Editing Tennessee Valley Authority (section)

=== Background ===
In the late 19th century, the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Army Corps of Engineers]] first recognized a number of potential dam sites along the Tennessee River for electricity generation and navigation improvements.{{sfn|Hargrove|1994|p=19}} The [[National Defense Act of 1916]], signed into law by President [[Woodrow Wilson]], authorized the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in [[Muscle Shoals, Alabama]], for the purpose of producing nitrates for ammunition; that dam was completed in 1924.
During the 1920s and the 1930s, Americans began to support the idea of [[public utility|public ownership of utilities]], particularly hydroelectric power facilities. Many believed privately owned power companies were charging too much for power, did not employ fair operating practices, and were subject to abuse by their owners, utility holding companies, at the expense of consumers.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}} The concept of government-owned generation facilities selling to publicly owned distribution utilities was controversial, and remains so today.<ref name="hubbard">{{cite book |last1=Hubbard |first1=Preston J. |title=Origins of the TVA: The Muscle Shoals Controversy, 1920–1932 |date=1961 |publisher=Vanderbilt University Press |location=Nashville |oclc=600647072 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031695052;view=1up;seq=12 |pages=189–194 |via=HathiTrust Digital Library |access-date=March 20, 2018 |archive-date=March 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307215550/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031695052;view=1up;seq=12 |url-status=live }}</ref> The private sector practice of forming utility holding companies had resulted in them controlling 94 percent of generation by 1921, and they were essentially unregulated. In an effort to change this, Congress and Roosevelt enacted the [[Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935]] (PUHCA).<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hawes |first=Douglas W. |date=April 1977 |title=Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 -- Fossil or Foil? |url=https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3108&context=vlr |journal=[[Vanderbilt Law Review]] |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=605–625 |doi= |access-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312064455/https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3108&context=vlr |url-status=live }}</ref>

During his 1932 presidential campaign, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] expressed his belief that private utilities had "selfish purposes" and said, "Never shall the federal government part with its sovereignty or with its control of its power resources while I'm President of the United States." 

U.S. Senator [[George W. Norris]] of [[Nebraska]] also distrusted private utility companies, and in 1920 blocked a proposal from industrialist [[Henry Ford]] to build a private dam and create a utility to modernize the Tennessee Valley.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tobey|first=Ronald C.|title=Technology as Freedom: The New Deal and the Electrical Modernization of the American Home|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0geUkFJjbzEC&pg=PA46|year=1996|publisher=University of California Press|pages=46–48|isbn=9780520204218 |access-date=2021-07-04|via=Google Books}}</ref> In 1930, Norris sponsored the [[Muscle Shoals Bill]], which would have built a federal dam in the valley, but it was vetoed by President [[Herbert Hoover]], who believed it to be [[socialism|socialistic]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=April 5, 1930|title=Muscle Shoals Bill Passed By Senate; Vote on Norris Measure for Operation by Federal Corporation Is 45 to 23. House Counted Favorable But Hoover Veto is Expected in Event of Passage—His Supporters Divided in Debate. Hoover Supporters Divided. The Vote on Roll-Call.|work=The New York Times|page=3|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/04/05/archives/muscle-shoals-bill-passed-by-senate-vote-on-norris-measure-for.html|access-date=September 14, 2021|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=September 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210914152526/https://www.nytimes.com/1930/04/05/archives/muscle-shoals-bill-passed-by-senate-vote-on-norris-measure-for.html|url-status=live}}</ref> 

The idea behind the Muscle Shoals project became a core part of President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]] program that created the Tennessee Valley Authority.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wengert |first1=Norman |title=Antecedents of TVA: The Legislative History of Muscle Shoals |journal=[[Agricultural History (journal)|Agricultural History]] |date=1952 |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=141–147 |issn=1533-8290 |oclc=971899953 |jstor=3740474}}</ref>

Even by Depression standards, the Tennessee Valley was in dire economic straits in 1933. Thirty percent of the population was affected by [[malaria]]. The average income in the rural areas was $639 per year (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|639|1933}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}),{{inflation-fn|US-GDP}} with some families surviving on as little as $100 per year (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|100|1933}}}} in {{inflation-year|US-GDP}}).{{inflation-fn|US-GDP}} 

Much of the land had been exhausted by poor farming practices, and the soil was [[erosion|eroded]] and depleted. [[Crop yield]]s had fallen, reducing farm incomes. The best timber had been cut, and 10% of forests were lost to fires each year.<ref name="hubbard" />