The TVA - Debt, Reports, Propaganda and Benefits - Could be a Love-Hate Relationship in the Southland - A Report

Old TVA logo, Fair Use Rights for news and criticism

A byline to this could be - Never Allow So Called Conservative Politicians in the TVA Area to Say They Support Conservative Values, Ever Again. Every federal elected legislator and 99% of the elected state legislators in the TVA support the socialist organization we call the TVA.

Every so often, about once a quarter the TVA places forward financial statements and follows up with copious propaganda regarding these statements. There is an effort to report and deceive at the same time. Reporting the condition of OUR TVA is important, being deceptive about it is hiding the truth about its failures facilitates a growing governmental turn to corporate fascism.

My Report

Opening Remarks - TVA Debt - There is no doubt that under TVA's current CEO, Bill Johnson, TVA's debt picture has improved, but is the Federal power agency still in trouble, to my way of thinking yes. Any private corporation would have gone under years ago because of the waste, abuse and down right deceit.

There have been two relevant bits of news about TVA's debt which has surfaced within the past week. Those who follow the TVA's financial actions should see a clear pattern which has developed. Instead of news agencies reporting factual events regarding TVA debt they are falling prey to TVA propaganda, this is bothersome. I think, rather than report the truth, they are afraid of TVA's reaction to them, and possibly large financial institutions actions pointed at a civilian news groups accurate reporting .

>By the numbers - Why these conclusions?

>1. Chattanooga Times Free Press article on June 5, 2015: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/business/aroundregion/story/2015/jun/05/privatizing-tvwould-raise-ratesstudy-criticiz/308025/   The article summary -
"A new study commissioned by the Economic Policy Institute suggests that selling or privatizing the Tennessee Valley Authority would raise power costs and hurt economic development and research in TVA's seven-state region...The liberal think tank is not often at odds with President Barack Obama and supportive of the positions of conservative Southern Republicans. But on the question of cutting federal ties to America's biggest government utility, researchers for the Economic Policy Institute are in agreement with Tennessee's GOP lawmakers and against an Obama administration plan to phase out the federal role in the New Deal agency created in 1933 by President Franklin Roosevelt..."

  (a) EPI, Dr. Yudken's comments - ""Over its 80-year existence, the TVA has had an excellent track record in almost every area of its operation, and its success has delivered substantial benefits throughout the Tennessee Valley," Dr. Joel Yudken, an economist and principal of High Road Strategies LLC, concluded in a 44-page study of TVA's finances. "The TVA is addressing its serious financial problems and its new leadership is preserving its capabilities as a system that provides wide-ranging benefits to the region and people it serves.""

 Big claim, "excellent track record," but is it true? The answer is, in my opinion, NO, Yudken's opinion is fallacy mixed with fact. Reason, TVA's debt with interest and commitments exceeds its assets. But, TVA has improved its slide into the financial abyss by approximately $2 billion dollars concerning its bond debt. But is TVA's financial picture a slight of hand accounting trick perpetuated by this so called "liberal think tank" of financial genius which the Time Free Press mentions? My opinion, YEP.

   (b) Nuclear Power is "Cleaner Energy" (pg11) One other important point, in the EPI Yudken report, nuclear energy is placed into the category of clean energy. Falling in lock step with the NEI, Nuclear Enrgy Institute, special interest position. Nuclear power is not clean in any sense of the the word clean or cleaner. Nuclear power has produced and continues to produce millions upon millions of pounds of deadly radioactive waste with no definitive solutions for its disposal.

   (c) Coal vs Nuclear power is a false mantra facilitated by nuclear special interest groups.The replacement of coal fired generation with nuclear power is not a move into cleaner energy. It increases risks of a disaster on the scale of Fukushima Daiichi or greater.
EPI Report - http://media-cdn.timesfreepress.com//news/documents/2015/06/04/862405499801752.pdf

But that is not all, anyone who ignores the fact that TVA has wasted over $20 billion dollars due to unnecessary nuclear power construction, and intentionally ignores that fact in a report, "ain't right."

>2. On June 2, 2015 TVA distributed an 8K Report concerning a change to one of TVA's $1,000,000,000.00, one billion dollar, loans. That change, linked below, states as follows:

"On June 2, 2015, TVA executed an amendment to its $1,000,000,000 credit agreement dated as of June 25, 2012, and amended as of December 12, 2012, with The Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of America, N.A., Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, New York Agency, First Tennessee Bank National Association, Morgan Stanley Bank, N.A., and Toronto Dominion (New York) LLC.

