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On July 26, 2010, a federal appeals court reversed a judge's ruling in [[North Carolina v. TVA]] requiring prompt installation of upgraded emission controls at four TVA coal-fired power plants, three in Tennessee and one in Alabama. U.S. District Judge Lacy Thornburg had ordered the accelerated cleanup at the TVA plants, ruling that emissions affecting air quality in North Carolina's scenic western mountains were a "public nuisance." A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the decision. Appeals court Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III wrote that allowing the ruling to stand would undermine the nation's "carefully created" [[Clean Air Act]] regulatory scheme. North Carolina then sought a rehearing.<ref>[http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/07/federal_appeals_court_blocks_r.html "Federal appeals court blocks ruling for fast-track emission controls at 4 TVA coal-fired plants"] al.com, July 26, 2010.</ref>
==Proposed plant conversions==
===[[Widows Creek Fossil Plant]]===
On April 14, 2011, TVA and North Carolina settled a 5-year-old lawsuit - [[North Carolina v. TVA]] - over TVA emissions from its coal-fired plants. As part of the agreement, TVA agreed to phase out 18 units of its coal plants, including six units at the [[Widows Creek Fossil Plant]], taking all but two offline.<ref>[http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=13375691 "TVA Phasing out Hundreds of Jobs at Coal Plants"] ABC, April 14, 2011.</ref><ref name="TVA">[http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/decrees/civil/caa/tvacoal-fired-cd.pdf "Consent Decree,"] ''North Carolina v. TVA,'' U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville, accessed April 20, 2011</ref>
In May 2012, TVA began considering a switch to natural gas for the plant, linked up to a proposed natural gas pipeline from Tennessee through Alabama to Georgia.<ref>Ben Benton, [http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/may/13/TVA-natural-gas-pipeline-jackson-county-for-region/?print "Natural gas pipeline considered for tri-state region,"} Times Free Press, May 13, 2012.</ref>
==Other plants==
