Comments on TVA’s 2007 draft strategic plan

In the discussion of a new strategic plan, TVA stands at a crossroads. Down one path, the going is easy… at least for a while. Just before that easy path dips below the horizon, we can just see the path gets much more difficult. Down another path, the going starts out difficult, at least for a while. There are problems to solve and work to be done. But we can see that it gets better, much better. Which will you take? The short-term “easy” path? Or the more difficult path with a better long-term outcome? The direction you take now will likely affect generations of valley residents.

TVA has proven in the past that it can be an effective leader in the electric power industry. And I believe it is uniquely empowered to impact the residents of the Tennessee Valley. That is why I write to you today.

I believe you should amend the draft strategic plan to reassert TVA’s leadership in efficiency and conservation. TVA’s commitment to efficiency and conservation was once unparalleled. These efforts not only alleviated the need for new generation and transmission, but also made our businesses more competitive. Sadly, during the excesses of the 1990’s, that commitment waned and much of the rest of the world has passed us by. This is a great opportunity for TVA. The most abundant source of energy is available today. It is the wasted energy in the valley’s homes, businesses, and industries and TVA was once the expert at extracting this energy. It should do it again.

I believe you should amend the draft strategic plan to assert a leadership role for TVA in renewable energy. Programs such as Green Power Switch and Generation Partners are steps in the right direction. However, they are largely programs from the last millennium and are not the complete answers to implementing renewable energy. TVA should become the leader by raising renewables into the double-digit percentage range of the generation mix. Given the growing awareness and commitment of individuals, corporations, and an increasingly eco-friendly Congress, it is simply not wise to do otherwise. When the largest corporation in the world (Exxon Mobil) is working on crafting carbon regulations, TVA should be getting serious about renewables. Nuclear energy is simply not the answer to our future generation needs. Operation may be cleaner, but the complete cycle is as dirty as fossil fuels.

I believe you should amend the draft strategic plan to assert a leadership role for TVA in environmental stewardship. As a board, you have already taken a step in this direction by preserving shoreline along TVA’s lakes. I applaud you for that decision. You can do more.

• The mountaintop removal process for coal mining is a TVA problem.  TVA is buying that coal and burning it in its fossil fuel plants.
• Long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel is a TVA problem.
• TVA’s fossil fuel emissions within legal limits that are damaging air quality and plant life in Appalachia and North Carolina is a TVA problem.

They are all of our problems.
I suggest TVA needs to start answering some questions like:

• How the costs of the lawsuit over air quality with North Carolina could drastically affect rates in the future? What about the damage to the environment?
• What is the cost of buying coal from mining operations that cause accidents like that of the coal slurry spill in Martin County, Kentucky?
• What is the cost of buying coal extracted by leveling a mountain?
• What is the cost of long term storage of spent nuclear fuel on our environment and our taxpayers?

One way TVA can become a leader is by exercising its purchasing muscle in the marketplace to end questionable coal mining practices.

In summary, you should amend the strategic plan to assert TVA’s leadership in efficiency and conservation, in renewable energy, and in environmental stewardship.

I have had the pleasure of speaking with a number of you over the last year about TVA’s expansion of its transmission system into our peaceful country communities. For some of you, this discussion is very real and present as TVA informed you of its decision to seek your property. Others of you have luckily dodged that bullet and have moved on to living your lives.

I am writing to you today to challenge you to affect change on TVA. Until May 9, 2007, TVA is accepting public comments on its draft strategic plan on its website. A strategic plan is a lot like a retirement plan. We all want to retire someday, and we all have an idea of when we’d like to retire, where we’d like to live and how we’d like to live our lives once we get there. To achieve that plan, we have to allocate our resources appropriately between now and then. That’s very similar to the strategic plan that TVA’s Board of Directors is developing right now. They’re charting the course for their future.

TVA was the leader in energy efficiency and conservation in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. In the 1990’s however, that changed and TVA’s policy on efficiency largely reverted to the early 1970’s . And in the 1990’s Middle Tennessee began to see building like we’ve never seen before, continuing right up to present day. Unfortunately, that building was done to efficiency standards of long ago. A lot has changed. This massive building phase in Middle Tennessee without energy efficiency standards, programs, and incentives keeping pace has resulted in TVA seeking expansion of its transmission system into our communities.

I would encourage each of you to spend some time reading the draft strategic plan (links are below) and provide comment to TVA’s Board of Directors. I think as you examine the document, you will see TVA has placed very little emphasis on energy efficiency and on the environment. If you agree, be sure to tell them.