The amendment, among other things,

(1) extended the maturity date of the credit agreement from June 25, 2017, to June 2, 2020,

(2) gave TVA the option to extend the maturity date by one year up to two times, subject to lender approval,

(3) reduced the TVA credit rating threshold that would allow the lenders to stop making credit extensions from lower than A3 or A- to lower than Baa1 or BBB+,

(4) reduced the TVA credit rating threshold that would allow the lenders to terminate their commitments and require the prepayment of loans and other obligations in full and the cash collateralization of all letter of credit obligations from lower than A3 and A- to lower than Baa1 and BBB+, and

(5) reduced the TVA credit rating threshold that would trigger an event of default from lower than Baa2 and BBB to lower than Baa3 and BBB-. A copy of the amendment is filed as Exhibit 10.1." (linked below)

Since when is a billion dollar 3 year credit extension good for rate payers? Is this a sign for things to come, for instance a lowering of the credit rating, again?

>3. When a financial report is issued by the TVA, the TVA immediately follows up with "painting a rosy picture" propaganda article, and the local media complies with the propaganda ministry's request and all fall in lock step with the wonderful flute tunes of the pied piper of propaganda's writings.

Looking at TVA's last 10 K report reveals the seriousness of the problem. Debt + interest exceeds assets.

   April 2015 - This is an article I sent around in April, after Bill Johnson's comments:
CEO Bill Johnson attempts to paint a rosy picture. But when the numbers are crunched there is trouble in the TVA. Bragging about being under the debt cap does not restructure the fact TVA's debt and obligations far exceed assets. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/business/aroundregion/story/2015/apr/23/tva-debt-stays-below-federal-cap/300288/

Crunching the numbers - Here is the real picture based on the data supplied in TVA's 2014 10K Report.

 Total Statutory debt - $23.6 billion; 2014 VIE (Sevier Ponzi scheme, gas plant financing) Debt - $1.3 billion.
 Total interest on both debt catagories $23.7 billion.
 Total bond, VIE debt with interest is $48.6 billion of your dollars.
 TVA's total assets as reflected on their financial statement - $45.6 billion dollars.

Debt with interest exceeds assets, for a normal business that spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E, with or without a capital "T."

Ladies and Gentleman, that is not counting Pension obligations, nuclear decommissioning obligations, leases and future fuel purchases, which is another obligation of approximately $20-25 billion.

Link to TVA Financials, 10K etc - (pg 61, 82 and others) http://www.snl.com/IRWebLinkX/FinancialDocs.aspx?iid=4063363

>4. Why Deceit? TVA is NUCLEAR POWER'S last bastion of support, where future projects may be built. Only a federal agency which is not supported by stock holders may get away with the blatant deceit and irresponsibility demonstrated as a result of nuclear power investments and the massive waste perpetuated by banks, multi-national corporations, bureaucrats and politicians supportive of nuclear power and the multinational nuclear defense industry.

   (a) Building of electric power generation should not result in the building of deceit, ignorance, sickness and death. The replacement of coal fired generation with nuclear power is not acceptable and in no way or form is it clean, cheap or reliable. Only in the TVA area may government and corporations act in unison to literally sicken and kill people without the people revolting against disgusting practices and policies of corporate fascism and its deceitful practices.

  (b) Health -The cancer incidence and death rates are staggering, the nuclear death industry contributes to the declining health of the area (past and present). Regulatory actions do not consider public health, nor the fact that the nuclear industry has and is killing and sickening folks in the TVA region, particularly in East Tennessee. The nuclear industry has dumped hundreds of thousands of pounds of deadly radioactive materials in the past and continues to do so in the present. Public reports on the dumping of highly radioactive nuclear materials are readily available and accessible on the web.

   (c) Defense Mission - nuclear weapons - Nuclear Weaponry in the U.S. is dependent on the TVA, nuclear weapon's support missions include the production of tritium for thermo-nuclear weapons. Tritium is in our water, plants, animals and in us, the people.

