Tagged: TVA

The United States Enrichment Corporation and several other companies have sent proposals to the Department of Energy to continue enriching uranium at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. USEC is currently operating at the plant but is scheduled to end its work there May 31. USEC spokesperson Paul Jacobson says the corporation is discussing a several month extension at the plant, but that doesn’t change its statement that the high costs and old technology makes continuing commercial endeavors beyond 2013 difficult.

Dr. Steve White joined Murray State University in 1981 about the same time as the local TVA hacking program was underway. Captive-born eaglets were released into the wild without human contact to repopulate the region whose habitat is preferred by eagles. Eagles stay where they learn to fly and today the resident population is stable and thriving. Dr. White gives the historical perspective.

A Tennessee Valley Authority coal-fired power plant in Muhlenberg County that is undergoing expensive pollution control upgrades has been named a top polluter. The Environmental Integrity Project says the TVA Paradise Fossil Plant near Drakesboro emitted more than 1,500 pounds of arsenic, almost a ton of lead and about 1,400 pounds of chromium in 2011. The plant was ranked third on the group’s metal emissions list, which was compiled from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data. 

The U.S. Senate has approved four new members of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s board of directors, including west Tennessee native and former Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Mike McWherter.  The Senate has also sent the nominations of Vera Lynn Evans of Tennessee, C. Peter Mahurin of Kentucky and Joe Ritch of Alabama to President Obama’s desk for his signature. 

A 2011 settlement between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Tennessee Valley Authority means 13 Kentucky organizations will receive a total of $11.2 million dollars in grants over five years. The settlement covers allegations that TVA violated the Clean Air Act.