As the fog of the Tennessee River rises ever so slowly, so does the haze of fighting among federal and state agencies over land and water control of the Tennessee Valley.
Right now, TVA "owns the river", they say. And no one really challenges that. Quietly though, other federal agencies such as the Corps of Engineers, Coast Guard and probably several others in the Interior Department also claim authority rights over the River and its tributaries.
All that TVA claims to do over and above power production is covered by one or more federal or state agencies. Sheer duplication that only adds to TVA's overburdened costs.
There is only one way to change the domination of the federal TVA over millions of lives in the Tennessee Valley.
People have to question why things are the way they are and if you don't like them join with others to begin the sure wave of change in the region.
As you know, I have questioned the very existence of the TVA as being on shaky constitutional grounds. TVA's gross management mistakes should have called for changes many years ago.
The latest fiasco brought out by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on May 21 are the weaknesses in computer security for the whole 80,000 square miles of TVA territory.
Vulnerabilities caused to a great extent by the new management's "centralized and streamlined" control. Nice to have the power of 33,000 megawatts of power sitting on one computer. Nice. But also easier for cyberterrorists to hack into TVA's control systems.
This last huge mistake that trumps by far all of TVA's big miscues of the past led me to call for the resignations of TVA's CEO and the six remaining board members.
At this time, control of the TVA best would be turned over to yet another federal agency, the Department of Energy, until DOE could develop liquidation plans and then to sell off all of TVA's power assets.
It is obvious that TVA is too huge to be managed under one centralized office in Knoxville.
Other states believe they also have "water rights" to some of the Tennessee River and its tributaries now claimed to be the sole province of the TVA.
A mess? Decidedly so. Can it be fixed? YES!
Ernest Norsworthy
emnorsworthy@earthlink.net
http://norsworthyopinion.comhttp://norsworthyattheshoals.blogspot.com