A large portion of  East Tennessee is Red and Orange, indicating increased cancer incidence rates over the rest of the nation. Source National Cancer Institute, current statistics reported. http://statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov/map/map.withimage.php?47&001&001&00&0&01&0&1&4&0#results

>5. Very Short Conclusion -  With all of that said, the EPI report makes good points about many positive aspects of TVA's current management and its initial mission to the good people of the Tennessee River Valley. However, the report does not accurately describe or disclose the full picture for decision makers and rate payers.

TVA Board meetings reports, it is important to note, in no case are full financial disclosures given in regards to long term debt interest or a full disclosure of all financial obligations, including pension plan shortfalls and facilities decommissioning costs at TVA Board Meetings. Such is the case within the EPI Report. http://arklite.blogspot.com/search/label/TVA%20Board%20Meeting

TVA's current financial update: June 2015 Investor Update

TVA's full update and presentation lists

http://www.snl.com/irweblinkx/presentations.aspx?iid=4063363

Fair Use for non-profit news reporting “By jove, I think I see Airstrip One, jolly good. The sun over Oceania is rising.”

Feds Charge Watts Bar Worker

                                      Photo-TVA, Watts Bar

Feds charge Watts Bar worker Worker arrested for falsifying documents. "The arrest comes two months after an unrelated Nuclear Regulatory Commission letter cited TVA "errors and omissions" in a Watts Bar project fire protection report and excessive delays in providing information. The letter called on TVA to promptly supply information for its review of an application for a reactor operating license." http://www.oakridger.com/newsnow/x1608496109/Feds-charge-Watts-Bar-worker

Other stories on this blog related to Watts Bar: http://arklite.blogspot.com/2011/02/tva-problems-at-watts-barr-fired.html

TVA Problems at Watts Bar, Fired Project Manager, Large Sums of Money Sent to Iran

TVA, Tennessee Valley Authority, construction photo on the Watts Bar Unit 2. (TVA Contractor Photo)

TVA Photo of Watts Bar Nuclear Plant

TVA fires Watts Bar project manager - timesfreepress.com

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Masoud Bajestani, former Vice President of Nuclear Construction at Watts Bar, TVA bestows the title of Vice President to many senior TVA project managers, has apparently been terminated from his job. The TVA at this point is being very hush, hush about the reasoning's for the termination. Press reports are circulating that Bajestani withdrew $1.5 million from a TVA deferred compensation account and sent much of the money to Iran. In a Chattanooga.com report filed on February the 1st Bajestani is quoted, "...I had this opportunity that I discussed with (wife) to invest some money outside the U.S. and specifically buy some property back in Tehran, Iran. So I decided to withdraw that money and invest it outside the U.S." http://chattanoogan.com/articles/article_193558.asp

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Chattanooga Times Free Press Dave Flessner reports, "TVA Communications Vice President David Mould said Bajestani's departure "was not related to his work on the Watts Bar project." But he declined to discuss why Bajestani was dismissed." http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/jan/30/tva-fires-watts-bar-project-manager/

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In true TVA style conflicting press releases were provided by the TVA as indicated in this AP News release posted in Scottsboro's Daily Sentinel. http://thedailysentinel.com/news/region/article_ccc5d6c8-2e5e-11e0-aa55-001cc4c002e0.html The article in part states, "TVA spokesman Scott Brooks said Tuesday that Bajestani's departure was not related to a Thursday letter from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, first reported by WTVC-TV in Chattanooga, that cites TVA "errors and omissions" in a Watts Bar project fire protection report and excessive delays in providing information."

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WTVC-TV video report of the issue. http://www.newschannel9.com/video/?videoId=773744966001&lineupId=1137849423

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Others are asking questions and display great concern, as they should. Earnest Norworthy asks the question. "Has TVA reported this matter to the NRC, SEC, Homeland Security and the FBI for possible further investigation?" A very valid question, there is concern at the NRC concerning shoddy management at the Watts Bar nuclear facility. http://norsworthyopinion.com/TVAs_latest_nuclear_disaster.aspx

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UPDATE- Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NRC, Letter Dated Jan. 27, 2011 Subject: Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 2, Status of Operating License Review PDF link: http://richmedia.onset.freedom.com/wtvc/lfy7c7-wb2statusoperatinglicense.pdf

Serious issues as to "timeliness and quality" of the required documentation submitted to the NRC for the appropriate licensing. A sloppy TVA Nuclear Division, is not an acceptable trait for managers in assuring the safety of citizens in the TVA operating area.

