TVA – FDR’s Folly
May 20, 2009
Everyone hopes to leave some kind of legacy of past good deeds that some day might be remembered.
Unfortunately, the legacy of FDR’s folly, the TVA, will haunt his remembrances forever. You might say that the apex of that folly is with us today.
TVA is in shambles, much of its authority real and supposed has been stripped away. The vainglorious attempt to mix a federal entity and a normal utility corporation has failed miserably.
For decades TVA got a free ride, most other federal agencies avoided challenging it, gave deference to it because of its peculiar structure. I have called the TVA a parallel government because of its differences in mainstream governance.
TVA sets its own rules (is there another federal agency with that authority?) and then enforces those same rules. It’s a closed circle where until recently no one was permitted to enter.
In the latest listing of “The Best Places to Work” in the federal government of the dozens and dozens of every bureau, department and subcomponents in the federal government, the Tennessee Valley Authority is nowhere to be found. It just confirms my suspicions all along that TVA must be part of another federal government.
From the start, TVA was politics-driven as it is today. It is living proof that the federal government, or any level of government for that matter, is a poor choice to run something, something as important as providing electricity for over 8 million people.
My suggestion to Mike Duncan, heir apparent to the TVA board leadership, in his first act as chairman is to resign from the TVA board. And also to suggest that the remaining five members resign too.
They, of course, could stay on at the pleasure of the new president (all board members are political appointees) until suitable replacements arrive. The new board members should stay away as far as possible from the old resigned or termed-out members.
It is they who oversaw the most disastrous era in the history of the TVA. What they have done through their leadership (or lack of leadership skills) requires no tutelage. If TVA is to remain a federal agency, it should be greatly changed in its focus, its mission and in its skills level.
My suggestion is that instead of trying to resuscitate a dying breed of a federal model, that its assets be sold to help pay off its $25 billion debt with billions more on the near horizon.
As it stands now, TVA ratepayers are in hock for the deficit.
Long out of the purview of state public service commissions, governors and elected officials, TVA has wildly spent, grossly mismanaged and thumbed their nose at 8 million citizens in TVA’s 80,000 square-mile territory.
And oh yes, wouldn’t it be interesting to know how much the TVA board members have spent in their part-time capacity since 2006? (In addition to their part-time salaries.)
Ernest Norsworthy
emnorsworthy@earthlink.net
http://norsworthyopinion.com