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In 2023, after years of pollution , equipment failures and health concerns, the Cumberland Fossil Plant in Tennessee was slated to close within the decade.

The coal-fired plant had been part of a multibillion-dollar settlement in 2011 after its operator, the Tennessee Valley Authority, failed to install pollution control technology a decade earlier. Regulators cited the plant for more air-pollution violations in 2017 and 2023 . TVA said it would shutter Cumberland’s units in 2026 and 2028.

Then the Trump administration replaced four of TVA’s board members, and the agency reneged on its retirement plan in February. Now, TVA has a federal pledge for $46 million to extend Cumberland’s lifespan— part of a nationwide push by President Donald Trump to keep older coal plants running.

Cumberland is one of at least three of the 12 plants receiving the Department of Energy grants that have been repeatedly cited for violating the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, or both, an Inside Climate News review found. The other two are Grand River Energy Center in Oklahoma and the Roxboro Steam Electric Plant in North Carolina, cited for various environmental violations, such as releasing wastewater with excess pollutants, over the past decade.

For Angie Mummaw, a local organizer who lives eight miles from the Cumberland plant, the grant was like a “slap in the face.”

“I feel like it’s a step backwards when we should be investing in clean energy, in new technology, and moving away from the fossil fuel industry,” said Mummaw, who is the Middle Tennessee organizer for Appalachian Voices, an environmental group.

Maggie Shober, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy’s research director, said retiring coal plants is “one of our primary ways” to combat pollution, climate change and associated health harms. Extending their operations, she said, “will make climate change happen faster and will make it worse over the long-term.”

Multiple studies have also linked coal-plant air pollution to early death, with impacts reaching hundreds of miles from the facilities themselves. One study estimates that just one of Cumberland’s air pollutants, toxic fine particles, contributed to 1,000 deaths as far away as New York and Massachusetts from 1999 to 2020.

The June investment comes after the Trump administration unraveled climate regulations and relaxed environmental enforcement , which experts say could have lasting effects on public health. Trump, an outspoken coal proponent , has made defending fossil fuels a centerpoint of his presidency, dismaying activists and academics .

An Energy Department spokesperson did not respond to specific questions about the history of violations at three of the coal plants it’s funding, saying instead that Trump is committed to “reversing the American war on coal.”

“These investments are intended to keep reliable generation online, strengthen grid resilience, expand coal supply chain capacity, and ensure the availability of power needed to support critical infrastructure and maintain essential generation resources during periods of high demand and grid stress, including severe weather events,” the spokesperson wrote.

Courtney Bernhardt, research director for the watchdog group Environmental Integrity Project, said funding plants with a record of violations aligns with Trump’s second-term policies .

“I’m not surprised—but I am disturbed,” Bernhardt said in an email. “The Trump administration seems to disregard the compliance status of many of the plants that they’re trying to put forward, and they’re trying to, at the same time, weaken permitting requirements for the energy sector.”

Scott Fiedler, a TVA spokesman, said “increasing power demand and changes in the regulatory landscape” prompted the February decision not to close the Cumberland plant. When making long-term decisions, he added, TVA follows “a structured, transparent process that includes environmental reviews, operational assessments, system‑wide reliability analysis and compliance with all applicable regulations.”

“TVA remains committed to serving the Valley with energy that is reliable, affordable and resilient,” Fielder added.

The Southern Environmental Law Center, which has long opposed Cumberland, said TVA did not give the public an opportunity to comment on the change. Delaney King, an associate attorney with the group, said the plant’s history of violations speaks to a broader challenge.

“Cumberland is more a symptom of the larger problem that these coal plants are many decades old and trying to be dragged into a modern regulation and environmental space that they’re not well-suited for, because of how old and dirty and unreliable that they are,” King said.

Mummaw, who lives near the Cumberland plant, said residents can see the impact: “As the pollution’s coming out of the stacks, it tends to settle on cars and things, and so there’ll be this sooty dust that accumulates on folks’ cars and homes.”

The Grand River Energy Ce…