Obama plan to privitize TVA ib 2014 budget

[paulk]

http://www.alternet.org/economy/shocker-republicans-fight-obama-plan-privatize-hugely-popular-cheap-energy-source-tva


Buried within the fine print of the 2014 Obama budget is a startling bit of history-changing policy. The government, the administration says, should consider selling off the Tennessee Valley Authority, one of the nation’s largest publicly operated—that is, “socialist”—institutions, and the largest public power provider in the country.

The TVA is a non-profi, free-standing public authority established by the Roosevelt administration during the Depression—a very large utility, if you like. It provides 165 billion kilowatt hours of power to 9 million Americans, has $11.2 billion in sales revenue, employs more than 12,500 people, and provides other educational, training and related services (such as navigation and land management, flood control, and economic development) to the people in the states and region around the Tennessee river basin.

Strikingly, it’s the free-market Republicans who object to this proposed privatization. Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican who has vehemently opposed government tax credits and subsidies for renewable energy, calls the proposal “one more bad idea in a budget full of bad ideas,” and fears that privatization would lead to higher energy costs for his constituents.

discuss

[djean111]

1. So - now we see the fantastic agenda that could not be revealed until after the elections.

Free to propose whatever he wants to, no need to worry about votes.
Wow. And Lamar Alexander is correct about the higher prices, and higher prices is the fucking point.

[byeya]

2. There would be no electric service in many of TVAs service area if it were not for

the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Let's see how the god fearing people feel when they see their power bills surge.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

24. Do you actually think that "the god fearing people" get to choose their Senators and Representatives

The rich and the super-rich choose. The MSM in their area choose. The leaders of the tax-free churches choose.

Those who rely upon stereotypes and exploit these people choose.

They don't. At best, they are given choices between two groups of candidates who both represent the rich and the super-rich.

Did you think that Obama represented them? Who's getting ready to reward his rich friends by privatizing the TVA?

[byeya]

36. The god-fearers turned their backs on Al Gore and keep reelecting thuggish corporate shills.

It's a democracy. Fuck 'em.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

40. Actually, both the atheists and the God-worshippers from Tennesee repeatedly elected Al Gore so that

he was a Congressman from Tennessee from 1977–85 and a Senator from Tennessee from 1985–93. Then he served the people from Tennessee by being the Vice-President during the Clinton administration from 1993-2001.

That is a long record of voters from Tennessee not turning their backs on Al Gore.

When the U.S. Supreme Court selected Bush to be the President, as far as I know, not one member of the Supreme Court was from Tennessee.

You say, "The god-fearers turned their backs on Al Gore."

We're done.

[AgingAmerican]

3. Creeping fascism

n/t

[ProSense]

4. Here is the TVA statement

President Obama’s 2014 Budget Proposal

April 10, 2013

President Barack Obama released his fiscal year 2014 budget earlier today. It includes unexpected language about TVA in the chapter entitled, “Creating a 21st Century Government.” According to the information in the budget, the Administration intends to undertake a strategic review of TVA.

“We will be working with the Office of Management and Budget to provide the information they request regarding the strategic review. While we do this, our employees will stay focused on doing their jobs, serving our customers and the people of the Tennessee Valley,” said Bill Johnson, President and CEO.

Even though TVA is owned by the federal government, it does not receive taxpayer dollars and its debt is not taxpayer funded. According to John Thomas, CFO, “TVA is the lowest cost business model and the best value for the region. We remain financially healthy.”

http://www.tva.com/news/releases/aprjun13/obama_budget.html

Here is the budget language:

Reform TVA. Since its creation in the 1930s during the Great Depression, the federally owned and operated Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has been producing low-cost electricity and managing natural resources for a large portion of the Southeastern United States. TVA’s power service territory includes most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Virginia, covering 80,000 square miles and serving more than nine million people. TVA is a self-financing Government corporation, funding operations through electricity sales and bond financing. In order to meet its future capacity needs, fulfill its environmental responsibilities, and modernize its aging generation system, TVA’s current capital investment plan includes more than $25 billion of expenditures over the next 10 years. However, TVA’s anticipated capital needs are likely to quickly exceed the agency’s $30 billion statutory cap on indebtedness. Reducing or eliminating the Federal Government’s role in programs such as TVA, which have achieved their original objectives and no longer require Federal participation, can help put the Nation on a sustainable fiscal path. Given TVA’s debt constraints and the impact to the Federal deficit of its increasing capital expenditures, the Administration intends to undertake a strategic review of options for addressing TVA’s financial situation, including the possible divestiture of TVA, in part or as a whole.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2014/assets/21st_century.pdf

While Republicans are railing against the TVA proposal, which is a review, they're obstructing the creation of a similar venture.

