TVA just keeps on rolling along
September 15, 2009
Ol' man river, dat ol' man river
He mus' know sumpin', but don't say nuthin'
He jes' keeps rollin'
He keeps on rollin' along
Not that TVA doesn’t have a lot of enablers including the TVA Office of the Inspector General. Getting information from the TVA is harder than pulling hen’s teeth and the Knoxville News Sentinel is testimony to that.
It took the Freedom of Information Act to even get a greatly redacted copy of an OIG report that clearly showed even in extremely stripped down form that an unnamed TVA employee lied to the OIG and to others about knowledge of any relationship between TVA and Congressman Heath Shuler. http://blogs.knoxnews.com/flory/2009/09/tva_ig_employee_less_than_trut.html
What is being ignored here is not just smoke but a blazing fire of dissembling, dishonesty and corruption by the TVA, its in-house inspector general and a congressional cover-up. No where is it mentioned that Shuler was also the co-chairman of the congressional TVA caucus, a completely transparent case of a conflict of interest.
Did the TVA OIG turn over the Shuler case to the attorney general or any federal agency for investigation? No, it meekly referred it to the house ethics committee for further review. That action, or lack thereof, simply stinks.
I’m not so sure that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is not implicated in this also. Previously I had written to the GAO seeking information about the TVA and instead of replying in writing which I had preferred, another GAO inspector somewhat familiar with the TVA called me and we had a lengthy conversation.
He told me that Mr. Robert E. Martin, the person I had directed my inquiry to, had transferred to the TVA’s Office of the Inspector General in Knoxville. Mr. Martin’s name did not crop up again until his signature on an OIG report.
Here’s a copy of my letter to Mr. Martin:
“Mr. Robert E. Martin
Government Accountability Office
Washington, D.C.
August 13, 2008
Subject: TVA, GAO-06-810 Report
I have re-read your report on the TVA cited above and I am trying to verify what action the TVA has taken, if any, on your recommendations or on any of the “commitments” made by the TVA. I know they have reneged on several of them.
I have written extensively about the TVA and if you read any of my writings about it, you will see that I am no rollover apologizer for that federal agency.
In fact, I am advocating the abolishment of the TVA, as did the GAO once as an alternative to its quagmire of unsupportable financial arrangements by selling off its assets.
TVA’s unsustainable $25 billion debt as far as I can determine has not budged in years. (If you can find out today’s specific debt number, please let me know where you found it – TVA’s arcane Website is impossible to navigate).
TVA promised to reduce their TFO’s $7.1 billion by 2015 according to your report in 2006, only 24-months ago.
Since then the TVA has been scandal-rocked with major management blunders one after the other. Your reporting on the very serious security lapses in TVA’s computer systems is just one of them. It was their new “management team” that insisted on combining operations and executive computer systems to result in a “streamlining and centralizing” of them to the extremely possible detriment to the whole electrical grid system.
I called for the resignation of CEO Tom Kilgore along with the members of the board who approved the plan.
There is an old saying about the TVA that “nobody ever gets fired from the TVA”. But TVA’s new management structure begs for management accountability. Then recently, financial reports to the SEC had to be rescinded and modified because some of their public information was highly misleading. Even two high-powered independent auditing firms missed that one.
Then there is the TVA OIG who stumbled on a case of a stolen laptop computer that turned into a major flaw in TVA’s accounting for some 5,550 computers. It appears they have accounted for most of them today but the gross negligence in maintaining an inventory of thousands of computers is reprehensible.
Also, I understand that the TVA OIG is paid from TVA funds, which, on the face of it, clearly would be a conflict of interest.
As a former federal employee (HUD), I was involved in major paperwork reduction efforts internally and on interagency task forces. I have been accused more than once of being a patsy for investor-owned electric utilities. The answer to that charge is that I do not now or have I ever been involved in any utility in any fashion whatsoever, financially or otherwise.
As a strong believer in our free-market system, I find the TVA to be anathema to it. And as the most anomalous creature of the federal government that I know of, it should be liquidated and let the market obtain.
The question is asked: If TVA defaults on it debt, does the full faith and credit of the U.S. back up those financial instruments? According to what I have read, the answer is “no”, but the lenders do not seem to believe it.
Any information or references you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Ernest Norsworthy
emnorsworthy@earthlink.net
URL: http://norsworthyopinion.com
P.S.
Is it okay for a federal agency to use the “.com” as well as the “.gov” extension?
EN”
(Address and phone number redacted)
One of the things I wanted to know of the GAO inspector I talked with was how to find TVA’s budget in their arcane website. He said its there, but even he could not find it.
Lately, I have been asking the same question because a much closer look at TVA’s budget is in order. In fact, TVA’s financial condition is in such dire straits that TVA should call a freeze on all expenditures and to not spend a dime unless and until it specifically is authorized by TVA management.
But where is TVA’s 2010 line item budget? Maybe Mr. Martin knows?
Ernest Norsworthy
tva@norsworthyopinion.com
http://norsworthyopinion.com