Will the real U.S. Government please stand up?
January 12, 2009
A battle royal went on in the Senate’s hearing on the Tennessee Valley Authority Thursday, January 8, 2009. What was it all about? After all, it is the same federal government (I think) that showed itself off so badly. The TVA on one side, a federal government agency, and on the other side, well, it was the same federal government. And they both lost.
Admitted by both Sens. Barbara Boxer (CA) and Tom Carper (Del), both Democrats, that they had been remiss in their oversight responsibilities of the TVA they, well, “promised to do better”. They need not be reminded that that horse has vacated the stable long ago and anyway, the door remains latchless. The only memorable quote from Sen. Boxer was “you are such a nice man” said three times referring to Tom Kilgore, head of the TVA. And then there were apologists for the TVA such as Sen. Johnny Isakson (GA) who thought that Kilgore had done a terrific job; Isakson helped Kilgore get his TVA job through his review in Washington. The Georgia senator seemed more concerned about the possibility of bursting sludge ponds in Georgia than elsewhere in TVA’s territory.
It might be well to point out here that there is something called the “TVA Congressional Caucus.” No one seems to know where or when they meet but according to reports, co-chairman of the group Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC) along with Sen. Lamar Alexander(R-TN), TVA apologist, both head that infamous TVA “watchdog” group. Of course, you remember that congressman Shuler’s company is under investigation for a possibly shady deal made by his company with the TVA. The value of that deal could be worth lots of dollars. TVA admits to no wrongdoing, as usual. Expect an exoneration of Shuler by the TVA Office of the Inspector General. The OIG, claiming its independence, is, however, paid by the TVA.
Going full circle, it is the government that will not regulate itself (TVA) so that leaves - Oops! There’s no one to blame since it is the same government, (I think).
The Kingston break in the dike and now a lesser one at the Widows Creek plant in Alabama, really only are symptomatic of TVA’s dilatory and negligent management for decades. Tracing back, the Kingston dam broke because of one or more factors; the main one being due to improper engineering of the dam. Its height of some 50-60 feet could not maintain the integrity of its walls and it collapsed.
The cost of the Kingston dam breach? Not counting the undue trauma to those directly affected and of the surrounding community the final costs probably will reach into the billions of dollars. And right now, TVA has no way to pay for it except and only through increased electricity rates. They could tack on another fee and call it TVA’s “foolish fee” as a reminder of how badly it is and has been managed.
But now, TVA’s finances are in such bad shape and because of their inability to maintain control over spending (shades of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), the best course of action would be to remove the federal government completely from its anti-competitive sale of electricity to some 8.8 million people in the Tennessee Valley.
Already, many investor-owned utilities in the area are beating TVA’s prices handily. Every time TVA makes another major blunder, and there have been many of them, the costs are passed on to the consumers of TVA electricity. If there is not an axiom that government cannot run anything efficiently and effectively, there should be one. Time and again that axiom would be true.
Yes, the TVA mess immediately should be turned over to an emergency task group not from the TVA to keep it from being more and more Katrina-like. And preferably, it should be led by a known quantity; (1) a person with proven abilities to tackle and to swiftly and successfully carry out the proper treatment of all persons adversely affected; (2) with the knowledge and ability to rapidly move huge amounts of ash sludge to a safe and secure location; (3) prepare for liquidation of TVA’s assets; (4) coordinate the smooth transfer of electricity production to other utilities; (5) open up the 17,000 miles of TVA’s federal transmission lines for use by all qualified to use it; (6) transfer all river operations to the Corps of Engineers, all of the TVA-owned surplus land to other government agencies federal, state and local, and; (7) assure that each of the seven states in TVA territory receives back their sovereign lands, returned to the appropriate state jurisdiction.
Presently, we are witnessing the same kind of federal fumbling experienced in the Katrina disaster. And the responses of TVA CEO Tom Kilgore are not very comforting, in essence he is saying “we’ll do better” a theme we’ve heard before, and the result always has been the same – TVA’s way or they’ll fight you to the end.
We cannot have it both ways, one federal government is enough and one of them is not the TVA.
For my suggestions on dealing with the TVA, see my website http://norsworthyopinion.com where also you will find a White Paper suggesting ways to proceed in TVA’s dissolution.
Ernest Norsworthy
Visalia, California
emnorsworthy@earthlink.net