Down by the river
⚡️ The future of the TVA · Ogles calls out Freddie · Bailing on Blind Bond · Bezos' Workshop · Federal safety net in T · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
There was an interesting op-ed in the Washington Post this morning by Middlebury College professor Gary Winslett on why manufacturing is thriving in the South. “In 1970, the Rust Belt was responsible for nearly half of all manufacturing exports while the South produced less than a quarter,” Winslett writes. “Today, the roles are reversed, it is the Rust Belt that hosts less than one-fourth of all manufactured exports and the South that exports twice what the Rust Belt does.”
“This migration didn’t happen by accident. It was driven by specific policy choices,” he adds, citing right to work laws, cheap energy, the relative abundance of housing, and low taxes. One aspect that’s worth honing in on for us in Tennessee is access to cheap energy.
As Winslett notes, “Ten states in the South have industrial electricity rates under 8 cents per kilowatt-hour; zero states in the Rust Belt do.” Tennessee is one of those states, due almost entirely to the work of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
We mentioned last week how the trajectory of the TVA has been brought into question by Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty who have argued that the TVA has “drifted from its charter of reliable, affordable electricity."
In both 2023 and 2024, the TVA hiked rates. In the Fall of 2024, the 5.25 percent rate hike was the highest in a decade. The state’s ability to remain competitive in attracting manufacturing hinges on the leadership at the TVA. The small modular reactor proposal for the Clinch River site is proof positive that the state is properly oriented. Will the TVA get fully on board?
Relatedly, wanted to reup a great story that Hamilton Ellis wrote for us last year about the abandoned nuclear facility in Hartsville and a future that could have been.
Onward.
A small Tennessee town's forgotten history as a nuclear leader
Hartsville, Tennessee is a small town nestled in the hills overlooking the Cumberland River about an hour north of Nashville. It sits just beyond the bustling bedroom communities that encircle Davidson County. The most action you’re likely to see on the road to Hartsville is turkey buzzards making a roadside picnic out of unlucky deer on the shoulder of State Route 25. But if you look in the right place, there’s a silent giant on the hillside.
It’s the 535-foot-tall cooling tower of the abortive Hartsville Nuclear Plant. The quiet Middle Tennessee town was once party to a brilliant dream, it's now a ghost of the promise that man’s mastery of the atom would usher all of humanity into a new age of prosperity.
Today, the town stagnates under the weight of the same economic hardships that plague so many small communities in the South, but it was supposed to be different for Hartsville. The abandoned nuclear facility now sits next to the Trousdale-Turner Correctional Facility, a private prison where inmates in the yard can look up at the tower like medieval poets gazing upon Roman aqueducts, wondering just what giants wrought such wonders.
We have this notion that modern life is a constant cycle of scientific discovery and technological innovation that we must contend with, whether we like it or not. But on occasion, we’re served with a reminder that the train of progress sometimes runs off the rails. Hartsville is practically indistinguishable from countless other small towns at first glance, but at one point in time, it was at the forefront of an emerging Atomic Age. The nondescript Middle Tennessee town and its languishing nuclear plant is a tragic reminder that sometimes the future just ain’t what it used to be.
⧖⧗⧖ SHOW YOUR SUPPORT ⧗⧖⧗
If you want to support our work at The Pamphleteer, a recurring donation is the best way. We have a $10/month Grub Street tier and a $50/month Bard tier. Membership gets you access to our comments section and free access to upcoming events.
🖋️ Edited by Megan Podsiedlik.
🗣️ Ogles Calls Out Freddie US Congressman Andy Ogles is calling upon the House Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees to investigate whether Mayor O’Connell is obstructing federal authorities and their ability to enforce immigration laws. “When federal agents and Tennessee law enforcement risk their lives to detain rapists, traffickers, and gang members, the only appropriate response from our leaders should be gratitude—not obstruction,” Ogles said during a Homeland Security briefing yesterday.
“This isn’t San Francisco. This isn’t Portland. And I refuse to let Democrats turn our state into a playground for cartels and predators,” the congressman stated in a press release. “Nashville will not become a sanctuary city on my watch.” You can watch the exchange between Ogles and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem here.
💰 Bailing On Blind Bond During Friday’s media roundtable, Mayor O’Connell highlighted his plan to increase funding for the Public Defender's Office. His budget makes provisions to place a “full time lawyer in each criminal court division, expand legal advice to clients in General Sessions Court, and create a specialized team to represent juveniles impacted by Tennessee's blended juvenile sentencing and transfer laws.” O’Connell also said Nashville will allow the evaluation of “a suspect's entire criminal history” before bond is set. “All of these things are designed to make us safer,” he said, reiterating that these investments—along with “economic uncertainty, revoked grants, and persistent inflation”—are all factors that influenced his decision to increase property taxes.
🚧 Bezos’ Workshop Under Construction Amazon is resuming construction on its second office tower at Nashville Yards after letting it sit vacant for three years. According to Nashville Business Journal, internal construction will start soon, and occupancy is expected in 2026. The company has also expanded its Nashville footprint in Nashville to over 1 million square feet: it’s leased an entire floor in another Nashville Yards building and 100,000 square feet in Asurion’s Gulch headquarters.
Amazon’s first tower at Nashville Yards opened in mid-2021, anchoring its retail operations while the second tower’s construction was paused in 2022 to redesign its layout. Amazon is one of the region’s top employers, with over 3,000 employees at its downtown offices and distribution hubs.
FEDERAL SAFETY NET PROGRAMS IN TENNESSEE
DEVELOPMENT
- East Nashville commercial building eyed for update (Post)
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here.
📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
👨🏻🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.
TONIGHT
🪕 Bibelhauser Brothers @ Station Inn, 9p, $20, Info
🎸 An Evening with Keller Williams with Captain Midnight Band @ 3rd and Lindsley, 7:30p, $35.06, Info
🎸 Adam Melchor @ The Blue Room, 7p, $32.51, Info
🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelly’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
🎸 Open Mic @ Fox & Locke, 6:30p, Free, Info
+ Vet community here
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
The Pamphleteer
The Pamphleteer
The Pamphleteer
The Pamphleteer
Today's newsletter is brought to you by Megan Podsiedlik (Nashville), Camelia Brennan (Local Noise), and Davis Hunt (everything else).