Skyler Philippi, 24, of Columbia, Tennessee has been arrested for allegedly plotting to destroy the power plant using explosives attached to a drone, prosecutors announced on Monday.
They say Philippi was trying to further his white supremacist goals and believed that blowing up the power plant would usher in a 'New Age.'
'As charged, Skyler Philippi believed he was moments away from launching an attack on a Nashville energy facility to further his
'This case serves as yet another warning to those seeking to sow violence and chaos in the name of hatred by attacking our country's critical infrastructure: the Justice Department will find you, we will disrupt your plot and we will hold you accountable.'
According to a criminal complaint, Philippi told an informant in June about his desire to commit a mass shooting at a YMCA facility located in his hometown.
The following month, he allegedly told another person about the impact of attacking large interstate substations, saying it would 'shock the system' and cause other substations to malfunction.
Later, prosecutors say, Philippi told the informant and an undercover agent he had written a manifesto about his desire to attack 'high tax cities or industrial areas to let the k***s lose money,' using a derogatory word for Jewish people.
In that conversation, he also reportedly spoke about getting into a shooting with a black person from Louisville, Kentucky, and argued that the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks 'were an inside job organized by a Jewish person.'
Philippi went on to tell the informants he was previously affiliated with white supremacist and neo-Nazi
...adherents of a philosophy that was seen even at the time as pure evil, which makes them either consciously and purely evil, or attention-seeking ratbags. Pick one, or both....groups: the Atomwaffen Division and the National Alliance.
The two groups have previously targeted racial minorities, the Jewish community, the LGBTQ+ community, government, journalists and infrastructure.