Judge orders TVA to move mountain of coal ash waste at Gallatin Steam Plant
U.S. District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw of Nashville has ordered the Tennessee Valley Authority to excavate and relocate a mountain of coal ash accumulated over decades at its Gallatin Steam plant, reports WPLN.
Crenshaw said in his order, issued Friday and resolving a lawsuit brought by environmental groups, that TVA’s construction of an unlined ash waste pond in porous terrain, as the case in Gallatin, risks leakage into the neighboring Cumberland River. Because the cost of moving the waste will be so high, he did not order TVA to pay any penalties.
TVA finds arsenic, other toxins in ground water beneath Memphis plant
The Tennessee Valley Authority has reported finding high levels of arsenic and other toxins in ground water underlying a Southwest Memphis power plant where thousands of tons of coal ash are impounded, reports The Commercial Appeal.
The arsenic, measured at levels more than 300 times the federal drinking-water standard, was discovered in monitoring wells at the Allen Fossil Plant. Excessive amounts of lead also showed up in the 50-foot-deep wells that were installed to check for any pollution emanating from ponds containing ash and boiler slag generated by burning coal.
The tainted ground water lies within a half-mile of where TVA recently drilled five 650-foot-deep wells into the Memphis Sand aquifer, the source of local drinking water, from which it plans to pump 3.5 million gallons daily to cool a natural gas-fueled power plant under construction. Local scientists and environmentalists had opposed the wells, saying the pumping could pull contaminants into the Memphis Sand.
However, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation officials say they believe the pollution is restricted to the upper-most aquifer and does not pose a threat to the much deeper Memphis Sand.
“We are confident the contaminants found in TVA wells at the Allen Fossil Plant are not impacting drinking water. Out of an abundance of caution, we have requested Memphis Light, Gas and Water (Division) to sample its treated water in order to give that assurance to customers,” TDEC spokesman Eric Ward said in an email.
Trump reported unlikely to nominate new TVA board members until September
Tennessee U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker have submitted recommendations to President Trump for filling five vacancies on the Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors, Corker tells Michael Collins. The senators’ suggestions aren’t provided, but there’s a rundown on some names mentioned otherwise.
State Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge, confirmed that he’s interested. (Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston, was interested earlier, but his withdrawn his name from consideration – previous post (HERE).
“Senator Alexander and I submitted our recommendations to the White House earlier this year,” Corker said. “We remain in close contact with the administration and have urged them to make nominations to fill out the board very soon.”
…Knoxville attorney Jeff Hagood, Oak Ridge National Laboratory executive Jeff Smith and former Virginia state Sen. William C. Wampler – the nephew of former U.S. Sen. Howard Baker and the son of a former Republican congressman – also have been in touch with Congress members about serving on the board.
Yager withdraws as candidate for nomination to TVA board
In a letter to U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, state Sen. Ken Yager has withdrawn from consideration for nomination to the TVA Board of Directors by President Trump.
There had been some question raised as to whether a state senator could legally sit on the TVA board without resigning as a legislator. Yager doesn’t address that specifically in his letter, but says he has decided that “priority attention” should go to his legislative duties, which include chairing both the Senate State and Local Government Committee and the joint House-Senate Fiscal Review Committee.
TVA to cut spending, employees under Trump budget plan
The Tennessee Valley Authority’s preliminary budget plan for fiscal 2018, unveiled Tuesday by the Trump White House, projects the agency will trim its capital spending next year by $677 million, cut its operating expenses by $263 million and trim its staff by another 316 employees compared with the current year.
Further from the Times Free Press:
Fed budget deal has record Corps of Engineers funding; $19M for Chickamauga Lock
News release from Sen. Lamar Alexander
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 1, 2017 – U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, and U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), vice chairman of the House Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, today announced that the fiscal year 2017 Omnibus Appropriations bill provides $6.038 billion to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – a record funding level in a regular appropriations bill – allowing up to $19.3 million to continue construction of Chickamauga Lock.
Revised Haslam budget pays TVA $11.8M to keep Ocoee River rafting afloat
The state will provide $11.8 million to TVA to keep the Ocoee River rafting industry afloat for the next 20 years under the newly-revised version of Gov. Bill Haslam’s state budget for the coming fiscal year, reports the Times-Free Press.
The state money will reimburse TVA for the cost of power lost when the Polk County river flows freely during the spring, summer and early fall, allowing whitewater rafting operations. Otherwise, TVA diverts the river flow into a plume for electric power generation.
“It’s a huge win for Southeast Tennessee,” said Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, who along with Rep. Dan Howell, R-Georgetown, have been working with the whitewater industry and their representatives, Haslam, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, TVA, the U.S. Forest Service and others to come to an agreement.
Bell and Howell have legislation (HB74) moving in the General Assembly to create a new type of water authority, the Ocoee River Recreation and Economic Development Fund, to support recreational water releases on the Ocoee.
The new entity would be overseen by an 11-member board and all fees currently paid by whitewater rafting customers to TVA would go into the fund.
Note: TVA now receives funds to repay for loss of power generation through a fee tacked onto each ticket sold by rafting operations, but an agreement on the matter expires in 2018. Under the new deal, TVA gets its money up front, the new development fund gets the fees (expected to be about $4 per ticket) and repays the state over a period of years.
Sen. Yager eyed for appointment to TVA board
State Sen. Ken Yager is being considered for appointment to the TVA Board of Directors. The Kingston Republican says he finds the prospect “flattering” and would be inclined to accept to enhance the viewpoint of electricity ratepayers if President Donald Trump ultimately nominates him for the position.
Lamar trying to micromanage TVA?
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander says he’s just exercising his congressional oversight power in his latest attack on wind-powered electricity generation, but Michael Colllins reports that a clean energy advocacy group says he’s trying to micromanage the Tennessee Valley Authority from Washington.
For nearly 12 minutes (in a Senate floor speech Wednesday), the Maryville Republican spoke out against a Texas company’s plans to build a $2 billion, 700-mile transmission line that would bring Oklahoma wind power across Arkansas to Memphis.
TVA gets new board chairman
Memphis accountant V. Lynn Evans was unanimously elected Thursday as chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority, reports the Times-Free Press.
Evans, who was appointed to the TVA board four years ago, is the first African-American to serve as chair in TVA’s 83-year history. She is also the first female and first Memphian to chair the board.
“I am honored that my fellow board members have confidence in my abilities to serve as chair,” Evans said in a statement today. “TVA has made great strides in the past four years to improve its financial and operational performance. I look forward to our continuous efforts to set strategic priorities and drive for strong results, which benefit all of the people of the Tennessee Valley.”
