Talks under way on TVA's coal-fired power plants

Talks under way on TVA's coal-fired power plants

Settlement talks began this week in Atlanta as the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Environmental Protection Agency attempted to resolve a legal dispute over cleaning up TVA's coal-fired power plants.

TVA spokesman John Moulton said court rules prohibit him from discussing the mediation, but that talks are "continuing."

TVA was represented this week by staff attorneys; Joe Bynum, executive vice president of TVA's fossil power group; and John Shipp, head of environmental policy and planning for TVA.

Also attending were attorneys and officials from the Justice Department and representatives from the Southern Co. Utility and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, an environmental group.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in June ordered TVA and the EPA to begin mediation and gave the participants 60 days to reach an agreement.

At the time of the ruling, Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said he doubted TVA and EPA officials could reach an agreement through mediation.

TVA sued the EPA over enforcement of Clean Air Act requirements involving repairs to aging power plants. TVA officials said the repairs were routine maintenance and thus did not require the TVA to install costly new air pollution equipment.

The EPA contends TVA and other utilities essentially retrofitted many of the older plants under the guise of routine maintenance.