Create a National Infrastructure Bank: The President continues to call for the creation of a bipartisan National Infrastructure Bank. The Bank will have the ability to leverage private and public capital to support infrastructure projects of national and regional significance. In addition, the Bank will be able to invest through loans and loan guarantees in a broad range of infrastructure projects, including transportation, energy, and water, and will operate as an independent, wholly owned government entity outside of political influence.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/20/fact-sheet-president-s-plan-make-america-magnet-jobs-investing-infrastru

It will be a government-owned entity subject to Congressional oversight. In terms of economic development, think of it like the TVA (http://www.tva.com/abouttva/index.htm) on a larger scale.

TVA helps strengthen the Tennessee Valley region’s economy by building business and community partnerships that bring jobs to the region and keep them here. TVA’s reliable, competitively priced power makes the region an attractive place to start or expand a business.

•Helped attract or retain more than 40,500 jobs
•Leveraged more than $4.3 billion in capital investment

http://www.tva.com/abouttva/factbook.htm
http://www.tva.com/abouttva/index.htm

[Cha]

12. Thanks for more pertinent information,

ProSense!

[paulk]

17. here's the "pertinent" part

"Reducing or eliminating the Federal Government’s role in programs such as TVA, which have achieved their original objectives and no longer require Federal participation, can help put the Nation on a sustainable fiscal path. Given TVA’s debt constraints and the impact to the Federal deficit of its increasing capital expenditures, the Administration intends to undertake a strategic review of options for addressing TVA’s financial situation, including the possible divestiture of TVA, in part or as a whole. "

[ProSense]

20. I've posted

about this many times. The same people opposing the infrastructure bank, which will be government-owned like the TVA, are rushing to support this based on language about a review. The current head of the TVA is from a subsidiary of Duke Energy. He held the CEO position at Duke for a minute.

CEO quits on day 1, gets $44 million for his troubles
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002912761

[Cha]

21. Yes, I know how this goes.. thanks for link.

[woo me with science]

5. We are owned, not represented.

Have we had enough yet? Or are we still pretending we have representation?

[rhett o rick]

13. The problem isnt whether "we" have had enough, you and I, but the majority of Americans are

oblivious. Unless we can figure out a way to spread the truth, we are sunk.

[woo me with science]

47. Yes.

And what you described in post 11 is exactly what needs to happen. Education a la post 31.

[DeSwiss]

30. ....

''You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged.''

~Morpheus

[woo me with science]

49. Perhaps not yet...

but soon.

[phantom power]

6. Nothing remotely good would come from that.

[DeSwiss]

7. Don't worry!

See? This is just another episode of Eleventy-dimension, Razz-matazz, Bi-partisanshipyness®© that'll spread the suffering and move us forward while not looking backwards!!! Just like when:

* - DOJ-WH Star Chamber murders and the abolition of Due Process
* - The droning of women, babies and children
* - Refusing to close Guantanamo
* - Torture force-feedings Guantanamo prisoners
* - Surveillance of citizen's email, phone records and any damned thing else they want
* - Social Security and Medicare reductions (AKA: Let's Kill The Grandfolks Program)

So you see, selling-off TVA will reduce the taxpayers costs and while saving the country and reducing the deficit and at the same time it'll provide each American with their daily requirements of Vitamin C, B12 and Riboflavin.

- Now how can you beat that???

[AnotherMcIntosh]

25. It's all the Republicans' fault,

or so we've been told.

[DeSwiss]

31. ....

[libdude]

35. Can not imagine

it being said any better. We should be moving more towards public ownership of power companies, banks, etc.