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UPDATE: February 4, 2011, Article by Anne Paine of The Tennessean. The article begins- "Masoud Bajestani, who until a week ago headed the $2.5 billion nuclear building project at TVA's Watts Bar plant, has, according to court documents, told lies both on personal financial matters and in dealings with a contract employee who reported safety problems on another nuclear project." http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110204/NEWS21/102040381/2275/RSS05

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UPDATE: February 5, 2011, Masoud Bajestani retaliated against workers reporting safety violations in violation of the Federal Whistle Blowers Act. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110205/NEWS11/102050352/Nuke-project-chief-who-left-job-last-week-had-fired-whistle-blower?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Cimg%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cp

TVA Green Power Switch--TVA Inspector General Investigation

Dear TVA Green Power Switch Purchasers,

 

Purchasers of TVA Green Power Switch Power, do you think the extra money you pay goes to purchase so called "Green Power" to your residence? If you think that think again, it does not. Your money goes into, as the IG states, the general mix. Audit findings concerning TVA's "Green Power Switch Program. "Green power purchased or procured by TVA under the Green Power Switch® program is added to the power mix and does not flow directly to consumers who sign up for the program."

The TVA IG goes on to say that folks have been explained this fact many times in several publications. Personally, I have not specifically looked and searched for the "small print" in the Green Power Switch Program. However, nothing I have heard, seen or read CLEARLY states the following explanation: "Our review demonstrates that this fact [purchases are added to the general power mix and does not flow directly to the consumers] is adequately disclosed in the marketing materials we reviewed and was generally understood by the 17 Green Power Switch® participants we surveyed."

Further findings:
>"Three items contained language explaining that renewable energy produced is added to the power mix and is not directly routed to the program participant. >Six items contained a statement that renewable energy produced is added to the power mix. >Forty-one items contained no language explaining that renewable energy produced is added to the power mix or not directly routed to the program participants. >While not all advertising materials directly stated that green power is part of TVA's power mix, they all did direct consumers to learn more about the program from TVA's Green Power Switch® Web site. The Web site states that green power is added to TVA's power mix. In addition, some marketing materials refer consumers to their distributor for additional information.

If you pay for TVA Green Power you are paying for something you do not receive. You receive power just like any other person receives power who pays no extra money. There is no "Green Power" going to any one residence or business. The reason the TVA audit took place by the TVA-OIG was due to complaints. There have also been complaints to the SEC and the FBI accusing fraud on the part of the TVA in their Green Power Switch program.

Think about it, what is "green" for some is not green for others. The money you pay goes for the TVA's purchase of nuclear power! Quote from the report, "by choosing to pay a little more for Green Power Switch, you help advance the technology and increase the amount of electricity generated from cleaner sources."

Remember friends and neighbors, the TVA considers "radioactive nuclear power as CLEAN energy, it is not clean. I have heard many statements from TVA Executives at the TVA quarterly meetings, "nuclear power is clean energy." The nuclear fuels process has been deadly, killing and sickening thousands involved in Uranium fuels enrichment process. ( Source: Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act http://www.hss.energy.gov/healthsafety/fwsp/advocacy/ Poisoned Nuclear workers http://www.wildclearing.com/ice-ages/the-exposed.html )

 

Better Business Bureau Reports nuclear energy is not clean energy. "The “clean air myth” of nuclear power was demolished on May 13, 1999, when the Nuclear Energy Institute’s advertising campaign was deemed “misleading” by the Better Business Bureau. The commercial in question featured a cute owl singing the praises of nuclear power and thanking the NEI for clean air." http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2010/09/nuclear_power_is_not_the_green.html

 

TVA Reference: Memorandum from the Office of the Inspector General February 18, 2010 Kenneth R. Breeden, OCP 1F-NSTFINAL REPORT – AUDIT 2009-12296 – REVIEW OF GREEN POWER MARKETING http://oig.tva.gov/PDF/10rpts/2009-12296.pdf

Silence From TVA Over Coal Waste Sludge Water, Remebering a Disaster, A CHRONICLE OF DECEIT

Fair Use Rights not for profit usage - Knoxville News photo

Kingston, Tn. to Perry Co. Alabama- http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewFreeUse.a

ct?fuid=NzU2MTEyMw

TVA and their contractors hide the truth concerning toxic sludge and contaminated water from the sludge. The TVA uses a multitude of excuses for not disclosing information.

