Nashville, Tenn. (August 13, 2025) – In a significant victory for local landowners and environmental advocates, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has withdrawn its plan to construct a large-scale gas power plant and pipeline through rural Cheatham County. GSRM Law attorney Gabriel B. Ragsdale played a pivotal role in helping coordinate the legal and strategic efforts that ultimately brought the project to a halt.
TVA first announced plans in early 2023 to build a 900-megawatt natural gas power plant on a 285-acre site near Ashland City, including a 12-mile gas pipeline and 45 miles of new transmission lines. The proposed site, near the scenic Sycamore Creek area, drew immediate concern from residents and local officials due to the plant’s potential impact on air and water quality, noise levels, infrastructure and property values.
By mid-2023, a groundswell of opposition had emerged. Ragsdale assisted citizens in forming two non-profit groups – Preserve Cheatham County and Stop TVA, and local governments – including the Cheatham County Commission, Ashland City Council, and Kingston Springs Board of Commissioners – passed unanimous resolutions opposing TVA’s project.
Amid growing legal uncertainty and fears of eminent domain actions, Ragsdale stepped in to help organize and guide the opposition’s legal strategy. Ragsdale began representing multiple landowners facing pressure from TVA and its corporate partners. He provided critical guidance on property rights, federal land acquisition law, and the legal limits of TVA’s authority.
For nearly two years, Ragsdale helped to coordinate community leaders, fellow attorneys, environmental experts, and concerned landowners to spearhead efforts that included:
- Public representations by concerned property owners at risk of condemnation
- Litigation challenging intrusions on landowners’ property rights
- Environmental advocates pressing for sustainable alternatives
- Grassroots organizers educating the public and mobilizing support
In autumn of 2024, Ragsdale filed objections as counsel in federal court filings in United States of America v. A Temporary Right to Enter Upon Land in Cheatham County, on behalf of landowners and signaling the beginning of a formal legal challenge to TVA’s land access efforts.
Ragsdale’s role extended beyond litigation. He helped unify disparate voices—elected officials, community nonprofits, and legal teams—into a focused coalition. As one organizer described in public remarks, “Gabriel helped us connect the legal dots and gave us the confidence to push back when it mattered most.”
Through legal advocacy, strategic advising, and community engagement, Ragsdale helped shape the public and legal narrative that ultimately put pressure on TVA to reconsider its plans.
On July 16, 2025, TVA formally withdrew its plan to build the plant on the proposed Cheatham County site. The announcement followed months of political scrutiny, widespread media coverage, and mounting community resistance—including valuable advocacy from high-profile figures like country music star John Rich, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and President Donald Trump.
One of Ragsdale’s clients, George Wade, who owns a small family farm in Cheatham County that was directly in the path of TVA’s proposed power plant, said, “On a scale of one to ten, Gabriel Ragsdale is a twenty. He’s not only an exceptional attorney, but also a thoughtful counselor who considered the full scope of the TVA situation before making recommendations. His communication is outstanding, and I couldn’t recommend him more highly.”
On July 15, 2025, TVA announced that Cheatham County, Tennessee was no longer its preferred alternative for the proposed power plant and that it would begin evaluating alternative industrial sites for its energy infrastructure needs. Altogether, the people of Cheatham County and their allies bound together to achieve a rare victory in the fight to preserve landowners’ rights against one of the nation’s most powerful federal utilities.
About GSRM Law
GSRM Law is a full service law firm with 29 attorneys whose practices emphasize corporate and commercial work for businesses and individuals nationwide. The firm’s work includes insolvency, corporate transactions, commercial real estate and lending transactions, litigation in all trial and appellate courts, mediation, family law, alcoholic beverage law, healthcare, employment, business succession planning, tax, and estate planning. Visit GSRM.com for additional information.