    The Notice of Availability (NOA) of the Draft EIS was published by 
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) in the Federal 
Register on April 29, 2022 (87 FR 25485), initiating a 45-day public 
comment period that ended on June 13, 2022. The availability of the 
Draft EIS and request for comments was also announced on the TVA 
website; in regional and local newspapers; in a news release; and in 
letters to local, state, and Federal agencies and federally recognized 
tribes. TVA contacted local officials and leaders, schools, and 
community action organizations in the CUF area. TVA held a virtual 
public meeting and in-person public meetings in Cumberland City and 
Erin, Tennessee, during the Draft EIS comment period.
    TVA received approximately 770 individual comments and 930 
signatures on the Draft EIS, many of which were submitted through form 
letter campaigns. Most commentors generally supported the retirement of 
the CUF Plant but opposed Alternative A, Alternative B, or both. TVA 
carefully reviewed all of the substantive comments that it received 
and, where appropriate, revised the text of the EIS to address the 
comments. The submitted comments and TVA's responses to them are 
included in an appendix to the Final EIS. The USEPA, in its comments on 
the Draft EIS, requested to be a cooperating agency in the preparation 
of the Final EIS. TVA granted this request. After considering and 
responding to comments on the Draft EIS, TVA issued the Final EIS. The 
NOA for the Final EIS was published in the Federal Register on December 
9, 2022 (87 FR 75625). Following the publication of the NOA for the 
Final EIS, and therefore outside of the comment period for the EIS, TVA 
received additional public comments in January 2023, including a 
comment letter from the USEPA. The USEPA reviewed the document in 
accordance with section 309 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and section 
102(2)(C) of NEPA. USEPA is also a cooperating agency on this project. 
The comments raised by the USEPA reiterated the agency's earlier 
comments on the Draft EIS and did not raise new issues of relevance 
that were not already addressed by TVA in the Final EIS or Appendix O 
of the Final EIS, with the exception of the resiliency of the 
considered Alternatives with respect to grid emergencies, which is 
addressed in the above section on ``Alternatives Considered 
Environmentally Preferable.''

Decision

    TVA certifies, in accordance with 40 CFR 1505.2(b), that the agency 
has considered all of the alternatives, information, analyses, material 
in the record determined to be relevant, and objections submitted by 
State, Tribal, and local governments and public commenters for 
consideration in developing the Final EIS.
    TVA has decided to implement the preferred alternative identified 
in the Final EIS: Alternative A, to retire and demolish the two CUF 
coal units and construct a new natural gas-fueled, 1,450-MW CC plant at 
the CUF reservation. This alternative best achieves TVA's purpose and 
need to retire the two CUF units and to replace the generation from one 
of the retired units by the end of 2026.

Mitigation Measures

    TVA would employ standard practices and routine measures and other 
project-specific measures to avoid, minimize, and mitigate adverse 
impacts from implementation of Alternative A. TVA would also implement 
minimization and mitigation measures based on best management practices 
(BMP), permit requirements, and adherence to erosion and sediment 
control plans. TVA would utilize standard BMPs to minimize erosion 
during construction, operation, and maintenance activities. These BMPs 
are described in A Guide for Environmental Protection and BMPs for TVA 
Construction and Maintenance Activities--Revision 4 and the Tennessee 
Erosion and Sediment Control Handbook.
    For those activities with potential to affect listed bats, TVA 
would commit to implement specific conservation measures previously 
approved by USFWS through TVA's programmatic consultation to ensure 
effects would not be significant. Relevant conservation measures that 
would be implemented as part of the approved project are listed in the 
bat strategy form (appendix L of the FEIS) and include a commitment to 
remove trees between November 15 and March 31 when listed bat species 
are not expected to be roosting in trees and when most migratory bird 
species of conservation concern are not nesting in the region.
    TVA has committed to ensuring that the design of the Alternative A 
CC plant would enable and accommodate potential future modifications 
for carbon capture and the combustion of hydrogen as a replacement or 
supplemental fuel for natural gas, as and when these technologies 
mature to scale. The proposed CC plant would be designed to be 5 
percent hydrogen capable at commissioning by adding balance of plant 
(BOP) equipment that includes areas for future hydrogen storage, 
appropriately sized piping, and a blending station during the original 
construction. TVA would also purchase a combustion turbine capable of 
burning at least 30 percent hydrogen, by volume, with modifications to 
the BOP once a hydrogen source is available. TVA would only consider 
burning hydrogen as a part of test burns or normal operations when it 
is commercially available at an acceptable chemical content that would 
reduce carbon emissions and be price-competitive in the market at that 
time.
    It is important to note that once a viable option for future 
mitigation projects is identified, TVA would conduct additional 
analyses to determine proposed pipeline routes, costs, storage 
requirements, or other needs with hydrogen fuel incorporation. TVA 
would analyze the site-specific impacts associated with any future

[[Page 3771]]

mitigation that is planned as additional details become available.
    Non-routine mitigation measures associated with cultural resources, 
specifically the historic Henry Hollister House, include adherence to 
the project specific MOA that has been executed for the Cumberland 
Retirement project. These mitigation measures include:
     Installation of a Tennessee Historical Marker
    [cir] TVA will submit a proposal for a historical marker through 
the Tennessee Historical Commission's (THC's) Historical Markers 
Program; work with THC staff regarding eligibility of the proposed 
marker for the program and regarding the marker's location and text; 
and install the marker, at TVA's expense, in an appropriate location, 
accessible by the public, near the Hollister House. The historical 
marker will present a brief narrative of the history and historic 
significance of the Hollister House.
     Vegetative Screening
    [cir] TVA will plant trees to screen views to the new facilities 
from the Hollister House.
    [cir] TVA will create the vegetative screening using various tree 
species, including native species, and including both deciduous and 
evergreen species.
    [cir] TVA will plant the vegetative screening on the south and east 
sides of the Hollister House, on TVA property.
    [cir] TVA will maintain the vegetative screening for so long as TVA 
owns and operates the new CC plant, so that it may provide the visual 
screen in perpetuity.
     Study of Graveyard Hill Cemetery
    [cir] TVA will complete a search for documents related to the 
Graveyard Hill Cemetery and the persons who may be buried there.
    [cir] The archival study will endeavor to include (but will not 
necessarily be limited to) the following sources: birth and death 
certificates, marriage certificates, deeds, census data, records of 
sales in the slave trade, and obituaries.
    [cir] TVA will also complete a delineation of the cemetery using 
one or more remote sensing methods and shall attempt to identify the 
boundaries of the cemetery and anomalies that could correspond to 
graves.
    [cir] TVA will prepare a report of the investigations and submit 
them to SHPO for review and comment and provide a final report that 
addresses any comments received from SHPO/THC.
     Updating the Hollister House National Register of Historic 
Places NRHP Registration Form
    [cir] TVA will update the Hollister House NRHP Registration Form, 
which was completed in 1987, with new information detailed in three 
historic architectural assessments performed between 2012 and 2022.
    [cir] The new information will include details of the history of 
the property and the associated cemeteries (Brunson/Hollister Cemetery 
and Graveyard Hill Cemetery), additional historic photographs, and 
information on the property's current condition, and the inclusion of 
any additional resources that TVA and SHPO agree in consultation are 
contributing resources to the Hollister House.
    [cir] TVA will provide the updated form to the THC for review, and 
upon approval, to the NPS.

    Dated: January 10, 2023.
Jeff Lyash,
President & Chief Executive Officer, Tennessee Valley Authority.
[FR Doc. 2023-01102 Filed 1-19-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8120-08-P