For more than 90 years, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has been a driver of progress in North Alabama. Created in 1933 as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, TVA was a promise to rural Americans that they would not be left behind, and that power, jobs, and opportunity weren’t just reserved for the wealthy or the well-connected. Today, that promise is under threat.
Recently, a troubling report surfaced that President Donald Trump is once again floating the idea of privatizing TVA. According to The Atlantic, Trump’s advisors are discussing selling off TVA’s assets and turning over control to private energy firms. In other words, the Administration wants to take a public institution that the people built and paid for, and auction it off to its rich buddies.
Let’s be clear: privatizing TVA would be a disaster for North Alabama.
If you value affordable, reliable electricity, you should oppose privatization. TVA has long provided power to 12 counties in North Alabama at fair rates, investing in transmission, resilience, and economic development. In contrast, private, for-profit utilities are in business to maximize their profits. That means higher rates, fewer consumer protections, and less transparency for you. Alabama families are already being squeezed by rising costs; now they want to add electricity to the list?
If you support local control, you should oppose privatization. TVA is a publicly owned utility, which means its mission is to serve the people, not corporate shareholders. Privatization would shift decision-making power from our communities to out-of-state boardrooms with no accountability to local families, farmers, or small businesses. That’s not “America First.” That’s corporate greed dressed up as policy.
If you care about national security, you should oppose privatization. TVA operates major infrastructure including dams, nuclear facilities, and grid assets critical to the Southeast. Handing over control of that infrastructure to private entities, and potentially even foreign investors, is not just irresponsible, it’s reckless! Selling TVA would create vulnerabilities in our power grid at a time when we should be strengthening it through “energy dominance”.
And let’s not forget the bigger picture: TVA exists because the private sector failed rural America. In the early 20th century, private utility companies had no interest in electrifying poor and rural areas like then-North Alabama. It took bold public investment and local leadership to change that. TVA brought not just electricity, but industry, jobs, and dignity to our region. That legacy should be protected, not sold off.
We, the people of the Tennessee Valley, built TVA. Our tax dollars, our land, and our communities helped create one of the most successful public power systems in the world. It belongs to us, not hedge funds, not energy conglomerates, not billionaire donors trying to make a quick buck. Privatizing TVA wouldn’t just break a promise to the people of North Alabama. It would sell out the very communities that have helped keep this region strong.
This isn’t about partisanship, it’s about power, literally and figuratively. If the Trump administration wants to help rural America, selling off one of the most important institutions serving us isn’t the way to do it. Keep TVA public. Keep TVA local. Keep TVA affordable.
