TVA critic misses sign-up cutoff, stopped from speaking to board

By Jerry Dean · News-Sentinel

In this mention

Stephen A. Smith, director of the Tennessee Valley Energy Reform Coalition, was escorted out of a TVA board meeting in Tullahoma after missing a three-minute registration deadline to speak during the public listening session. Smith, a frequent TVA critic, had intended to question the board about proposed budget cuts and the agency's Southeastern Power Administration hydropower assets. The incident highlights tensions between TVA's enforcement of procedural rules and public access to board meetings.

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TVA critic misses sign-up cutoff,
stopped from speaking to board

By Jerry Dean
News-Sentinel business writer

TULLAHOMA — Rules are rules and must be enforced.

That's what the TVA board decided here Wednesday, even if strictly enforcing those rules affects the public's ability to speak openly at their board meetings.

When Stephen A. Smith, a frequent critic who directs the Tennessee Valley Energy Reform Coalition and ran for Congress last year, tried Wednesday to address the board, TVA Chairman Craven Crowell had the agency's police escort Smith from Motlow State Community College's auditorium.

Smith, a licensed pilot, said his flight was delayed to Tullahoma's airport, causing him to miss by three minutes the board's 10 a.m. deadline for registering to speak at the "public listening" session.

Only Gilbert Spencer met that deadline, TVA spokesman Gil Francis said. So after Spencer asked how proposed TVA budget cuts might affect nearby Arnold Air Force Base, Crowell adjourned the session.

As Smith insisted on speaking, TVA police flanked him and then escorted him out the door. Crowell later said the board could not tolerate "disruptions." TVA Director Bill Kennoy said Smith had often spoken at meetings, exceeding allotted time. Kennoy joked that Smith probably has spoken more than the three directors combined.

Smith said he sought to ask the board what would become of its Southeastern Power Administration hydropower assets if TVA, as Crowell suggests, ends its $106 million subsidy by 1999.

Smith wrote U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno on Wednesday, asking that the Justice Department investigate TVA's board for alleged violations of the 1933 TVA Act. Board members, he said, were "losing touch" with "the broader TVA mission they are sworn to uphold."

TVA earlier asked Reno to investigate five private utilities for alleged antitrust law violations in conspiring to influence TVA's role in a deregulated industry. But Smith said TVA itself needs investigation for deserting its mission of protecting Tennessee Valley resources, in favor of running the nation's largest power corporation.

Smith said TVA's power side "overshadows and marginalizes the agency's ability to perform its (stewardship) role." And he again called for an "independent Policy Review Commission to review ... functions of TVA and make recommendations to Congress."

Three board members, Smith said, "accountable to no person, agency or institution, should not be allowed to determine the fate of 8 million people."

The board, on one of its frequent road trips away from its Knoxville headquarters, met in Tullahoma to congratulate its distributor, the Tullahoma Utilities Board, on completing its 50th year of service to the area.

The board also:

Heard Greg W. Lowe of TVA Water Resources describe a leak in earthen fill at Tims Ford Dam, near Tullahoma. The leak poses no public safety threat and should be repaired this autumn.
Approved a $75 million contract for electrical supplies from the six-firm Electrical Supply Alliance; a $6.3 million contract to Energy and Environmental Research Corp. for upgrading Allen Fossil Plant; and a $150 million contract with Voith Hydro to upgrade 88 TVA hydro units.