TVA Rights and Responsibilities of TVA and Their Dams ProjectsIn Hamilton County and Other East Tennessee
Rights and Responsibilities of TVA and Their Dams Projects In Hamilton County and Other East Tennessee Areas Life was simple in the early 1930’s, pre-TVA/ New Deal East Tennessee. ... Some of the biggest problems resulted from the flooding of local rivers and streams, tributaries of the Tennessee River. When Congress passed the TVA Act of 1933, the quiet life of many of these communities would change drastically. These changes included selling their land to TVA, moving, relocating graveyards, and then watching what they considered to be the best farmland become inundated with water. After a dam’s gates were closed, an entire town or community could be covered by water (as in Butler, Tennessee). ... Reactions of East-Tennessee inhabitants varied from gratitude to resentment to suicide. ... Did the benefits of TVA’s accomplishments outweigh the problems created? ... The history of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) actually begins in 1907. ... Forester under President Theodore Roosevelt, proposed the idea of “the use of the earth for the good of man” (“History of TVA” 5). ... Navigation on the Tennessee River at Muscle Shoals, Alabama was impossible. The taming of this river would allow transport by water (“History of TVA” 5). ... For the first time, the Tennessee River at Muscle Shoals was navigable. On May 18, 1933 the full dream of creating hydroelectric power, flood control and waterway navigation became a reality with the signing of the TVA Act (“Electricity for All” 2). On January 13, 1936, construction began on Chickamauga Dam near Chattanooga, Tennessee (“Chickamauga” 1). ... The Lake was formed in 1940 and covered a fifty-nine mile stretch of the Tennessee River (“Chickamauga” 2). ... Shortly after Chickamauga, TVA began to look at new ways to support the war effort. ... This dam helped to supply the power needed at Oak Ridge (Manhattan Project) (“History of TVA” 19). The Watauga Dam (located between Elizabethton, Tennessee and Mountain City, Tennessee) closed its gates in 1948 forming a beautiful mountain lake and flood-controlled waters (Calhoun 3). By the 1950’s most of the country was using electrical power supplied by the TVA. Because Atomic Energy Commission facilities used much of the hydroelectric power, the decision was made to build coal-fired plants to help offset energy costs (‘History of TVA” 25). Since these plants were less efficient than the dams, Congress debated the spending of taxpayer’s money to build them. In 1959, the TVA act was amended to allow TVA to “sell bonds on the private market to finance its own operations” (“History of TVA” 26-27). In the 1960’s, since the coal-fired plant requirements left strip mines open to controversy, the TVA was accused of neglecting it’s responsibility to resource development and land reclamation (“History of TVA” 31). TVA established reclamation methods and began to concentrate on local needs (“History of TVA” 31). This was the era when TVA worked much more closely with local leaders and citizens. TVA focused on agriculture, forestry, business development, recreation, and human resources (“History of TVA” 31). Flood-plain management programs were instituted to deal with local flooding problems (“History of TVA” 31). ... Because of TVA effort, jobs were created in previously rural, depressed areas (“History of TVA” 31). ... In 1963, “ The Land Between the Lakes” recreation/education project was begun on Kentucky and Barkley Lakes (“History of TVA” 33). The consumption of electric power rose over two hundred percent between 1933 and 1970 (“History of TVA” 35). This increase in use and the inflation of the 70’s caused the “first increase in electric rates in the TVA area” (“History of TVA” 37). TVA began to focus now on energy conservation and is still one of the nation’s leading proponents of alternate energy sources (solar, windmill production, load management).