How will this change things? The new board is receptive to hearing what we have to say. One need only look to a decision they recently made virtually ending the sale of its public property for private development, largely due to public outcry. If they decide to put a stronger emphasis on efficiency and conservation, it might have an impact on the project in our area. And it will definitely help ensure that other communities have to deal with this less and less.

But Bryan, TVA passed over my property. I don’t have the time and I just want to live my life. That’s fine and I respect that. But remember this: one of the reasons TVA decided to locate this project in our community was for the vast opportunity for expansion. Which means if you this project doesn’t place a transmission line on your property in the next 3 years, you just might have one in 5 years.

TVA’s draft strategic plan is at http://www.tva.gov/stratplan/
Comment on it at http://www.tva.gov/stratplan/comments.htm
and remember, the deadline is May 9.

From the Tennessean 9/13/2006
TVA settles on site for new substation in Rutherford County

By CLAY CAREY
Staff Writer

The Tennessee Valley Authority has identified a site in rural southwest Rutherford County for a new high-power electric substation.

A 500-kilovolt substation will be built on Coleman Hill Road, about four miles east of U.S. Alternate 31/41, TVA said in a press release.

TVA has said the new station, which could require between 50 and 60 acres, is needed in order to keep up with booming energy demands in Rutherford, Williamson and Davidson counties. Without it, the power provider had said electricity demands will overwhelm the existing power transmission system by the summer of 2010. Power use in the area has increased by an average of 3.5 percent a year.

The project will also include about 30 miles of new transmission lines on existing TVA right of way, as well as 18 miles on new right of way.

Several possible sites for the substation in Rutherford County near Eagleville were studied, TVA said. Several residents in the area organized to oppose the construction of the substation earlier this year.

TVA said construction on the new substation is scheduled to begin in the winter of 2007. It should be finished by the spring of 2010.

The Daily News Journal
Originally published 5/22/2006

TVA should consider old battery factory site

To the editor,

I don’t believe that TVA looked very hard for other sites for their substation. There is an old site off of U.S. Highway 31 Alt between Kirkland and College Grove that was once a battery reclaiming factory (General Smelting) that has been closed for several years that TVA could buy, and it would not be taking good farm land and people’s livelihood away.

Well, I guess they didn’t consider this site because it is in Williamson County! Maybe someone at The Daily News Journal would inform these people about this site and ask why they haven’t looked at it. This would put land to use that can’t be otherwise used and it isn’t but a few miles to state Route 840.

Charles Holden
North Cove

This is an independent study commissioned by the Harpeth River Watershed Association and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy in 2002. The study concludes that energy conservation measures could reduce overall power consumption in Williamson County by between 13% and 23% and reduce the annual rate of load growth from 3.5% to between 0.8% to 1.6%.TVA still hasn’t heard this message. Make your voice heard!
Click here to read the study

The Daily News Journal
Originally published May 14, 2006

Health concerns a factor in resisting TVA substation
Leukemia among possible issues with electric magnetic fields
By MARY REEVES
Gannett/Tennessee

While many Eagleville residents are concerned about the loss of prime farmland or their homes, there are other concerns associated with the potential 500-kilovolt substation TVA plans to build there, especially health concerns.

“Some of the literature … pointed out that there is an increase in leukemia with power lines,” said Lisa Matson of Rockvale. “There is a link between cancer and electromagnetic fields, and my concern is they are going to put this directly behind the school.”

Electric and magnetic fields are generated by all sorts of power sources, from nature’s thunderstorms to the office photocopier. With man-made power sources, the electrical fields result from the energizing of the wiring, and the magnetic fields result from the flow of power (current) as it serves the load being applied. “EMF” refers to electric and magnetic fields and “ELF” refers to extremely low frequency, the sort found in the transmission power lines.

Since America’s use of power surged in the late 1950s, studies have been done on the effects of high voltage lines on the environment, but other than accidental electrocutions, it appears the magnetic fields may be the culprit of the health concerns.

“Although a cause-and-effect relationship has not been established, several expert panels have concluded that higher rates of childhood leukemia are statistically associated with higher levels of magnetic fields in homes,” stated a report of the Electric Power Research Institute, which is conducting long-term multidisciplinary EMF research through major universities, laboratories and consulting organizations.

Matson, like many concerned with the proposed substation, had found information about the possible links between childhood leukemia and magnetic fields at www.poweroutrage.com, a Web site devoted to fighting the TVA plan.

