12/03/2025 at 10:00AM
On Wednesday, December 3, at 10:00 a.m., U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, will hold a hearing on the nominations of
- Lee Beaman to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority
- Douglas Weaver to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Beaman is a Nashville auto executive, Republican mega-donor, and the subject of sexual misconduct allegations. He has no professional experience in nuclear oversight, utility planning, or grid operations. He is the former CEO of Beaman Automotive Group, a chain of car dealerships he sold in 2020. He operates Beaman Ventures, a private investment firm, and serves on the board of Belmont University, a private Christian college in Nashville. He is also a member of the Council for National Policy, a secretive, invitation-only, Christian nationalist network whose members have opposed environmental regulation, denied climate science, and pushed to roll back democratic safeguards. In court documents, his fourth wife described being forced into watching Beaman having sex with a prostitute for her “training”, and being exposed to pornography in the presence of her minor son. Kelly Beaman accused her husband of “degradation, control, manipulation and abuse” in the marriage. Beaman owns a $3.7 million Capitol Hill townhouse through an entity called Crockett Ventures. The property serves as a residence for Speaker Mike Johnson, megachurch pastor Steve Berger, and other GOP politicians and operatives.
Weaver is a seasoned nuclear regulator. He served as vice president of nuclear regulatory affairs at Westinghouse Electric Company from 2013 to 2022, and most recently has been running his own nuclear regulatory consulting firm. He also worked for nearly 20 years at the NRC, where he held numerous leadership positions, including in the Chairman’s Office and the Office of New Reactors.