"Just a brief and summarization of my idea of TVA."

                                        by jrd 10/7/24.

Tennessee Valley Authority.

TVA. The Tennessee Valley Authority, was established in 1933 by Franklin Delano Roosevelt as a means of getting the country back on its feet after "The Great Depression". It was a part of "The New Deal". The preamble of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act was "To improve the navigability and to provide for the flood control of the Tennessee River; to provide for reforestation and the proper use of marginal lands in the Tennessee Valley; to provide for the agricultural and industrial development of said valley...and for other purposes"

That being said, in controlling the Tennessee River for flood control by use of dams, extreme flooding was eliminated and by use of locks with the dams, a navigable waterway was established for year around river navigation. A bonus, so to speak, was the new height of the water level above the dam, or head, as compared to the water level below the dam. This potential energy, or dynamic energy, released as water falling through a turbine has enough power to spin an electric generator. The energy or power of water falling, that was backed up by the dams, was used for water turbine powered generators and in time would provide enough electricity, not only for homes, but for industry that would follow. The industry came and the hydro-electric generating power plants provided more than enough power in the early stages of growth after "The Great Depression".

In the early forties, trouble was brewing in Europe and soon the United States found itself in World War II. For munitions and other necessary needs for the war effort, TVA built its first coal burning, steam power generating plant, Watts Bar, in Eastern Tennessee. The old Wilson Steam Plant in Muscle Shoals Alabama was transferred over to TVA from the U. S. Army Corps Of Engineers soon after TVA was established. The rest is history as this country's demand for electricity zoomed and by the end of the fifties, TVA had coal burning steam power plants in Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky. Then in the sixties, TVA entered the nuclear world with Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Northern Alabama. Before the turn of the new twenty-first century, TVA would have built Gas Turbine Power Plants in Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

In the nineteen fifties, electric power demand increased and to keep up with the demand, TVA built John Sevier Fossil Plant in Eastern Tennessee, Widows Creek Fossil Plant in Northern Alabama, Colbert Fossil Plant in Northern Alabama, Allen Fossil Plant in West Tennessee, Johnsonville Fossil Plant in Middle Tennessee, Shawnee Fossil Plant in West Kentucky, and Gallatin Fossil Plant in Middle Tennessee. In the sixties, Paradise Fossil Plant in Western Kentucky and Bull Run Fossil Plant in East Tennessee were added to TVA's list of power generating plants that used coal as their source of energy. In the seventies Cumberland City Fossil Plant in West Tennessee was added.

TVA is much more than a flood control agency and an electric power provider. TVA is for the people and of making their life easier and of their enjoyment of life in outdoor activities of recreation areas on public lands, large lakes, walking trails, and such. TVA has been instrumental in land and forest restoration. Before and after "The Great Depression", similar to the soil of "The Dust Bowl" areas, the soil of the TVA region was more of less worn out. This area had been farmed too long without proper care of the soil. Thus TVA was appointed as, more or less, a caretaker of this land without ownership. A fertilizer development plant was built in Northern Alabama to develop fertilizers to bring the land back to life. During the era of World War I, president Woodrow Wilson issued orders for the construction of two nitrate plants in Northern Alabama and a hydroelectric dam, as well as a fossil fuel generating plant to provide large amounts of power for these experimental and nitrite producing plants. Nitrates are necessary elements for the production of fertilizer, thus after the war, these two plants were converted to fertilizer producing plants, as well as experimental plants for the improvement of not only the TVA Valley, but the United States in general.

Lead on TVA.

See you.......
jrd