Press Mention Chattanooga Times Free Press January 31, 2002
SACE Quoted
TVA cuts funds to fight Clean Air Act
In this mention
The Tennessee Valley Authority ended its $185,000 contract with the National Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, a utility industry group that lobbied against tougher Clean Air Act requirements. The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy praised TVA's decision to stop funding anti-clean-air lobbying efforts, though noted it does not necessarily signal a policy shift. The move comes amid EPA enforcement of pollution control standards for aging coal-fired power plants.
While their withdrawal ... doesn't necessarily reflect a change in TVA's policy, it is a move in the right direction. We never believed TVA should use ratepayer money to undermine clean air protections
Stephen A. Smith
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Full transcript
TV A cuts funds to fight Clean Air Act
BY BILL POOVEY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Tennessee Valley Authority has ended payments to a utility industry group that lobbied to weaken the Clean Air Act, a change hailed by environmentalists Thursday.
TVA ended its contract with the National Electric Reliability Coordinating Council in December, utility officials said. It had paid $185,000 to the group, which hired current national GOP Chairman Marc Racicot and former party chairman Haley Barbour to lobby against tougher air pollution requirements for power plants.
The Knoxville-based Southern Alliance for Clean Energy said in a statement that the Bush administration is "waging a full-scale assault on the Clean Air Act," but the group commended TVA for dropping out of the lobbying efforts.
"While their withdrawal ... doesn't necessarily reflect a change in TVA's policy, it is a move in the right direction. We never believed TVA should use ratepayer money to undermine clean air protections," said Stephen Smith, a spokesman for the environmental group.
John Shipp, general manager of TVA's environmental policy and planning, said TVA ended the contract after deciding its viewpoint had been presented to the Bush administration and federal agencies.
"Our view is that we were looking for a way to get these technical analyses to the decision-makers," Shipp said. "We've gotten our message across."
In May 2001, a coalition of about a dozen power companies — including TVA, Atlanta-based Southern Co. and Duke Energy of Charlotte, N.C. — joined as the National Electric Reliability Coordinating Council to seek changes in an environmental policy called "new source review."
The policy requires utilities such as TVA to upgrade pollution control equipment each time an aging power plant is renovated.
Several years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency ruled that TVA and several other utilities had made substantial improvements to their power plants without obtaining permits and installing state-of-the-art pollution control equipment.
The EPA said TVA's old coal-fired plants, many built in the 1950s, should meet new plant standards for pollution.
Prior to the ruling, power plants built before the 1977 Clean Air Act were not subject to the current standards.
TVA contends it should not have to meet the policy's strict requirements because work performed on the old plants was part of routine maintenance.
Shipp says the environmental alliance makes it "appear to be a simple issue and it is not a simple issue."
He said TVA is doing its best to "find that right balance" between providing reliable electrical service and protecting the environment.
TVA is the country's largest public power producer, serving nearly 8 million people through 159 municipal distributors and electric cooperatives in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina.