Editing Tennessee (section)

===Energy and mineral production===
{{Further|List of power stations in Tennessee|List of power stations operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority}}
[[File:TVA IMG 2993 (28921461062).jpg|thumb|left|alt=Photograph of Norris Dam, a hydroelectric power station operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)|[[Norris Dam]], a [[hydroelectric dam]] operated by the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]].]]

Tennessee's electric utilities are regulated monopolies, as in many other states.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Energy policy in Tennessee|url=https://ballotpedia.org/Energy_policy_in_Tennessee|website=Ballotpedia|access-date=May 1, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Map of Deregulated Energy Markets (Updated 2018) – Electric Choice|url=https://www.electricchoice.com/map-deregulated-energy-markets/|website=Electricchoice.com|access-date=May 1, 2020}}</ref> The [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] (TVA) owns over 90% of the state's generating capacity.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tennessee - State Energy Profile Overview - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)|url=https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=TN#tabs-3|website=Eia.gov|access-date=May 1, 2020}}</ref> [[Nuclear power in the United States|Nuclear power]] is Tennessee's largest source of electricity generation, producing about 43.4% of its power in 2021. The same year, 22.4% of the power was produced from [[Coal power in the United States|coal]], 17.8% from [[Gas-fired power plant|natural gas]], 15.8% from [[Hydroelectric power in the United States|hydroelectricity]], and 1.3% from other [[Renewable energy in the United States|renewables]]. About 59.7% of the electricity generated in Tennessee produces [[Low-carbon power|no greenhouse gas emissions]].<ref>{{cite report|author=U.S. Energy Information Administration - Independent Statistics & Analysis|date=February 2021|title=Electric Power Monthly with Data for December 2021|url=https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/current_month/february2022.pdf|publisher=[[Energy Information Administration]]|access-date=June 23, 2022}}</ref> Tennessee is home to the first [[Nuclear reactor|nuclear power reactor]] in the U.S. to begin operation in the 21st century, which is at the [[Watts Bar Nuclear Plant]] in [[Rhea County, Tennessee|Rhea County]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Mooney|first=Chris|date=June 17, 2016|title=It's the first new U.S. nuclear reactor in decades. And climate change has made that a very big deal|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/06/17/the-u-s-is-powering-up-its-first-new-nuclear-reactor-in-decades/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=June 4, 2020}}</ref> Tennessee was also an early leader in hydroelectric power,<ref>{{cite news|date=July 20, 2014|title=Tennessee ties to hydropower run deep|url=https://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/2014/07/21/tennessee-ties-hydropower-run-deep/12915069/|work=The Tennessean|access-date=June 4, 2020}}</ref> and today is the third-largest hydroelectric power-producing state east of the [[Rocky Mountains]].<ref name=energyprofile>{{cite web|url=https://www.eia.gov/state/analysis.php?sid=TN|title=Tennessee - State Energy Profile Analysis|author=<!--Not stated-->|date=June 20, 2019|website=eia.gov|publisher=Energy Information Administration|access-date=June 4, 2020}}</ref> Tennessee is a net consumer of electricity, receiving power from other TVA facilities in neighboring states.<ref name=nyt>{{cite news|last=Popovich|first=Nadja|date=December 24, 2018|title=How Does Your State Make Electricity?|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/24/climate/how-electricity-generation-changed-in-your-state.html|url-access=limited|work=The New York Times|access-date=March 18, 2019}}</ref>

Tennessee has very little petroleum and natural gas reserves, but is home to one oil refinery, in Memphis.<ref name=energyprofile/> [[Bituminous coal]] is mined in small quantities in the Cumberland Plateau and Cumberland Mountains.<ref name=tdecmineral/> There are sizable reserves of [[lignite coal]] in West Tennessee that remain untapped.<ref name=tdecmineral>{{cite web|url=https://www.tn.gov/environment/program-areas/tennessee-geological-survey/geology-redirect/tennessee-s-mineral-industry.html|title=Tennessee's Mineral Industry|author=<!--Not stated-->|date=2017|website=tn.gov|publisher=[[Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation]]|access-date=June 4, 2020}}</ref> Coal production in Tennessee peaked in 1972, and today less than 0.1% of coal in the U.S. comes from Tennessee.<ref name=energyprofile/> Tennessee is the nation's leading producer of [[ball clay]].<ref name="tdecmineral" /> Other major mineral products produced in Tennessee include [[sand]], [[gravel]], [[crushed stone]], [[Portland cement]], [[marble]], [[sandstone]], [[clay|common clay]], [[lime (material)|lime]], and [[zinc]].<ref name=tdecmineral/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usgs.gov/centers/nmic/mineral-industry-tennessee|title=The Mineral Industry of Tennessee|author=<!--Not stated-->|website=National Minerals Information Center|publisher=[[U.S. Geological Survey]]|access-date=June 4, 2020}}</ref> The [[Copper Basin (Tennessee)|Copper Basin]], in Tennessee's southeastern corner in Polk County, was one of the nation's most productive [[copper mining in the United States|copper mining]] districts between the 1840s and 1980s, and supplied about 90% of the copper the Confederacy used during the Civil War.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{cite web|url=https://www.gamineral.org/writings/copperbasin-cochran.html|title=Minerals and Mining of the Copper Basin|last=Cochran|first=Kim|date=<!--Not given-->|website=gamineral.org|publisher=Georgia Mineral Society|access-date=May 30, 2008}}|{{cite book|last=Lillard|first=Roy G.|date=1980|title=Bradley County|url=https://archive.org/details/tennesseecountyh06lill|publisher=Memphis State University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/tennesseecountyh06lill/page/63 63]|isbn=0-87870-099-4 |via=Internet Archive}}|{{cite news|last=Waters|first=Jack|date=<!--Not given, probably 1990s-->|title=Mining the Copper Basin in Southeast Tennessee|url=http://www.telliquah.com/History2.htm|work=The Tellico Plains Mountain Press|location=Tellico Plains, Tennessee|access-date=May 30, 2008}}}}</ref> Mining activities in the basin resulted in a major environmental disaster, which left the surrounding landscape barren for more than a century.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tva.gov/Environment/Environmental-Stewardship/Land-Management/The-Greening-of-Copper-Basin|title=The Greening of Copper Basin|author=<!--Not stated-->|website=tva.gov|publisher=Tennessee Valley Authority|access-date=February 29, 2020}}</ref> Iron ore was another major mineral mined in Tennessee until the early 20th century.<ref>{{cite report|last=Burchard|first=Ernest F.|date=1927|title=The Brown Iron Ores of West-Middle Tennessee|url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/0795d/report.pdf|publisher=U.S. Geologic Survey|access-date=June 4, 2020}}</ref> Tennessee was also a top producer of [[phosphate]] until the early 1990s.<ref>{{cite report|last1=Morgan|first1=Herman Jr.|last2=Parks|first2=W.L.|date=April 1967|title=Reclamation of Mined Phosphate Land|url=https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1218&context=utk_agbulletin|publisher=University of Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station|docket=416|access-date=June 4, 2020}}</ref>