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Chairman
Crowell (center) presides at a TVA Board meeting, flanked by Directors
Glenn L. McCullough, Jr. and Skila Harris. |
Value in managing
our regional resources
Besides
being the nation’s largest public power producer, TVA also provides
value through its management of the Tennessee River system—the
nation’s fifth largest—by facilitating river transportation
upon which thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in business depend.
In fiscal year 2000 TVA made possible an estimated $424 million in transportation
benefits by giving Valley shippers ready, cost-effective access to world
markets.
Through its strategic
management of a carefully designed network of dams, TVA last year averted
an estimated $173 million in potential flood damage along the Tennessee
River and its tributaries, as well as further downstream in the Mississippi
and Ohio river basins. These dams also support water quality and protect
11,000 miles of valuable shoreline from erosion.
TVA dams also make
possible recreation opportunities on hundreds of thousands of acres
of reservoir water as well as adjoining lands. TVA is unique in addressing
all these needs—transportation, land use, flood control, water
quality, recreation and, of course, power production—with a highly
regarded, time-tested approach that manages the river system as an integrated
whole.
TVA not only enhances
the value of Valley resources; it protects them by being an advocate
for environmentally sensitive river-front development and by building
coalitions to improve water quality. Among the nation’s utilities,
TVA is a leader in taking aggressive, proactive steps to minimize the
impact of its own operations on the environment.
Value in promoting
economic growth
TVA’s mandate to be a regional development agency has led to the
creation of a wide range of supplemental services that promote economic
growth. Primary among these are services to support industrial development.
These include technical services ranging from aerial mapping to making
recommendations on energy efficiency; assisting state and local industrial
development agencies in marketing industrial sites; developing cutting-edge
Internet technology to assist
industrial prospects in site selection; and providing economic loans
that leverage additional investments for the Valley economy.
Value in supporting
our customers and stakeholders
To optimize the value it provides, TVA emphasizes continuing dialogues
that ask customers and other stakeholders, “How are we doing?”
From these dialogues have come new pricing products that better match
end-users’ needs to give them additional flexibility in managing
their energy costs and help them operate more efficiently and produce
more competitively.
TVA historically
has been a pacesetter for the electric utility industry, and through
continuing partnerships with customers and other stakeholders, industry
groups and other government agencies, TVA is working to develop cleaner
and more efficient ways of producing electric power that will benefit
the entire industry.
Value in supporting
the growth of alternative energy sources
TVA also collaborates extensively to improve its management of the Valley’s
resources, support the growth of alternative energy sources and assure
the continuance of TVA’s unique services in a restructured electric
power marketplace. Although investment in electricity research and development
throughout the electric utility industry is at a 20-year low, TVA is
leading the effort to find ways that all utilities can produce power
more cleanly and efficiently. TVA’s Public Power Institute is the
focal point of collaborations with other entities, including the Department
of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, TVA
provides major support to industry organizations such as the Electric
Power Research Institute, of which I serve as Chairman of the Board
of Directors.
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