Findings of the EMF RAPID Program (Electric and Magnetic Fields Research and Public Information Dissemination) completed in 1998 agree that there seems to be a link between proximity to EMF and increased rates of childhood leukemia, and, in adults who work in the electric industry, increased rate of adult CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia), which is a different disease.

The EMF RAPID program was conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy. Although it was primarily funded by the government to comply with the Energy Policy Act, it was also funded by utility companies.

The Executive Summary of the EMF RAPID report stated : “The scientific evidence suggesting that ELF-EMF exposures pose any health risk is weak. The strongest evidence for health effects comes from associations observed in human populations with two forms of cancer: childhood leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia in occupationally exposed adults.”

The problem was, the evidence was epidemiological — that is, it showed an association between magnetic fields and in increase in incidents, but no cause-and-effect relationship could be recreated in the laboratory.

The RAPID report also indicated that “interface from EMF can affect various medical devices, including cardiac pacemakers and implantable defibrillators.”

In the summary, the working group of scientists and other experts concluded that “ELF EMF are possibly carcinogenic to humans.”

The report stated there was “inadequate evidence” that EMF ELF caused Alzheimer’s, ALS, breast cancer, suicide and depression, adverse effects on pregnancies and other health concerns. The study did find, however, that “exposure to electric and magnetic fields affects bone repair and adaptation.”

Power substations and powerlines are not the only source for ELF EMF, however. According to lessemf.com, “2.5 mG is the generally accepted limit of ELF magnetic field exposure, but no one tells you that the average hair dryer, vacuum cleaner, or can opener you use emits and amazing 300 mG or more.”

Another concern, one voiced the Vaughn family in Eagleville, who produce organically grown animals and crops for human consumption, was the effect the ELF EMF may have on their produce, and on those who consume the produce.

“Nobody’s ever really said anything about that,” said Pettus Read with the Tennessee Farm Bureau about the effect on plants. “We’ve had soybean fields and such under these powerlines. We’ve never had any complaints.”

Read said he didn’t believe the amount of ELF EMF created at that level would have an adverse affect on the plants, but said he did not know for sure and was not aware of any studies.

“The biggest complaint we’ve had is losing the farm land,” he added.

Roger Sparry, TVA manager of siting and environmental engineer, said that while there has been some epidemiological evidence between the possibility to ELF EMF and some cancers, he, too, had heard of no negative effects on plants.

“I’ve never heard of any reports of it directly affecting plants,” he said.

The Daily News Journal
Originally published May 14, 2006

TVA: Power lines could overload by 2011
BY MARY REEVES
Gannett/Tennessee

Rapid growth in Rutherford County is not only placing a strain on the highway and schools – it’s draining the power lines as well.

By 2011, TVA estimates many of the transmission lines serving Rutherford and Williamson counties will be overloaded. In order to have additional power sources ready for the influx of customers by that time, TVA has plans to start building a new substation now – in Rutherford County.

Rutherford and neighboring Williamson are two of the state’s fastest-growing counties. Since 1990, their combined population has grown by approximately 46 percent, U.S. Census figures show. With residential construction booming, the demand for power has increased an average of 3.5 percent annually, TVA says.

Since last summer, three alternatives have been considered, including upgrading the Pinhook substation, located between La Vergne and Nashville; building a new substation in the Brentwood area; or building a station in Rutherford County, in the Eagleville area to better access existing rights of way for both Rutherford and Williamson County transmission lines.

Now the opinions have been narrowed to Rutherford.

“It was a combinations of reasons, ” said Charles Nicholson, TVA environmentalist, referring to the decision to drop the Pinhook and Brentwood alternatives. “We would have to take many transmission lines out of service and rebuild them. Because of the need to keep electrical service going to the areas, there were a limited number of lines we could take out of service at one time. There were also foundation issues at Pinhook and residential issues at Brentwood.”

Dense population surrounded the site in Brentwood, he said, and the rock outcroppings at both sites would call for a lot of blasting. Also, because there would not be the issue of interrupting service, the work would be done faster in Rutherford County, he said, and would have a better chance of meeting the 2010 deadline.

“Cost was a factor … in separating the Rutherford from the Brentwood and the Pinhook sites,” said Nicholson. Although the Rutherford County site is estimated to cost more in capital outlay – 8 percent more than the Brentwood site and 3 percent more than the Pinhook site, the overall project cost would be $3 million less than Brentwood and $20 million less than Pinhook.

