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Alexander Promotes Nuclear, Pans Wind Power

TVA wind turbines on Buffalo Mountain in East Tennessee
photo credit TVA
TVA wind turbines on Buffalo Mountain in East Tennessee

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT)  --  Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander came out strongly Wednesday against renewing wind industry tax incentives.

On the floor of the Senate Wednesday morning, Alexander said the $27 billion worth of federal wind power subsidies would be better spent on renewable energy research, or on reducing the national debt.

During his comments, Alexander highlighted the Tennessee Valley Authority’s experience with a wind farm it built in East Tennessee.

"TVA, a few years ago, built 30 big wind turbines on top of Buffalo Mountain. The wind blows 19 percent of the time. So TVA signed a contract to spend 60 million dollars to produce six megawatts over that ten year period of time. It was a commercial failure."

In his speech, Alexander promoted Nuclear Energy as a better clean power alternative. Alexander and fellow Tennessee Senator Bob Corker are strongly endorsing TVA’s decision to move ahead with plans to build a new nuclear reactor at it’s Bellefonte site in northern Alabama just south of the Tennessee line.