As a giant Republican tax cut bill stalls in Congress, a former member of the Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors called for stability in clean energy tax credits helping fund Chattanooga projects.

Michelle Moore, who was fired March 27 from her board seat by President Donald Trump, spoke to the Chattanooga Times Free Press in her capacity as CEO of an energy nonprofit called Groundswell.

Some Republicans in the House want to fund $5 trillion in tax cuts partially by ending all tax credits for clean energy projects from the Inflation Reduction Act signed by President Joe Biden in 2022.

(READ MORE: What will happen to 13 Chattanooga area projects amid federal funding uncertainty)

Other Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, whose district includes Chattanooga and a nuclear hub in Oak Ridge, want certain tax credits saved.

Fleischmann’s district has landed $924 million in clean energy investments since July 2022, according to the Clean Investment Monitor, a joint project of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Rhodium Group. Another $349 million in clean energy projects has been announced in the district but not yet spent.

Moore’s nonprofit, with offices in Washington, D.C., and Georgia, develops community energy savings and solar projects. An interruption to the tax credits could sink major infrastructure projects announced in the past several years, she said.

In an op-ed Moore wrote May 13 for Power Magazine, she said that U.S. demand for electricity could skyrocket in the next five years.

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“When you look at the demand projections, the lack of market certainty places those projects at risk, and that places us all at risk of not having enough energy for the future,” Moore said in an interview.

Novonix, an Australian battery materials company developing a $1 billion synthetic graphite plant in Chattanooga, has benefited from federal and local tax credits.

The company has said it enjoys strong federal support, though many Republicans have criticized Biden-era incentives to companies building out the electric vehicle supply chain.

Fleischmann was one of 26 House Republicans who sent a letter earlier this month to the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee urging him to maintain tax credits for nuclear projects in particular.

A majority of clean energy investments made or announced after the Inflation Reduction Act was passed are in House districts represented by Republicans, according to the Clean Investment Monitor.

Moore, who got a taste of partisan instability when she was terminated from the TVA board, said she hopes lawmakers of both parties are keeping affordability and reliability of power in mind.

“Economic development isn’t about partisan politics,” Moore said in her interview with the Chattanooga Times Free Press. “These investments are going where they make sense.”

TVA, a federal utility that’s self-funded through sales of electricity, provides power to 10 million people in seven Southeastern states.

(READ MORE: TVA launches team charged with slicing operational costs)

Biden nominated Moore to the utility’s governing body, where she often advocated for TVA to speed up deployment of renewable energy like solar and battery storage.

Trump directed Moore’s termination without publicly stating why after the board selected the utility’s former chief operating officer, Don Moul, as its next president and CEO.

The bill that could spell greatly reduced or eliminated clean energy tax credits faced a setback Friday after a group of conservative lawmakers voted against it in committee.

The legislation, nicknamed the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” by Trump, is over 1,000 pages central to achieving his agenda.

It includes tax cuts, work requirements for food assistance and Medicaid and funding for mass deportation, The Associated Press reported.

Contact Daniel Dassow at ddassow@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.