A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request demonstrates the Tenessee Valley Authority, the largest public utility in the nation, used funds for unauthorized activities including paying a law firm, according to four environmental organizations. The groups have asked the TVA Office of Inspector General to investigate the matter.
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“The environmental groups seeking a review of the relationship point to documents from the UARG’s Nonattainment Committee, which was co-chaired by Don Houston, a TVA senior manager. In that role, he approved billing hours and invoices from Hunton Andrews Kurth, a Washington, D.C., law firm that worked for the group, documents show.
Expense reports for the years 2015 through July 2018 show the committee spent nearly $3.5 million on legal fees and expenses and only about $48,000 on technical expenses. While TVA may not have put its name on lobbying efforts and lawsuits, it was paying for them, the environmental groups allege.
TVA did not directly respond to the new allegations but said in a written statement that “contacting the OIG or any other TVA oversight groups is an appropriate avenue for any member of the public to raise potential concerns.”
The statement added: “Although TVA supported the decision to disband the Utility Air Regulatory Group (UARG) in May 2019, our customers have directly benefited from the research and technical expertise gained from UARG participation, including significantly reduced air emissions and cleaner energy.”
A spokesperson for the inspector general’s office, Terri Beatty, declined to comment on the letter, which also calls for a review of any TVA involvement in other trade groups, including the Utility Solid Waste Activities Group, the Utility Water Act Group, the Clean Air Act Monitoring Service and the Climate Legal Group.
TVA should not be “suing the federal government over existing laws and regulations, especially when they are part of the federal government,” said Daniel Tait, chief operating officer of Energy Alabama, one of the nonprofits requesting the review. “Even if they were a private utility, these are bedrock environmental regulations that protect public health.”“