TVA plan for focus puts 731 ET jobs at risk

Chairman Craven Crowell, who has been taking the lead in presenting it to Congress.

"Crowell senses mounting opposition from the right and left, so this is 'Crowell's Gamble' to save the agency by cutting it back," Wheeler said.

If Crowell's proposal is adopted and is successful, TVA will be "stronger than it has been since the 1960s," he said. But if the gamble fails, it could be the death of TVA as an entity, he said. "The down side of it is that people could start looking at TVA and say, 'Well, let's dismantle the whole thing.'"

In other developments, two federal agencies that TVA's proposal suggested as likely entities to take over TVA nonpower duties, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Forest Service, said TVA did not consult with them before presenting the proposal to Congress.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokeswoman Donna Strachn said: "We haven't been contacted by TVA. We were as shocked as anybody when we saw that" in the news.

The Corps has been mentioned as an obvious agency to take over management of the Tennessee River's navigation and flood control.

U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Angela Coleman said: "It's a totally new proposal to us and we haven't had any time to seriously consider it."

The Forest Service and National Park Service have been mentioned as agencies that might assume control over the 170,000-acre Land Between The Lakes recreation area on the Tennessee-Kentucky border. The Park Service earlier said the proposal was new to it.

Tennessee Sen. Bill Frist, after reviewing the proposal, called it "a complex and complicated effort" he wants to study more.

More than 500 Knoxville- and Norris federal jobs are at risk by TVA's proposal that Congress take away the agency's nonpower responsibilities so it can focus on the power business and upcoming competition.

Of the roughly 2,000 federally paid TVA workers in nonpower programs, the most, 527, work in the Knoxville-Norris area with 204 in Chattanooga; 398, Muscle Shoals, Ala.; and 107, Land Between The Lakes national recreation area in Tennessee-Kentucky, TVA said Thursday.

TVA has said it is uncertain how many of the employees may be hired by other agencies if Congress agrees to transfer TVA duties for flood control, river navigation and public lands management.

Meanwhile, an environmental group, the Tennessee Valley Energy Reform Coalition in Knoxville, said TVA management was moving too quickly with an idea that has major impact in the region and called for a commission to study TVA's mission.

"This is not a decision that TVA's Board of Directors can make unilaterally," Stephen Smith, the group's executive director, said. "This is a fundamental change in the direction of the agency. We the people need more information before a decision is made."

Also, a University of Tennessee history professor, Dr. Bruce Wheeler, who has written a book about TVA and its Tellico Dam, called the proposal "Crowell's Gamble," referring to TVA.