Press Mention News Sentinel June 11, 2004
SACE Quoted
TVA employees got freebies
In this mention
A TVA Office of Inspector General report found that TVA employees received over $38,000 in gratuities from coal industry and transportation contractors over a 3½-year period. Stephen Smith of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy expressed concern about the interplay between employees, vendors, and coal contracts, calling for congressional inquiry and more thorough investigation. TVA management addressed the violations internally with punishments ranging from verbal warnings to suspensions without pay.
I think that ratepayers should be very concerned about this. I think there should be a congressional inquiry to make sure that both the ratepayers' interests and the companies themselves have been looked into more thoroughly. I have yet to be impressed with any internal action that TVA itself, in sort of self-disciplinary mode, accomplishes.
Stephen A. Smith
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Full transcript
TVA employees got freebies
Associated Press
CHATTANOOGA-Tennessee Valley Authority employees were wined, dined and given free entertainment valued at more than $38,000 by coal industry and transportation contractors over a 3½-year period, a federal office found.
A report by the government utility's Office of Inspector General states one company provided select TVA employees with free tickets to a luxury suite at Tennessee Titans games, with each ticket costing more than $630. Also, one employee received golf games, meals, refreshments and gifts from 15 vendors totaling $5,117.17 during the period examined.
Anne Ferrell, a spokeswoman for TVA Inspector General Richard Moore, said some of the employees involved may have worked in procurement. But "we found no direct influence" between the gratuities and contracts.
Stephen Smith of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, an environmental group, said Thursday that the interplay of employees, vendors and coal contracts worth millions of dollars is cause for concern.
"I think that ratepayers should be very concerned about this," Smith said. "I think there should be a congressional inquiry to make sure that both the ratepayers' interests and the companies themselves have been looked into more thoroughly. I have yet to be impressed with any internal action that TVA itself, in sort of self-disciplinary mode, accomplishes."
Spokesmen for U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the TVA Congressional Caucus, and U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., said the lawmakers had not seen the report and could not comment.
TVA spokesman Gil Francis said the utility's management dealt with the situation internally, with punishments ranging from verbal warnings to suspensions without pay. He said TVA coal contracts are competitively bid and there was no indication of problems with contracts.
He said coal vendors and transportation companies were sent letters detailing TVA ethics guidelines.
In December, Moore's report said that a "judgmental sample" of 10 TVA employees found eight had accepted gratuities such as tickets to sporting events, golf outings and meals in violation of ethics regulations. The violations occurred between Jan. 1, 1999, and mid-2002.
A censored copy of the investigation was provided to the Chattanooga Times Free Press by TVA more than five months after the report was requested. The request was prompted by a 2003 semiannual summary of inspector general activity.