Julie Vaughn, whose family farm is one of the sites being considered, is torn. While she recognizes the need for more power, she also agonizes over the possibility of losing more than 60 acres of prime farmland – and the family livelihood.

“We do understand that there is a need for the increased power because we have seen the growth in both Rutherford and Williamson County,” she said. “Our suggestion is to use the existing right of way or use an abandoned industrial site, like the battery plant out by Kirkland. We don’t know if they’ve investigated using commercial property. We would just as soon they take another look and re-evaluate.”

Two of the things she would like to see TVA engineers re-evaluate are the other sites.
“(Pinhook) is already there, and the power lines are already run – you wouldn’t be interrupting about 300 people’s property rights,” Vaughn said.

When scouting for a new station site, Nicholson said a variety of conditions are studied.

“There’s a combination of a lot of different properties,” he said. “The foundation conditions, bedrock, soil conditions, how close it is to road systems, other transmission lines, the amount of development in the area, other houses in the area, as well as a whole range of other environmental factors, wetlands and rare species.”

Nicholson said a wetlands survey had not been done of the areas being considered yet.

On the TVA Web site, visitors can find the Rutherford-Williamson-Davidson Power Supply Improvement Project Environmental Impact Statement Scoping Document, which details each site and the reasons given for choosing, or not choosing, each of them.

It also includes environmental issues to be addressed in the study: Water quality and quantity for both surface water and groundwater; vegetation; wildlife, including habitat fragmentation; aquatic ecology; endangered and threatened species and their critical habitats; wetlands; managed areas and ecologically significant sites; recreation; visual resources; flood plains; land use – including prime farmland; archaeological and historic resources; and socioeconomics, including property values and environmental justice.

Undeveloped land is another factor TVA looks for.

“In this context, yes, we would consider farmland as ‘undeveloped,’” said Nicholson. “‘Developed’ would be houses and commercial developments.”

The proposed 500-kilovolt substation will require about 60 acres that TVA would purchase from the landowner, as well as rights of way for the transmission towers and lines. Although TVA already has several rights of way in the area, it would need more.

“We are going to have to purchase some rights of way. We buy an easement that gives us the right to build and maintain the transmission line, it also restricts the property. We would purchase land for station,” Nicholson said, adding that it would be at fair market value. Using eminent domain would, he said, “only be as a last resort. We try to work with the landowners as much as possible.”

“Where they are wanting to take it, they would need to purchase the entire farm, not just the 60 acres,” said Vaughn. “They are going to leave us with a border that is basically useless.”

The Patterson site being considered is about 310 acres along Patterson Road, about two miles east of Highway 41A/31A, and would be able to access the currently vacant Hartsville-Maury transmission line right of way, as well as the Murfreesboro-Triune-East Franklin transmission line.

The second potential site in Rutherford County is in a 750-acre area on Rocky Glade Road, about two miles northeast of Eagleville, and is also close to existing transmission lines or rights of way. The Maury right of way was purchased in the 1970s to construct the Hartsville-Maury transmission line that was never completed. Although most of it was never cleared, TVA has maintained ownership.

Additional lines would be necessary, but Nicholson said TVA tries to place them carefully.

“We would not build it over a school building, and we would try to keep it as far from school property as possible,” he said.

The lines from the substation would be transmission lines, high voltage power lines moving the electricity elsewhere, as compared to the distribution power lines that bring electricity to the home. Those owners with TVA right of way easements on their property – which should be detailed in the deed – have to follow a set of guidelines about the easement, including no buildings or tall trees near the towers or lines.

There is opposition to the proposed substation, especially among the 300 or so Eagleville residents whose property – and property values – will be affected. There was similar opposition to the Brentwood site, but Nicholson said the public outcry was not the reason the site was eliminated as a prospect.

“Public opinion is something we consider, but there were other factors involved,” he said. “We hope the local residents will accept it wherever we put it, but we know that’s not always the case.”

The Daily News Journal
Originally published May 14, 2006

TVA substation would destroy families’ lives

To the editor,
I was appalled to see that TVA is thinking of putting a substation on farmland that has been in families for up to four generations.

What could they possibly be thinking? Why not use some old commercial property that has not seen any activity in years?

These are families’ homes and livelihood. It’s a shame that good people have to suffer for mass energy.

And the way TVA goes about it is just disheartening. Shame on them. How would they like it if their family home and property was taken over in such a manner? I’m sure they wouldn’t like it one bit.

