CHEATHAM COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Country music artist John Rich posted to X claiming he has spoken with President Donald Trump about the proposed Tennessee Valley Authority plant in Cheatham County and claims a major announcement is coming.

The Mayor of Cheatham County told News 2 he confirmed with Rich in a Facebook post: "President Trump told John to consider the project dead! The Agricultural and Energy Departments will work to have the second plant constructed in New Johnsonville where residents actually want the plant."

"If TVA won't do the right thing, hopefully, President Trump will do the right thing," Cheatham County Mayor Kerry McCarver said.

Now, there's new hope.

"[Rich] says that the president tells him he is looking into it and that they've got different departments at the federal level that's looking into this to look at options or see what needs to happen," McCarver said.

McCarver said there's potential for the plant to relocate to New Johnsonville. The TVA confirmed a recent addition of 500 megawatts of new gas generation there, but said no final decisions have been made on the Cheatham site.

The Mayor of New Johnsonville told News 2 his city is ready.

"We'd definitely love for them to come down here," Mayor of New Johnsonville Wayne Woods said.

Mayor Wayne Woods said that after the TVA's coal plant in New Johnsonville was demolished in 2020, the community lost needed jobs and infrastructure.

"Each year you had construction jobs in TVA, or you had outages and you had people come in and fill the hotels up. You don't have that now," Woods explained. "We lost our grocery store down there I think in 2020."

McCarver said the move would be a win-win, easing Cheatham's concerns and boosting New Johnsonville's economy.

"By getting that second plant now, it still wouldn't be as many jobs as a coal facility, but at least it wouldn't have a full drawn-out impact of taking both those coal plants off operation," McCarver said.

"Until we get confirmation from TVA that this is down, or we are looking somewhere else, or it isn't going to work here, I think we are all on the edge of our seats," McCarver concluded.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/musician-leader-trump-tva-project/