[woo me with science]

48. [phone]

Can we get this in a billboard? Like....all over the internet?

[rhett o rick]

52. What woo said +1. nm

[woo me with science]

58. +1000000

[Pragdem]

8. At least the Tennessee Valley will get what they vote for. nt

[bvar22]

9. Bill Clinton's crown, "Best Republican President EVER"...

...is in jeopardy.

Is there anything about the New Deal that President Obama likes?
Those policies (and the Fair Deal, and the Great Society) built the largest,
wealthiest, and most upwardly mobile Working Class the World had ever seen.

...now being dismantled,
...by "Democrats"?

The Privatization of our Commons will not end well for anyone but the 1%.


You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their promises or excuses.
[font size=5 color=green]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/center]

[rhett o rick]

11. The problem here is the continued use of Republican as the symbol of badness.

Obama isnt a Republican he is a corporate sponsored Democrat. We need to reframe this class battle. It isnt Democrats (goodness) vs. Republicans (badness). The war is between the Elite 1% and the rest of us.

[hay rick]

50. It's us vs. them.

And them is the 1%. We need something to wake up the suckers who are being punked by the Republicans.

[rhett o rick]

10. I wonder if Penny Pritzker is in the bidding? nm

[HiPointDem]

62. more likely warren buffett -- he lurrves utilities, and he likes to keep the taxes too.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022888973

[WinkyDink]

14. THIS would be a TRUE betrayal of Democratic, and American, values, of American SUCCESS.

WTH IS OBAMA DRINKING?

[paulk]

37. the real question is not "what"

it's, "who is he drinking with"?

[forestpath]

15. Somebody once posted that Obama acts more like a corporation president than

the president of the United States (sorry, I can't remember who).

This is just more proof of that.

Obama never saw a government program he didn't think a corporation should get a cut of, or in this case, own.

[4_TN_TITANS]

16. The TVA is the best thing that ever happened to TN and surrounding states.

Why would anybody mess with it? NPT had a great series on it, if anyone wants to know more.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

26. To increase the rates for the benefit of the super-rich stockholder friends of politicians.

[woo me with science]

57. +1

[paulk]

18. wait

after the chained CPI debacle, does this surprise anyone?

[kelliekat44]

19. Wait. Is the President actually beating them at them at their own game? They vote against anything

that he proposes. So, is this the smart way to get the GOP to vote for what he actually wants?

[paulk]

23. well,

I have heard that he is a master of multi-dimensional chess...

[AnotherMcIntosh]

43. Yes. But I think that I'm getting used to the escalation of disappointments.

What else can he do?

Sooner or later, he's got to run out of things that he can do to betray the FDR legacy.

[Celldweller]

22. let me get this right...

If the utility is sold to a "for-profit" ownership... people will be screwed and have to pay more $$?

If it's non-profit now that means that your utility bill reflects the actual cost of delivering the power. The bills could skyrocket.

[WillyT]

27. So... This Democratic President Is About To Undermine A Signature Acheivement Of FDR ???

It has ceased to be surprising...

[Phlem]

28. That's just wrong to look so effortlessly relaxed, happy & handsome.

Last edited Wed May 22, 2013, 07:27 PM - Edit history (1)

Go Obama!



-p

[paulk]

38. are you making a point about something?

[Phlem]

42. forgot the sarcasm thingy.

I'll edit my post.

it was a ridiculous swooning thread the other day.

-p

[99th_Monkey]

29. Taking the wrecking ball to yet another successful & solvent Publicly owned anything

The .01% who are determined to force their neo-feudal dystopian nightmare on everyone else, can NOT
allow EVEN A TRACE of a successful public institution; i.e. Obama is carrying their water, to disappear the
"evidence" and erasing any memory of how some public institutions DO work splendidly, as publicly-run
and publicly owned agencies.

I'm sorry, but Obama is behaving like a lapdog for .01%'s on this one.

[Poll_Blind]

32. What an utter disaster this guy is. nt

PB

[AnotherMcIntosh]

44. True, for us.

Maybe he's busy working on a retirement plan.

[The Last Dem.]

