In an August meeting of the board of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest public power company, board member Michelle Moore reminded her colleagues of what’s written above the door of its headquarters.
“‘For the people’ … is written over TVA’s front door,” she said. “And in that spirit, I just encourage TVA to find right ways to share any proposed future rate adjustment proposals broadly, so that everyone has the opportunity to get informed, get engaged and bring their perspectives forward.”
In that meeting, Moore dissented on a vote over the company’s budget, which she said unwisely delegated decision-making authority on capital projects, including fossil fuel investments, away from the board.
Less than a year later, President Donald Trump fired Moore without publicly providing a reason, a decision revealed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
“L. Michelle Moore’s appointment as a member of the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors ended March 27, 2025, at the direction of the President of the United States,” the filing states.
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Moore has consistently been viewed by environmentalists as the most reasonable member of TVA’s board, often dissenting from decisions that doubled down on fossil fuels. She serves as the CEO of Groundswell, a clean energy nonprofit “that builds community power by eliminating energy burdens and increasing economic opportunity with community solar, resilience centers, residential energy efficiency, and pioneering research.”
Trump’s apparent decision to fire Moore comes just a week after Tennessee’s U.S. Senators, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, argued for a shakeup of TVA leadership in an op-ed.
“The current TVA board focused on the diversity of its executives ahead of job creation for hungry workers in the region it is supposed to serve,” the op-ed said. “It has fallen victim to paralysis by analysis…”
Moore was nominated to serve on the TVA board by President Joe Biden in 2021.
In a statement, Stephen A. Smith, executive director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, criticized the firing.
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“We’re disappointed to see President Trump’s hyper-partisan action of removing a sitting TVA board member for no reason. This action further weakens TVA’s leadership and sets into motion actions that could have significant financial impact on TVA ratepayers across the region,” he said. “As shared in SACE’s statement about the TN senators who are asking TVA to ignore a proper financial review and analysis of unproven technologies, SACE believes that it’s inappropriate for the President or the senators to try to micromanage TVA’s decisions on energy choices across the region.”
The White House has not yet responded to a request for comment on the firing.
Gaby Sarri-Tobar, senior energy justice campaigner for the Center for Biological Diversity, called Moore’s firing “ludicrous.”
“Trump’s firing of TVA board member Michelle Moore is ludicrous and leaves our country’s largest federal utility in a precarious position,” she said. “Ten million people rely on TVA to keep the lights on, utility bills low, and for good-paying jobs. Trump’s reckless and politically targeted move will cripple the utility’s chances to secure a safe, resilient and affordable energy future for families and workers in the Valley.”
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Lee Hedgepeth
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Lee Hedgepeth is Inside Climate News’ Alabama reporter. Raised in Grand Bay, Alabama, a small town on the Gulf Coast, Lee holds master’s degrees in community journalism and political development from the University of Alabama and Tulane University. Lee is the founder of Tread, a newsletter of Southern journalism, and has also worked for news outlets across Alabama, including CBS 42, Alabama Political Reporter and the Anniston Star. His reporting has focused on issues impacting members of marginalized groups, including homelessness, poverty, and the death penalty. His award-winning journalism has appeared in publications across the country and has been cited by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, among others.
