The Tennessee Valley Authority has walked back a threat made earlier this month to deny electricity service to cannabis operations, acknowledging in a statement on Thursday that the agency is required to provide power to all customers in its service area.
“We want to be clear about TVA’s position on the implications to our energy service to Mississippi customers: TVA has an obligation to serve our customers with safe, reliable, low-cost energy and we will continue to do so,” the utility wrote in a statement. “There will be no interruption in service because of this newly signed law.”
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally-owned electric utility company that provides power to millions of customers in Tennessee and parts of six surrounding southern states. In a statement obtained by reporters, the TVA noted that despite cannabis reform at the state level, marijuana is still a federally illegal substance. The statement was released on February 2, the same day that Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill to legalize medical marijuana in the state. The TVA provides power to local utilities that deliver electricity to customers in three dozen counties in northeastern Mississippi.
“While some states have enacted (or may soon enact) laws permitting the cultivation and distribution of marijuana for either medicinal or recreational purposes, marijuana, regardless of its intended use, remains a Schedule I substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970,” the TVA wrote in its statement. “Federal resources and funds may not be purposely used to facilitate activity that potentially violates federal law. “Given this important point, TVA will not direct any federal resources or funds to the cultivation and/or distribution of marijuana.”
The statement also warned that if a TVA