Ablogination

Now, don’t think for one second that we are anti-TVA. The Tennessee Valley Authority is a great institution without which many of us may still be stump jumpin’ barefoot hillbillies living off the land, losing our teeth at 20 and dying at 35.

As with any machine in the system, the machine is only as good as those who run it. In the case of the Harriman, TN Coal Ash Disaster, the operator is to blame.

The “operator” in this case is Tom Kilgore, CEO, and Inspector General, Richard Moore.
We have a few questions:

What was the spill contingency plan? Did one even exist? Is that standard procedure, I mean, isn’t there supposed to be a plan?
When was the retaining wall last inspected? Did TVA just figure it would hold unlimited amounts of sludge for all eternity?
Who else is ultimately responsible for the lack of oversight that has allowed a preventable disaster to occur?
There is a need for a Federal Investigation. There may be a criminal issue involved and as it happens, Greenpeace is calling for exactly that. A criminal investigation.

The attempts by TVA to minimize the potentially deadly toxic aspects of the disaster are both expected and scary. Under Kilgore, a Republican, TVA’s first thought was to TVA. To keeping things quiet so’s not to lose face.
According to an AP article:

HARRIMAN, Tenn. (AP) – A southern environmental group wants authorities to issue stronger warnings about the danger a major coal ash spill in eastern Tennessee poses to residents.

State environmental officials have said there is no indication of immediate risk if residents come in contact with the mixture of coal fly ash and water.

But the executive director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy disagrees.

Stephen Smith says officials should encourage residents to avoid contact with the muck coating their neighborhood in Harriman, about 35 miles west of Knoxville.

State Environmental Officials are evidently idiots. Or liars. Go ahead, “officials", feed one of these to your family…

Clinch River: h/t ‘coma

The danger is real and is a mid to long term threat. Coal Ash is 100 times more radioactive than Nuclear Waste. Heavy particles sink. They sink into the ground and contaminate water and soil. Granted it’s not Hiroshima or Chernobyl, but contaminated water is contaminated water. The point is this didn’t have to happen. No oversight, no inspections?
Obviously somebody missed, or ignored, something.

In the mean time, Tom Kilgore is getting some of those GM type raises to the tune of 500′000 while our rates skyrocket…

From Knoxnews:

NASHVILLE - The nation’s biggest public utility is raising its chief executive’s compensation by nearly a half million dollars, a month after its largest electric rate increase in three decades took effect.

Tennessee Valley Authority President and CEO Tom Kilgore told board members meeting Thursday in Nashville that the rate could go down in January because fuel costs have decreased. He didn’t say how much the rate may decrease.

At the meeting, board members approved raising Kilgore’s bonus-driven compensation package from a potential $2.7 million to $3.27 million, effective the next fiscal year.

Kilgore’s base salary of $650,000 has remained the same since he became CEO in 2006. He said after the meeting that he would not decline the board’s offer to raise it to $850,000.

On Oct. 1, the TVA put a 20 percent electricity rate increase into effect, raising average residential bills by $15.80 to $19.80 a month. It’s the TVA’s biggest rate boost since 1974 and its second this year, following a 7 percent increase in April - all because of ballooning costs for fuel and purchased power.

It seems to us that Mr. Kilgore isn’t worth the money. Nor is Mr. Moore’s inspecting getting the job done.
It’s time for Kilgore to step down. No raise. Just go.

Tom Kilgore

Then we can give President Obama the opportunity to appoint a new board if needed and try to fix what’s so obviously wrong with TVA… Greed, ignorance, incompetence.

We need a system to keep our environment pristine, that is TVA’s job. Right now, under Kilgore, they’re doing exactly the opposite.
We see the exact same type of mismanagement at TVA as we’ve seen at GM, Wall Street, Enron. The state of Tennessee cannot afford to let this incompetence snowball into something even more disastrous in the future.
And if something isn’t done, it will.

Newscoma
Crone Speaks