By JONATHAN MATTISE ,  Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The new Tennessee Valley Authority board chairwoman says she hopes the federal utility will maintain its trajectory as President Donald Trump has the chance to pick a new board majority by the spring.
Lynn Evans, the first woman and first African-American to chair the board, spoke with reporters in a conference call Friday.
Evans said three of nine TVA board slots are currently vacant. Her term and another expire in May. Trump will choose nominees for those five slots, and the U.S. Senate will confirm them.
Evans declined to speculate about what to expect beyond that.
She said she's excited about plans to replace TVA's coal-fired Allen Fossil Plant in Memphis with a natural gas plant, which will reduce carbon emissions by 60 percent.
The nation's largest government-owned utility serves more than 9 million people in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.