Rivers quits TVA

The Knoxville News-Sentinel
9/19/87

Rivers
quits
TVA
Environmental official hints lack of support
by LAURA SIMMONS
News-Sentinel staff writer

TVA's controversial environmental quality director, Martin Rivers, resigned suddenly Tuesday, saying the agency's leadership has reacted defensively to his advice.

"The agency has become defensive and has been saying, 'I can't afford to be doing these things (to improve the environment), instead of going on the offensive and solidifying support' to get the resources needed for environmental projects, Rivers said.

He has been named executive vice president of the Air Pollution Control Association in Pittsburgh, an international organization for air pollution and hazardous waste experts.

Rivers said he had been negotiating with the association since May and that he intends to leave TVA by mid-October.

Environmentalists praised Rivers' efforts at the agency and expressed concern over TVA's future course on environmental issues in his absence.

"I leave TVA with mixed emotions," Rivers said. "There are such great opportunities and potential for the agency."

He hinted — and a staff member confirmed — that he was not getting enough support from upper level management.

Rivers pointed to a 1986 report prepared by his staff on the state of the environment in the Tennessee Valley. A final draft of the report has been ready for months but has become mired in the layers of TVA bureaucracy.

Upper level management at the agency reacted defensively to the report, Rivers said.

"The report's intent was to provide options to pursue and to evaluate, not to downgrade the agency," he said.

Rivers is a former head of the Canadian government's program on air pollution. He was hired in 1984 by former TVA Chairman S. David Freeman to direct TVA's environmental quality staff.

In his job, Rivers has had frequent run-ins with TVA's Office of Power and Office of Nuclear Power, both of which have a major impact on the environment.

TVA Chairman Charles Dean Jr. said Tuesday, "He did the job he was assigned to do, in that he was quick to point out, when we were doing something, or considering doing something, that would degrade the environment."

"He was always diplomatic enough to make his points without agitating everybody," Dean said.

"Martin and I have always gotten along real well," Dean said. "He's tough and he was doing what he was supposed to do, which is being an environmental advocate. I heard he got an offer he just couldn't turn down."

Dean and Rivers' immediate boss, Bill Bond, manager of the Office of Natural Resources and Economic Development, said Rivers' resignation caught them by surprise.

"I'm shocked, surprised and disappointed," Bond said.

He said Rivers gave no indication that he was dissatisfied with TVA when he turned in his resignation.

"He said it was a difficult decision to make because he was having fun doing what he was doing here," Bond said.

"There have been differences of opinion on how to deal with different environmental issues, but ... that comes with the territory. Whoever takes his job will have to deal with the same thing," he said.

Despite the agency's defensive-ness, Rivers said he believes he has made an impact at TVA.

"I at least got people's attention focused on the issues," he said.

He cited as his main achievement at the agency: "Progress in trying to institutionalize a process for ensuring that the agency does the right thing environmentally."

That process will go into effect this fall. Instead of the environmental quality staff acting in an adversarial role, it will work with TVA's office managers to set environmental goals and monitor the progress toward those goals.

"There's no guarantee the agency will do what is best for the environment, but the opportunities will be put before them," Rivers said. "What's best for the environment may be too expensive."

During his four years at TVA, Rivers garnered the support of many environmentalists.

However, Rivers and his staff "ran into a number of obstacles," notably opposition from the Office of Power and the Office of Nuclear Power in air and water quality issues, Rivkin said.

Jim Price, Sierra Club Southeastern field representative, said, "I'm sorry to hear about it. 'I feel like Martin's always tried to be a voice for the environment among the TVA bureaucracy.'

"It's going to be very important that the conservation community play an important role in having a voice in who Martin Rivers' successor will be," Price added.

However, Noel Beck, president of the Muscle Shoals, Ala., chapter of the Alabama Conservancy, said Rivers was ineffective because he did not work well with other TVA managers.

"I felt he never learned to work through the TVA system," said Beck, who has dealt closely with TVA's environmental quality staff for several years.

She echoed Price's concern that environmentalists should play a role in choosing Rivers' successor.

Mark Siegel, executive director of the Tennessee Valley Energy Coalition, a consumer and environmental advocacy group, said, "We hope his leaving does not mean any further turning away in TVA's role in protecting the environment."

Bond said he has asked Rivers for recommendations on naming a successor.