33. Obama plan to privitize TVA ib 2014 budget

Last edited Wed May 22, 2013, 10:04 PM - Edit history (1)

Not only that, they would lay off half of the work force.

[Skeeter Barnes]

41. I deliver freight to several different TVA docks.

I know from talking to these guys that they are Union. As soon as these plants are privatized, the first order of business will be to abolish those contracts. They'll be fired and offered to return to work for less money, worse benefits and lower safety standards. This is Obama's idea of progress.

[derby378]

34. The last thing Obama can afford to do in Tennessee...

...is enact policies that make it that much harder for poor people to provide electricity for themselves and their families.

Anyone who has ever had their lights and heat switched off in the dead of winter because the money just isn't there for the electricity bill understands this all too well.

[ReRe]

39. The devil's always in the details...

... it's our good old Corporate Congress. This country is a joke. And we're all a bunch of lemmings for letting our democracy go to the dogs. It's almost got to the point where we need a shadow congress to keep tabs on what the hell they are sneaking through up there. I guess that's what a supposed "free press" is supposed to do, but that's corporatized too. Stick a fork in us. We're done. We're all Republicans now.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

45. So far, we are lucky that the TVA hasn't been sold to the Chinese.

[woo me with science]

46. kick

[MotherPetrie]

51. Obama never stops looking for ways to screw us

[RobertEarl]

53. TVA was great

Its coal and nuclear power production however are dinosaurs. Government will have a hard time ridding itself, internally, of nukes and coal.

Best to sell those plants off to private firms and let them close down and bury those dinosaurs? That may be the plan, Stan.

Hydro is a great backup and demand modulator. It should not go private, especially since all the waters behind those dams are public.

Cut out and cast away the worst of TVA and keep the best. Worth considering, imo.

[ProSense]

54. TVA is

"TVA was great"

...is still great, but who cares about the facts? The budget suggested a review, and there are a lot of issues to consider, like updating old coal plants.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021188496

T.V.A. Agrees to Shutter 18 Generators That Use Coal
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/science/earth/15tva.html

The budget called for a review.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2886292

Become suspicious when Republicans oppose privatization. That is not what this is about.

The review will happen, and we will see.

[ProSense]

55. More

New Report Shows TVA Could Save Customers Billions While Improving Air Quality
http://action.sierraclub.org/site/PageNavigator/fld_TN_TVA_Coal_in_Crisis_Report.html

TVA's Expensive Decision on Gallatin Plant Challenged in Court

NASHVILLE, Tenn.— Conservation groups have filed a legal challenge to the Tennessee Valley Authority on the grounds that it violated the National Environmental Policy Act when the federal power company finalized its plan to spend more than $1 billion to retrofit the Gallatin Fossil Plant, a coal-fired power plant near Nashville.

The Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association, Tennessee Environmental Council, Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity are represented by Earthjustice and Southern Environmental Law Center in the suit. The Gallatin Fossil Plant is more than 50 years old and is one of the largest sources of air and water pollution in the state. If TVA’s plans move forward, the coal-fired power plant will continue to pollute for decades to come.

“In its haste to spend more than $1 billion of customer money to prop up an obsolete coal plant, TVA violated the law,” said Louise Gorenflo, Beyond Coal chair of the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club. “There is too much at stake for the Sierra Club and our partners to sit back and do nothing. The health and wellbeing of Tennessee’s families, environment, and economy are at risk. That’s why it is so important that TVA follow the law when making such important decisions.”

To build the project, TVA would clearcut a forested “wildlife management area” on Old Hickory Lake, replacing it with 100-foot tall landfills of hazardous coal ash. TVA’s plans will require the popular Cumberland River Aquatic Center to relocate; the Center is one of the world’s most successful hatcheries of endangered freshwater mussels. Finally, by choosing to invest in an aging coal facility, TVA will increase costs for consumers over decades.

- more -

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2013/gallatin-04-25-2013.html

[woo me with science]

56. kick

[woo me with science]

59. kick

[woo me with science]

60. kick

[HiPointDem]

61. What a miserable excuse for a democrat this president has turned out to be. worse than clinton.

he should have changed parties. too late now though, hope & change fans.