Stephanie Robbins
West College Street

The Daily News Journal
Originally published May 14, 2006

TVA should seeksubstation options with less impact

More than 1,200 people signed a petition opposing TVA’s two proposed sites for a 500-kilovolt substation near Eagleville and the Patterson community in southwest Rutherford County.

It’s a message the Tennessee Valley Authority should hear loud and clear.

Residents of this area, and many in neighboring Williamson County, learned about TVA’s plan April 11 and had only 30 days to respond. Yet they gathered 1,200 signatures opposing the plan, which would require 50 acres for the substation and hundreds more for transmission lines through the rural area. They turned in the petition Thursday.

For their part, TVA officials say without a new substation, Rutherford and Williamson counties would suffer an electricity shortage by 2010.

Nobody is opposed to electricity, the extension of lines or a substation — just location.

TVA’s plan would destroy the lives of numerous families in the area, where the rural way of life is highly valued.

Concerns abound about health, land values and the environment, and the plan could force some residents to sell their land or businesses, the petition claims.

Relatives of Pauline Arnold have lived in the Patterson community south of state Route 96 West (Franklin Road) since 1932. She grew up there. She and her husband want to retire there, where they have deer and turkeys scampering across their yard every evening.

U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Murfreesboro, believes residents are receiving a tough deal from TVA. He wants the utility to look for alternatives.

TVA has pointed to cost concerns in building elsewhere, but some ideals rise above dollars and cents.

Farmland is disappearing fast. Once it’s gone, then what? Are we willing to give up our green space without investigating every alternative for a new power station?

We’re not, and neither are the residents of southwestern Rutherford County.

TVA announced Thursday it would extend the public comment period on the plan so more residents can weigh in.

This shouldn’t be window-dressing. TVA should seriously consider the property owner complaints, seek alternatives and offer a Plan B.

Power is a necessity, but not at the cost of ruining people’s lives.

The Daily News Journal
Originally published May 12, 2006

Residents hope petitions will zap TVA proposal
By BYRON HENSLEY
hensley@dnj.com

More than 1,200 people opposing plans for a new 500-kilovolt power station and transmission lines in rural Rutherford and Williamson counties delivered petitions to the Murfreesboro TVA office Thursday.

Some 25-30 people were on hand when the petitions were delivered, including Dana Reed of the Patterson community in Rutherford County, a possible substation site.

“We would lose roughly 20 acres and our hay barn,” she said. “We raise horses and sell babies, so it will put us out of business.”

With population growing in Rutherford and Williamson at an average rate of 4.3 percent per year since 1990, electric power demand has grown by 3.5 percent per year in that time. TVA predicts that by 2010, load growth will be more than its current transmission system will be able to handle.

But residents of the communities where potential sites for the new substation and transmission lines are located don’t think they can handle a 40-60 acre substation in their neighborhoods. They fear it would harm communities, the environment and property values.

“This will be a monstrosity going through some totally beautiful country,” potential power line neighbor Linda Soderquist said. “It’s the last thing we want to look at.”

Rockvale area resident Brenda Kiskis-Elliott, who lives two houses away from where a transmission line would go under one proposal, said she hopes TVA will instead upgrade existing facilities to meet the growing demand.

“You can’t replace the memories,” she said. “You can’t replace everything everybody has done with their homes.”

Kiskis-Elliott said TVA may have been under the impression that the community was undeveloped in making its proposal.

“It’s not undeveloped,” she said. “It’s developed exactly how we want it.”

“That is undoubtedly some of the most beautiful land in Tennessee,” said Kelly Schaffer of Christiana, who likes riding horses in the Patterson area.

“We’ve ridden out there for years,” she said. “I would be devastated if I didn’t have access to those beautiful, rolling hills”

Horse farmer Suzane Wooten doesn’t accept explanations by TVA officials that the Eagleville and Patterson locations are necessary because alternatives could not be completed by 2010.

“That seems like bad planning,” Wooten said. “They are asking people who have lived here for 30 years or more to sacrifice their homes and farms for the new people coming in.”

Mark Brandt of College Grove said many people moved into areas with TVA easements where it was thought that there were no plans to actually use them.

“After 30 years of it being dead, so many people have built houses,” he said. “For them to blaze a trail through the area is an outrage. It’s like we’re not even there.”

TVA will announce its decision on a preferred site and routes for future studies in late spring.

“We are still looking at alternative sites,” said Roger Sparry, TVA’s manager of siting and environmental design transmission line projects. “Community input is very important for TVA. Public comment like we’ve heard today will help us make decisions that will have less impact on the community.”