Overview of TVA’s Environmental Management System

As a regional development agency and the nation’s largest public power provider, TVA is committed to protecting the environmental resources of the Tennessee Valley. To help guide it in that effort, TVA has set up an Environmental Management System, or EMS, which provides:

• A set of processes based on best practices to help TVA meet the commitments expressed in its Environmental Policy and Principles
• A way to standardize environmental practices
• A means for continuous improvement
• A tool for reducing environmental risk.

Benefits

TVA’s implementation of the EMS has provided some important benefits:

• Improved environmental performance
• Enhanced regulatory compliance
• Better environmental cost management
• Conservation of materials and energy
• More innovative solutions to environmental issues
• A competitive advantage.

 

 

Role of EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency encourages the use of an EMS to improve compliance with regulations and enhance pollution prevention. It evaluates EMS usage in the U.S. to determine which elements and applications are most effective and how they can be used to strengthen environmental programs and policies. Read more:

EPA’s EMS page

EPA’s position on EMS.

 

EMS international standard

The International Standards Organization has established an EMS standard, ISO 14001, defining the key elements of an environmental management system. TVA has set up a self-declaration program allowing its facilities to declare that they conform to the ISO 14001 standard. The self-declaration program meets a protocol for federal agencies set up by the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive.