Open Letter to TVA Board:
The word is out that the TVA Board may consider taking away the funding for TVA's energy efficiency programs to pay for the Kingston Coal Ash Disaster.
TVA's proclaimed mission for decades has been cheap power to energize Valley development. TVA's rule of thumb that environmental protection is unaffordable has consequences:
TVA encouraged Tennesseans to build all-electric buildings - both residential and commercial - without regard to energy efficiency. Tennessee is second only to Alabama in the amount of electricity used per person.
TVA consistently resisted environmental regulations and delayed compliance with them through the courts. Without the benefit of regulatory oversight, TVA's decision not to fix the Kingston dredge cell is just an example of its cutting environmental protection corners.
Tennesseans want TVA to be environmentally responsible and a dynamo of energy efficiency. Including the costs of environmental protection, energy efficiency, and renewable energy into the cost of producing power will increase our rates, but our bills will be lower because we will consume less.
Unleashing the power of energy efficiency will allow TVA to reduce its production of coal ash. TVA must keep its energy efficiency and demand response programs on track to help every ratepayer.
TVA needs to heal the environmental damage it has inflicted on the Valley. For an agency in search of a mission, certainly these two - energy efficiency and environmental protection - should keep TVA occupied through the rest of this century.
Louise Gorenflo
BEST Member
Solar Valley Coalition
Cookeville, Tn.