TVA "disappointed" by air quality ruling
Today, a federal judge in North Carolina ruled that TVA must install and maintain scrubbers at its four coal-fired power plants closest to North Carolina, due to the pollution emitted into that state by TVA's dirty coal operations. Coincidentally, two of the four coal plants affected by the decision are Kingston and Widows Creek, which have had some other environmental problems lately.
Although the lawsuit brought by the state of North Carolina asked for those pollution controls on a total of eleven plants, the judge's decision only requires TVA to install scrubbers at the four plants closest to the state border. Even that small improvement in air quality seems to be too much of a burden on TVA; their spokesman responded to the decision with this:
"TVA is disappointed by the court's decision. We are continuing to analyze it. In the meantime, TVA is committed to continue its work to improve the region's air quality," TVA spokesman John Moulton said from agency headquarters in Knoxville, Tenn.
"Disappointed?" Why would TVA be "disappointed" at the prospect of mitigating even a tiny fraction of the pollution they spew into the environment?
Last week, TVA's overpaid CEO Tom Kilgore testified before Congress on the Kingston disaster; in his remarks, he said this:
At TVA, we take seriously our mission of providing electricity, environmental stewardship, and economic development to the Tennessee Valley region. The quality of life in the Valley region and the natural beauty of the region and its rivers are special to all of us at TVA, and we are committed to restoring and protecting these resources.
[...]
As I stated at the beginning of my comments here, TVA will do a first-rate job of containment and remediation of the problems caused by the spill. We are going to be able to look our neighbors in the eye and say that TVA is doing the right thing.
If Kilgore were serious about "doing the right thing," and if he really believed in TVA's role as "environmental steward," he'd direct his agency to comply with the most basic anti-pollution requirements instead of expressing "disappointment" at them.