TVA CEO: Utility Will Clean up the Rivers, but Not the Coves

Under direct questioning from Senator Barbara Boxer in this morning's U.S. Senate hearing on the TVA coal ash spill, TVA CEO Tom Kilgore said that his agency will not be cleaning up the coves along the rivers that were sullied and inundated by his agency's coal ash spill.

That's how much TVA cares about the neighborhoods around the plant. They essentially closed down a public river immediately after the spill under the pretense of it belonging to them. So, it is clear that they only intend to clean up what they see as belonging to them. However, they can pollute and destroy any part of the waterway not belonging to them and refuse any responsibility for it.

And yet, some are trying to dissuade a class action law suit against TVA because it would sacrifice the community's chance to "talk and negotiate" with TVA. I got news for some: while you are looking to sit around talk and negotiate, TVA is taking care of themselves behind the scenes. They have direct access to the muckity mucks at the state and federal levels. How did you expect to talk them into cleaning up what does not belong to them? By charming them?