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John Rich Raises Concerns About “Egregious Situation” With The TVA In Cheatham County, TN

By Miranda Raye

on Jun 06, 2025

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What Is The TVA, And What Are They Doing In Cheatham County?

Country music star John Rich is raising concerns and spreading the word about what he’s called an “egregious situation” with the TVA in Cheatham County, Tennessee.

The TVA, or the Tennessee Valley Authority, is the largest public power provider in the United States. The TVA was created by Congress in 1933 to serve the people living in the Tennessee Valley Region.

According to the TVA website, despite being owned by the federal government, the TVA doesn’t receive tax funding. Instead, its website states it uses revenue from energy sales to fund its operations.

Recently, the TVA proposed the construction of a new methane gas plant and transmission lines in Cheatham County, Tennessee. The county has an approximate population of 41,000 and is part of the Nashville metro area.

As Nashville’s WKRN News 2 reports, the TVA purchased a 286-acre site in Cheatham County in 2020, with plans to build the methane plant there.

“It’s to not only replace the generation that is aging and needs to be taken out of service, but also to meet the growing demand over the next decade and even the next 25 years into 2050,” TVA spokesperson Scott Brooks told WKRN.

However, TVA’s plans and recent actions have left Cheatham County residents feeling discouraged, concerned, and betrayed.

John Rich moved to Cheatham County when he first left his home state of Texas. While he now lives in Nashville, Rich has family members who still live in Cheatham County, and he considers it “home.”

Because of this, Rich took it upon himself to bring attention to the TVA’s actions, and he called on President Trump to help.

John Rich Pleads For President Trump To Help Rein In The TVA

Because the President appoints the TVA, Rich believes President Trump is the only person who can rein them in. On May 27, Rich published the first in a series of videos speaking about the situation in Cheatham County and pleading with President Trump for help.

In the video, Rich discussed how the proposed location for the TVA’s methane gas plant is in an area with no existing roads.

He said, “So that means they got to blast away the limestone hills. They got to destroy and rebuild roads, bridges, completely ransack endless acres of personal property.“

Rich also raised concerns that the proposed plant would be built close to five different schools. “That alone ought to shut it down,” he said.

Additionally, Rich worries about the risks associated with the construction of a methane plant in the area, saying:

“The chances of water contamination, destroyed farms, noise and air pollution, I would say [would be] 100% at some point.”

Rich says the plant would sit on a creek, which supplies one and a half million gallons of water to Cheatham County residents. He continued:

“The fix to this is simple. Find an industrial place to put this, or pick some of the 293,000 acres that you people already own…and put it there, instead of upending the ecosystem, running people off their farms, [and] destroying things. For God’s sake, you’re five miles from five different schools, and you want to put in a multihundred-acre footprint methane gas plant? Next to five schools? That’s what you want to do TVA? Yeah, we ain’t gonna let it happen.”

Rich’s first video included an interview with Cheatham County residents Mr. and Mrs. Wade. He says the TVA sued the Wade family because they wanted to survey their property.

“Which also means…destructive testing, drilling down into the ground, tearing everything up,” Rich remarked.

WKRN reports that the TVA filed lawsuits against two landowners in the county who “refused temporary access for land surveys.”

At the end of his first video, Rich turned the camera to Mr. Wade and asked if he had a message for President Trump. He said:

“TVA has its foot on the throats of the Cheatham County residents. They are pillaging, terrorizing, and destroying this community. And you are our only hope, because they are unbridled otherwise. I plead with you, pick the phone up, and call them, and tell them to stop this.”

“These are your people, President Trump,” Rich added. “This county voted for you — 75%. These are your people; tell the TVA to find another spot.”

The Cheatham County Mayor And A TVA Spokesperson Respond To The Situation

Residents like the Wades worry that their multigenerational properties will be taken from them so the TVA can use the land. TVA spokesperson Scott Brooks disputes this, telling WKRN that the TVA has no plans to take residents’ properties away.

“All we’ve been doing so far is reaching out to property owners to say, ‘Hey, there is a potential that we would want to purchase rights of way — not buy the property — not take the property outright, but rights of ways to be able to put power lines across the property,'” Brooks said.

But Cheatham County Mayor Kerry McCarver does not buy everything the TVA says. McCarver told WKRN:

“Actions speak louder than words. Quit telling me you want to be a good neighbor. Do the right thing.”

McCarver echoed Rich’s message about holding the TVA accountable, saying:

“They [the TVA] don’t answer to the county level. They don’t answer to the state level. At the federal level, the Congress should be putting some guidelines and bumper guards in there to control them … They are not held accountable by anyone, and that is the root of the problem.”

Cheatham County Resident Tells John Rich About Her Experience With The TVA – “It Just Made Me Feel Like I Didn’t Live In America”

John Rich followed up on June 5 by releasing another video about the TVA and their actions. He interviewed a resident named Nanette, who shared her “shocking” experience with the TVA in October 2024.

Nanette says the TVA came to start surveying property, and the people did not want them there. The neighbors joined together in solidarity as multiple TVA agents and two police officers parked their vehicles down the road.

Nanette was shocked to see the police officers, noting that the TVA has its own police force:

“…the thing that struck me as I watched this unfold and these employees were marching toward us with police officers…They were armed, they had their full gear on…they looked like they had bulletproof vests.”

“Hey TVA, why is that?” Rich asked in disbelief.

The TVA website states that its police and emergency management force works as “a federal law enforcement agency committed to protecting TVA’s critical infrastructure, employees and assets.” They provide law enforcement, physical security, and emergency management services for the TVA’s facilities and public lands.

As Nanette continued her story, she claimed the TVA agents informed them they had permission from “Mr. Nicholsan” to survey the land. But Mr. Nicholsan passed away years ago, so the residents knew that wasn’t true.

Mrs. Nicholsan still lives in the area, but is elderly and has dementia. “She was afraid, actually, because there were so many vehicles in her yard and she didn’t know why,” Nanette said.

Reflecting on the experience, Nanette told Rich, “It just made me feel like I didn’t live in America that day; it was very hard to watch.”

Rich expressed his outrage, saying:

“In the United States of America, we don’t send in armed officers onto people’s property under a lie saying they had permission from a man who’s been dead ten years, so they can come in and bully and shove people around.”

In closing, Rich shared his hope that the TVA will find a different location for the methane plant. He mentioned how old coal plants could be transformed into methane plants if necessary. That way, the residents of Cheatham County would not be affected by new construction.

Rich vowed to release more videos about the TVA, saying, “This fight is just beginning.”

He ended his video with footage from the incident Nanette spoke about during their interview. Watch it below.

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