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Why is ADEM, Alabama Department of Environmental Management, and the EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, not demanding answers? They are the regulators, why are they not doing their job.

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The TVA has refused to disclose costs of building nuclear reactors, citing in their Freedom of Information Act reply a commercial exemption. They now refuse to answer important questions about where the contaminated water in the poisonous coal ash sludge is going.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_Fossil_Plant_coal_fly_ash_slurry_spill

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Death follows the Coal Ash Waste: http://blog.locustfork.net/2009/12/26/coal-ash-spill-anniversary-as-forgotten-as-disaster-itself/

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In this January 9, 2009 expose citizens are ticketed by the TVA for taking samples of water and surveying the damage. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/aftermath-tva-coal-ash-spill-get-ticket-for-water-samples-video.php An expose concerning the deceit of the TVA.

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The TVA is one of the most non-accountable, corrupt organizations of the United States Government. Congress refuses to offer any meaningful oversight mainly due to the hundreds of millions of dollars being funneled into PACs, politicians campaign funds etc., by TVA contractors and the nuclear industry. The TVA is contrary to any notion of the Republic as a governmental form, they represent a non-accountable socialist governmental corporate structure within the United States Government complete with their own police force.

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Why would any reasonable person trust the TVA to operate dangerous radioactive power plants after the deceit they have pandered on the public? The TVA is not an open government agency, the TVA makes a mockery out of Open Government.

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3 informative articles from Ernest Norsworthy: To Large to Succeed: http://norsworthyopinion.com/TVAtoolargetosucceed.aspx

Fraud and Incompetent Management: http://norsworthyopinion.com/TVAanothercaseoffraudthieveryorincompetenceall3.aspx

Open Government: http://norsworthyopinion.com/TVAcausingitsowncustomerstorebel.aspx

garrymorgan.icopyright.com

Nu-Start Sees the Light, Bails on TVA

TVA's Bellefonte Units 1 & 2. After stripping of the never completed nuclear plants they are approximately 50% complete. It is estimated that completion will cost between $4-8 Billion (A very conservative estimate.). Recent events have resulted in the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, BREDL, filing a legal action in Federal Court as a result of nuclear licensing violations by the NRC body itself concerning violations of Nuclear Licensing Policy concerning Bellefonte's Units 1 & 2.

Artist's rendition of the 2 proposed AP 1000 Nuclear Plants at Bellefonte.
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Nu-Start has announced they will not participate in the Bellefonte Nuclear Project. This article from the Huntsville Times today. http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/local.ssf?/base/news/1241169332232650.xml&coll=1

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Some important phrases from the article: 1. "The change," it said, "is designed to align industry and regulatory resources with a license application that has specific, near-term construction plans."

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The TVA Act prevents Nu-Start from participating (TVA is not allowed to sell power outside of its service area.) and TVA can not afford half of a reactor much less 4. There are various geological problems with the area.
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These facts plus the Obama administration will soon change the face of the TVA's Board prevents Nu-Start from participating. Nu-Start consists of publicly held stock companies. The Nu-Start entity companies are not going to loose their proverbial buttocks over TVA's hair brain schemes to spend billions of dollars while the TVA has an unmanageable, growing debt situation.
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2. "The switch in designation "doesn't change our plan," TVA spokesman Terry Johnson said Thursday. Building and operating two AP1000 reactors "is still an option for the Bellefonte site," he said."

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Changing their plan? The TVA is in "lala land." TVA is intent on feeding the citizens of Jackson County and the TVA area with copious amounts of propaganda. The TVA's propaganda in conjunction with that from the areas federal, state and in some cases local politicians and bureaucrats will never result in a completed Bellefonte project. Wake up citizens and smell the stench of continued TVA political propaganda! The TVA can not afford 1/2 of a nuclear reactor much less 4 as proposed for Bellefonte. TVA's continuation of the proposed 4 reactor plan for Bellefonte is a continuation of TVA's culture of management deceit.

