Two environmental groups protest pollution by TVA's coal-fired plants

Two environmental groups protest
pollution by TVA's coal-fired plants

By Jennifer Lawson
News-Sentinel staff writer

Two environmental groups erected an inflatable power plant surrounded by an inflatable White House in downtown Knoxville's Market Square Thursday to demonstrate what they claim is the occupation of the nation's capital by the coal-fired utility industry.

Members of the Tennessee Clean Air Task Force and Clean the Air, the National Campaign Against Dirty Power have spent the summer traveling to the locations of what they call "the oldest, dirtiest, coal-burning power plants." On Wednesday, the group was in Nashville, and it planned to be in Birmingham, Ala., today.

"We are very concerned about a couple of things," said Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a member organization of the task force. "We're very concerned that the Bush/Cheney administration is talking about rolling back the Clean Air Act and that TVA has joined with a very powerful group."

The environmental groups came with a letter asking TVA to withdraw from the Washington, D.C.-based Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, which they characterize as an industry front group. The letter was signed by 11 environmental, health or social justice groups including The American Lung Association, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and the Memphis Audubon Society.

Knoxville physician Donald Ellenburg, who is also president of the Mideast Regional Lung Association, said he spoke on behalf of the 500 Tennesseans who die each year from lung disorders and "have no voices due to their early deaths."

Vesna Plakanis and her husband, Erik Plakanis, run a hiking guide service in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. She told the gathering of a dozen or so people that she's had to cancel hikes because of the dangerous ozone level.

"I've talked people out of doing their trip because of ozone, which is a detriment to my business, but I feel a moral responsibility to let people know what they're in for."

TVA spokeswoman Barbara Martocci said TVA is not asking the EPA to relax any of its requirements. "We meet all EPA clean air requirements," she said.

The letter accused TVA of "joining some of the most egregious polluters in the industry."

"The original and fundamental mission of the Tennessee Valley Authority is to improve the lives of those living in the Tennessee Valley," the letter reads. "The use of ratepayer dollars to undermine the very protections established in the Clean Air Act that ensure the health and environment of citizens in the valley is perverse."

John Shipp, TVA's general manager of environmental policy and planning, countered that TVA has directed that none of its $15,000-a-month payment to the ERCC be used for lobbying efforts.

"Our involvement has been to provide technical information to that group," Shipp said. TVA officials believe it's important that Washington policy makers understand that the utility has not modified its old pre-Clean Air Act plants to emit more pollution.

"All we've done is maintain them," Shipp said. "When things broke, we fixed things."

Shipp also said the data show that ozone levels in the Smoky Mountain region have gotten better in the last three years, not worse. TVA has installed $1 billion worth of emission-controlling devices on 25 coal-burning units that are expected to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 70 to 75 percent by 2005 and sulfur dioxide by 80 percent.

"We have done that to protect the public health, and Steve's (Smith) right, that is our mission," Shipp said.

Jennifer Lawson may be reached at 865-342-6316 or lawson@knews.com.