Transmission System Incompatible Vegetation Removal in Fiscal Year 2023

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) requests your comments on its draft Environmental Assessment (EA) on the removal of about 400 acres of incompatible vegetation, specifically tree and woody vegetation, on the right-of-way margins that pose a risk to the transmission system. The management of vegetation within the rights-of-way is needed to ensure the transmission system can continue to provide reliable power and to prevent outages related to incompatible vegetation. Please submit your comments by February 25, 2022.

The draft EA tiers from the programmatic Transmission System Vegetation Management environmental impact statement released in 2019 which evaluated and analyzed TVA’s vegetation management program across its entire transmission system. A Record of Decision was issued in October 2019 indicating TVA’s preferred vegetation management program would be to manage the full extent of the ROW to a meadow-like end-state. This would entail the initial removal of incompatible vegetation over an 8-year period, followed by managing the ROW as a mix of herbaceous and low-growing shrub. Maintenance of trees would be assessed using aerial inspection, ground inspections, and as-needed field inspections. Trees and woody vegetation along the margins of the right-of-way identified as a risk to the transmission system reliability would be removed while compatible trees and shrubs would be allowed in areas actively maintained by others.

Public Involvement

Submit your comments by February 25, 2022, online, via email, or mail to Anita E. Masters at the addresses below. Comments must be received or postmarked no later than that date. Please note that any comments received, including names and addresses, will become part of the project administrative record and will be available for public inspection.

Due to COVID-19 teleworking restrictions, comments submitted electronically are encouraged to ensure timely review and consideration.