TVA not guilty? (again?)
November 12, 2009
Congressman Heath Shuler and possible influence peddling
Last I heard it is a felony to attempt to persuade a public servant, last I heard TVA employees are public servants as are congressional staff employees. The next question is why didn’t (doesn’t) the TVA OIG refer the Shuler matter for possible federal prosecution and to the Attorneys General of North Carolina and Tennessee for criminal investigation?
The smell is hardly being contained under an ethics blanket full of holes. This so-called investigation by the TVA OIG is being buttoned down, successfully so far, and the whole matter needs to go before a grand jury to sort out the facts from the fatuous in order to uncover any coverups which now appear to be the case. With subpoena power if necessary.
Every TVA board member past and present and all TVA employees come under federal jurisdiction and if any federal or state laws have been compromised and it appears now that several have been, it is the duty of any such person or vendor or contractor with knowledge of any wrong doing to report it to proper authorities, multiple authorities if necessary, including local, state or federal.
TVA has shown in the past to consider itself above the law, to abide only by the laws it chooses.
TVA budget 2009 vs. 2010 – some differences to watch
The projected 2010 budget for Operating Revenue shows a decline from 2009 of $13.5 billion to $11 billion for 2010, some $2.5 billion less. This should mean cutbacks in many areas of TVA’s budget but TVA has not revealed where and how much their administrative budget has been reduced, a major expense item.
Browns Ferry nuclear plant fire remembered
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission seems not too sure TVA has learned its 1975 fire lesson when the plant came close to a meltdown. Unfortunately for safety reasons, this seems to be a continuation of TVA’s lackadaisical attitude about safety. The NRC has had many issues with the TVA about their judgment in responding to real and drill circumstances in other nuclear plants.
TVA’s OIG has isolated a certain “TVA culture” that precludes close coordination with other divisions of TVA operations. “Silo’s” as some have described them, independent and protective units within TVA that fail to properly coordinate with each other.
It’s clearly a management problem that TVA probably never can successfully ameliorate because it likely is generations old. It is attitudinal. For example, TVA employees in the past have been “intimidated out” because they did not fit the “TVA culture” mold. On at least two recent occasions the display of a hangman’s noose has been used.
Neither the local FBI nor the OIG have significantly investigated these arcane and frightening instances of control of one group over an individual. The slogan “Have no fear” rings hollow and meaningless at the TVA.
Ernest Norsworthy
emnorsworthy@earthlink.net
http://norsworthyopinion.com