Editing Tennessee Valley Authority (section)

=== Financial problems, Tellico Dam, and restructuring ===
[[File:Land use plan of TVA's failed Timberlake City project.png|upright=1.35|thumb|Considered one of the TVA's most ambitious projects, Timberlake, a [[planned city]] along the Tellico Reservoir was proposed to support 30,000 residents.<ref name="timberlake">{{cite book |author1=Tennessee Valley Authority |title=Timberlake New Community: Final Environmental Statement |date=January 1, 1976 |publisher=[[Boston College Law School]] |location=[[Chattanooga, Tennessee|Chattanooga]] |format=PDF |url=https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&context=darter_materials |access-date=August 11, 2021 |archive-date=August 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812141123/https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&context=darter_materials |url-status=live }}</ref> The project was cancelled soon after the Tellico Project's controversy.<ref name="vanwest">{{cite web |last1=Van West |first1=Carroll |title=Monroe County |url=https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/monroe-county/ |website=[[Tennessee Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Tennessee Historical Society]] |access-date=August 11, 2021 |date=October 8, 2017 |archive-date=August 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809070351/https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/monroe-county/ |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
During the 1970s significant changes occurred in the economy of the Tennessee Valley and the nation, prompted by energy crises in [[1973 oil crisis|1973]] and [[1979 energy crisis|1979]] and accelerating fuel costs throughout the decade. The average cost of electricity in the Tennessee Valley increased fivefold from the early 1970s to the early 1980s. TVA's first nuclear reactor, [[Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant#Unit 1|Browns Ferry Unit 1]], began commercial operation on August 1, 1974.<ref>{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Browns Ferry No. 2 N-Unit Test Approved|url=https://tennessean.newspapers.com/clip/57880858/browns-ferry-no-2-n-unit-test-approved/|page=6|work=[[The Tennessean]]|location=Nashville, Tennessee|agency=Associated Press|date=August 9, 1974|access-date=2020-08-23|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=April 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418203709/https://tennessean.newspapers.com/clip/57880858/browns-ferry-no-2-n-unit-test-approved/|url-status=live}}</ref> Between 1970 and 1974, TVA set out to construct a total of 17 nuclear reactors, due to a projection of further rapid increase in power demand.<ref name="waldnyt">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/19/science/earth/19nuclear.html |title=Alabama Nuclear Reactor, Partly Built, to Be Finished |first=Matthew |last=Wald |date=August 19, 2011 |work=The New York Times |page=A12 |access-date=February 25, 2017 |archive-date=August 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812191546/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/19/science/earth/19nuclear.html? |url-status=live }}</ref> However, in the 1980s, it became increasingly evident that the agency had vastly overestimated the Valley's future energy needs, and rapid increases in construction costs and new regulations following the [[Three Mile Island accident]] posed additional obstacles to this undertaking.<ref name="Labaton">{{cite news |last=Labaton |first=Stephen |date=August 3, 1985 |title=Tennessee Valley Authority Generates Woes With Nuclear Power Program |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/08/03/tennessee-valley-authority-generates-woes-with-nuclear-power-program/de3b0602-e769-4cb8-b351-73c49850fea6/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=March 18, 2023}}</ref><ref name="ANS">{{cite news |last=Davis |first=Will |date=April 17, 2015 |title=TVA Prepares to Write Final Nuclear Chapters |url=https://www.ans.org/news/article-1686/tva-prepares-to-write-final-nuclear-chapters/ |work=Nuclear Newswire |publisher=[[American Nuclear Society]] |access-date=March 18, 2023 |archive-date=July 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230729001150/https://www.ans.org/news/article-1686/tva-prepares-to-write-final-nuclear-chapters/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1981, the board voted to defer the [[Phipps Bend Nuclear Plant|Phipps Bend]] plant, as well as to slow down construction on all other projects.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.timesnews.net/News/2008/08/23/Nuclear-power-option-still-alive-at-TVA-despite-Phipps-Bend-debacle |title=Nuclear power option still alive at TVA despite Phipps Bend debacle |work=[[Kingsport Times-News]] |access-date=December 31, 2017 |first=Hank |last=Hayes |date=August 23, 2008 |archive-date=January 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101030650/http://www.timesnews.net/News/2008/08/23/Nuclear-power-option-still-alive-at-TVA-despite-Phipps-Bend-debacle |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Hartsville Nuclear Plant|Hartsville]] and [[Yellow Creek Nuclear Plant|Yellow Creek]] plants were cancelled in 1984 and [[Bellefonte Nuclear Plant|Bellefonte]] in 1988.<ref name="waldnyt" /> Citing safety concerns, all of TVAs five operating nuclear reactors were indefinitely shut down in 1985 with the two at Sequoyah coming back online three years later and Browns Ferry's three reactors coming back online in 1991, 1995 and 2007. <ref name="Labaton"/><ref>{{cite news |date=August 22, 1985 |title=T.V.A., Citing Safety, to Shut Down Nuclear Plant |work=The New York Times |page=A19 |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/22/us/tva-citing-safety-to-shut-down-nuclear-plant.html |access-date=2019-01-07 |archive-date=March 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318072631/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/22/us/tva-citing-safety-to-shut-down-nuclear-plant.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Early Tellico Dam Construction.jpg|thumb|left|Construction on Tellico Dam]]
