Caroline Eggers
Environmental Reporter, WPLNCaroline Eggers covers environmental issues with a focus on equity for WPLN News through Report for America, a national service program that supports journalists in local newsrooms across the country. Before joining the station, she spent several years covering water quality issues, biodiversity, climate change and Mammoth Cave National Park for newsrooms in the South. Her reporting on homelessness and a runoff-related “fish kill” for the Bowling Green Daily News earned her 2020 Kentucky Press Association awards in the general news and extended coverage categories, respectively. Beyond deadlines, she is frequently dancing, playing piano and photographing wildlife and her poodle, Princess. She graduated from Emory University with majors in journalism and creative writing.
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In Oak Ridge, the place where the first electricity from nuclear power was generated, the Tennessee Valley Authority is planning to build what may become the nation’s first mini nuclear plant. -
The Tennessee Valley Authority announced last week that it plans to build a methane gas plant in central Mississippi. This is the eighth proposed fossil fuel plant in just three years. -
The Tennessee Department of Military has requested about $5 million during a budget hearing with Gov. Bill Lee last week to develop “flood preparedness tools.” -
In the next few months, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation will complete two firsts for the state. The agency will create an inventory of the state’s biggest climate offenders — and then draft a plan to cut that pollution statewide. -
Wildfires are popping up across Tennessee, as the state endures its worst drought since 2016. -
Internet service will be Tennessee’s top environmental spending priority next year. -
Tennessee has the fastest-growing clean energy workforce in the nation — and it is not just because of all of the new electric vehicle manufacturing plants. -
While Tennessee has seen deadly floods, ice storms and lingering droughts in recent years, wind was the source of destruction for every disaster in 2023, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which estimates that these thunderstorms or tornadoes caused between $2 and $5 billion in damages across the state. -
Clean technology manufacturing is exploding in Tennessee. Planned investments in the construction of electric vehicle, energy storage and solar panel materials were worth three times more than any other sector combined in the past year. -
The Inflation Reduction Act has been called the most significant climate law in U.S. history, with promises to radically shift electricity from fossil fuels to clean sources. In Tennessee, the legislation could shape a new wave of clean energy manufacturing, but it has been absent in the state’s electricity plans.