More Evidence of Deceit from the TVA at the Kingston, Tn. Toxic Waste Spill Site

Fair Use, not for profit news reporting - photo by Knoxville News

Damage and contamination due to TVA's neglect of existing facilities. Citizen's lives destoyed and drinking water contaminated in the Kingston Fossil Fuel Plant disaster due to a waste holding pond dam collapse.

Fair Use Rights not for profit news reporting - Photo by Hurricane Creek Keeper John Waltham - South Wings Aviation.

Evidence of the Widows Creek TVA Fossil Fuel Plant Toxic Waste Spill in January 2009 seen on this aerial photo of Widows Creek. The TVA has not been truthful in this spill nor the Kingston Toxic Waste Pond Dam Collapse.

Fair Use for photo usage, not for profit news reporting Knoxville News photo

Site of the worst Toxic Waste Spill since Love Canal, near Kingston, Tn. TVA has stated the water is safe, according to the Environmental Integrity Project the TVA is deceiving the public.
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Data Reveals Significant Heavy Metal Contamination in Water Samples Downstream of TVA Kingston, Tn. Disaster Site. TVA has repeatedly stated that the water is safe, apparently this is not the case. http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/pub599.cfm Test results, http://kelleycampaigns.com/coalash.html

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The coal ash holding ponds at Widows Creek contain more hazardous wastes than the ones in Kingston, Tn.. http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/pubs/Widows%20Creek%20v%20%20Kingston.pdf None of the waste holding ponds have liners to prevent leakage into underground aquifers. Stevenson, Alabama's water supply is obtained from local wells.

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There is a serious issue of trust concerning the TVA. A question that should be on everyone's mind, can we trust the TVA to operate a nuclear power plant at Bellefonte without deceiving the local population if a radiation leak occurs?

Cenospheres Are Your Friends or How the TVA Deceives the Public

Photo by Hurricane Creek Keeper John Waltham - South Wings Aviation.

Cenospheres, fly ash sludge may be seen along the north shore moving downstream from the Widows Creek hazardous waste spill. TVA water quality update on the spill: http://www.tva.gov/emergency/wc.htm (Update from the Daily Sentinel, Wed., Jan. 14, 2009 http://thedailysentinel.com/story.lasso?ewcd=807a6f0595f13147 )

A silvery gray sludge could be seen next to the shore at Bellefonte Landing Friday, 9 Jan. at 2PM.

Cenospheres and fly ash visible in this photomicrograph of the surface sludge at Bellefonte Landing. The crystalline and dark objects in this photo-micrograph are fly ash particles.
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In this mornings Scottsboro's newspaper, The Daily Sentinel, TVA's latest propaganda efforts are released. "Cenospheres are inert hollow balls of sand like material...are not harmful to the enviroment...materials are used in manufacturing a variety of products such as cements, flooring, epoxy fillers, bowling balls and cosmetics." http://thedailysentinel.com/story.lasso?ewcd=be942f0fc7bbbf6e Makes me want to go down to the river and "waller round" on these little miracles, or maybe not. It is what the TVA is not telling you about these little wonders of the coal combustion process that is the crux of the problem and more evidence of TVA's Culture of Deceit.

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TVA makes it personal. TVA's PR Executive all but called me a liar in Nashville's Tennessean Newspaper, "TVA spokesman John Moulton said he didn't believe that whatever Morgan had pictured in photographs was ash or gypsum from either the Kingston or Widows Creek spills.
"Most of what was released into Widows Creek was water," Moulton said. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090110/GREEN02/901100348 Most was water but Moulton was very wrong concerning the cenospheres and gray sludge 17 miles downstream from Widows Creek at Bellefonte Landing on Friday, Jan. 9 at 2PM.

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TVA's comments on fly ash, "Are there toxic metals in fly ash? Yes, in small concentrations. The metals in fly ash generally will not dissolve in water or go through your skin by touching it.
What are the health effects of coal fly ash? For health effects to occur, coal ash must get inside one’s body (such as through drinking water). Contact with wet coal fly ash does not present a serious health risk. Direct skin contact may cause localized irritation."

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More about cenospheres. A cenosphere is a lightweight, inert, hollow sphere filled with inert air or gas, typically produced as a byproduct of coal combustion at thermal power plants. The color of cenospheres varies from gray to almost white and their density is about 0.4–0.8 g/cm³, which gives them a great buoyancy. The process of burning coal in thermal power plants produces fly ash containing ceramic particles made largely of alumina and silica. These particles form a part of the fly ash produced in the burning process. They are produced at the high temperature of 1,500 to 1,750 degrees Celsius through complicated chemical and physical transformation. Their chemical composition and structure varies considerably depending on the composition of coal that generated them.