Construction of the [[Tellico Dam]] raised political and environmental concerns, as laws had changed since early development in the valley. Scientists and other researchers had become more aware of the massive environmental effects of the dams and new lakes, and worried about preserving habitats and species. The Tellico Dam project was initially delayed because of [[snail darter controversy|concern over]] the [[snail darter]], a small [[Actinopterygii|ray-finned fish]] which had been discovered in the Little Tennessee River in 1973 and listed as an [[endangered species]] two years later.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=Robert |date=April 13, 2008 |title=Tellico Dam still generating debate |url=https://archive.knoxnews.com/business/tellico-dam-still-generating-debate-ep-411807529-359923851.html/ |access-date=July 24, 2022 |work=[[Knoxville News Sentinel]] |archive-date=October 13, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013142515/http://archive.knoxnews.com/business/tellico-dam-still-generating-debate-ep-411807529-359923851.html |url-status=live}}</ref> A lawsuit was filed under the [[Endangered Species Act]] and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of protecting the snail darter in ''[[Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill]]'' in 1978.<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill |vol=437 |reporter=U.S. |opinion=153 |court=U.S. Supreme Court |date=June 15, 1978 |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/437/153/ |access-date=May 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519222539/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/437/153/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The project's main motive was to support recreational and tourism development, unlike earlier dams constructed by TVA. Land acquired by eminent domain for the Tellico Dam and its reservoir that encountered minimal inundation was sold to private developers for the construction of present-day [[Tellico Village, Tennessee|Tellico Village]], a [[Planned community|planned retirement community]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Rawls |first1=Wendell |title=Forgotten People of the Tellico Dam Fight |work=The New York Times |date=November 11, 1979 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/11/11/archives/forgotten-people-of-the-tellico-dam-fight-right-of-eminent-domain.html |access-date=July 4, 2021 |archive-date=July 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726020225/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/11/11/archives/forgotten-people-of-the-tellico-dam-fight-right-of-eminent-domain.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The inflation crises of the 1970s and early 1980s, combined with the cancellation of several of the planned nuclear plants put the agency in deep financial trouble.<ref name="Smothers">{{cite news |last=Smothers |first=Ronald |date=June 30, 1988 |title=T.V.A. Slashes Work Force And Holds Off on 2 Plants |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/30/us/tva-slashes-work-force-and-holds-off-on-2-plants.html |page=A-14 |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 2, 2022 |archive-date=January 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102061109/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/30/us/tva-slashes-work-force-and-holds-off-on-2-plants.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In an effort to restructure and improve efficiency and financial stability, TVA began shifting towards a more corporate environment in the latter 1980s.<ref name="Lippman">{{cite news |last=Lippman |first=Thomas W. |date=March 29, 1992 |title=TVA: New Deal For An Old Power |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1992/03/29/tva-new-deal-for-an-old-power/ca353a10-f49e-48f5-85e6-b47396aea8c1/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=March 18, 2023}}</ref> [[Marvin Travis Runyon]], a former corporate executive in the [[automotive industry in the United States|automotive industry]], became chairman of the TVA in January 1988, and pledged to stabilize the agency financially. During his four-year term he worked to reduce management layers, and reduced overhead costs by more than 30%, which required thousands of workers to be laid off and many operations transferred to private contractors. These moves resulted in cumulative savings and efficiency improvements of $1.8 billion (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|1800000000|1992}}}} in {{inflation-year|US-GDP}}{{inflation-fn|US-GDP}}).<ref name="Smothers"/><ref name="Lippman"/> His tenure also saw three of the agency's five nuclear reactors return to service,<ref>{{cite news |last=Lippman |first=Thomas W. |date=April 11, 1990 |title=For TVA, It's Back to a Nuclear Future |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/04/11/for-tva-its-back-to-a-nuclear-future/021659df-d094-45d8-adfa-6a3dfd925c8a/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=January 7, 2019 |archive-date=April 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413221438/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/04/11/for-tva-its-back-to-a-nuclear-future/021659df-d094-45d8-adfa-6a3dfd925c8a/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=August 24, 2010 |title=TVA Ala. Browns Ferry 1, 2 reactor output rises |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/utilities-operations-tva/tva-ala-browns-ferry-1-2-reactor-output-rises-idUSN2423993020100824 |work=Reuters |access-date=March 18, 2023 |archive-date=March 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318073654/https://www.reuters.com/article/utilities-operations-tva/tva-ala-browns-ferry-1-2-reactor-output-rises-idUSN2423993020100824 |url-status=live }}</ref> and the institution of a rate freeze that continued for ten years.<ref>{{cite news |title=TVA Shaped Valley Over Course of Decades New Deal Agency Tamed a River, Changed Many Lives in Impoverished Rural Areas |last=Mansfield |first=Duncan |date=July 6, 1999 |work=Birmingham News}}</ref>