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About fly ash. Fly ash is one of the residues generated in the combustion of coal. Fly ash is generally captured from the chimneys of coal-fired power plants, and is one of two types of ash that jointly are known as coal ash; the other, bottom ash, is removed from the bottom of coal furnaces. Depending upon the source and makeup of the coal being burned, the components of fly ash vary considerably, but all fly ash includes substantial amounts of silicon dioxide (SiO2) (both amorphous and crystalline) and calcium oxide (CaO). Toxic constituents include arsenic, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, chromium VI, cobalt, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, thallium, and vanadium, along with dioxins and PAH compounds. Fly ash material solidifies while suspended in the exhaust gases and is collected by electrostatic precipitators or filter bags. Since the particles solidify while suspended in the exhaust gases, fly ash particles are generally spherical in shape and range in size from 0.5 µm to 100 µm. They consist mostly of silicon dioxide (SiO2), which is present in two forms: amorphous, which is rounded and smooth, and crystalline, which is sharp, pointed and hazardous.

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Where you have cenospheres from the coal combustion process you have fly ash and where you have fly ash you have cenospheres. The TVA is not telling the full story of the cenospheres. They want you to think all is well, after all, processed and cleaned cenospheres are used in cosmetics so why the big fuss. Take a look at the toxic substances associated with the cenospheres/fly ash: arsenic (43.4 ppm); barium (806 ppm); beryllium (5 ppm); boron (311 ppm); cadmium (3.4 ppm); chromium (136 ppm); chromium VI (90 ppm); cobalt (35.9 ppm); copper (112 ppm); fluorine (29 ppm); lead (56 ppm); manganese (250 ppm); nickel (77.6 ppm); selenium (7.7 ppm); strontium (775 ppm); thallium (9 ppm); vanadium (252 ppm); and zinc (178 ppm). This is not something I want in the mighty Tennessee River much less my drinking water.

The "Quaint Essential" Move to End the TVA

Why the Tennessee Valley Authority Must Be Reformed or "Why Yankees hate our power."

Update: Mar 29, 2011. Unfortunately the active link to this information has been removed from the web. However, here is a synopsis. Below you will find a Christian Science Monitor article concerning the bloated debt of the TVA due to mismanagement and unnecessary investments into nuclear energy.

"Tennessee Report--Still Draining the Nation" http://www.tnreport.com/2009/09/still-draining-the-nation/

"PRESS CONFERENCE: RESTRUCTURE TVA"


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Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), Senator Jack Reed (R-RI), Rep.

Bob Franks (R-NJ) and the Northeast-Midwest Institute on Tuesday,

September 15, will hold a press conference to discuss pending

appropriation and policy issues facing the Tennessee Valley Authority

and to release RESTRUCTURE TVA: WHY THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY

MUST BE REFORMED. The session was postponed from last week.



The Institute's 54-page monograph explains that the nation's

largest electric utility suffers an enormous $29-billion debt,

mismanagement, and falling political support at the very time that

lawmakers are restructuring the nation's electric utility industry and

transforming the way consumers buy electricity. It also describes

TVA's taxpayer subsidies and exemptions from federal and state laws

and regulations, its role as one of the nation's largest air

polluters, its six-figure bonuses and secret retirement funds for top

executives, and its non-competitive consulting contracts to cronies of

those officials. The report calls for restructuring this outmoded

government agency.

More information: http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2009/0225/p09s01-coop.html

This should be a plain message for the TVA Board and it's executives, do not squander our resources. This should also serve as a warning for citizens of the valley, particularly politicians who have "nuclear tunnel vision." There is a move to end the TVA. Ending the TVA would have a serious negative economical impact on the Tennessee Valley Region of the Southeast. Debt due to expensive nuclear power plants is a sure fire way to end the TVA.

Is that the buzzards of Nu-Start circling. I bet they would love to pick up the pieces of a bankrupted TVA for pennies on the dollar?!

The move in 2010 has been renewed due to deceitful mismangement of the TVA.