TVA Archives - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

30 Oct, 2024

TVA fights public records lawsuit over its grants to cryptocurrency mines
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TVA fights public records lawsuit over its grants to cryptocurrency mines

Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

TVA fights public records lawsuit over its grants to cryptocurrency mines

By Deborah Fisher|2024-10-30T12:25:51-05:00October 30, 2024|Categories: Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: economic development records, Knoxville News Sentinel, Paul McAdoo, public records lawsuit, TVA|0 Comments

The Tennessee Valley Authority has refused to release documents about its grants to cryptocurrency companies, including one in Knoxville, and is now fighting a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit from a journalist and UT professor over it. TVA claims that releasing how much it gave the company in economic incentives would reveal its own trade secrets and violate the privacy rights of the employees in the companies that received the grants.

7 Mar, 2019

Tennessee lawmakers consider support for requiring TVA to hold open meetings

By Deborah Fisher|2019-06-08T07:26:54-05:00March 7, 2019|Categories: Legislature|Tags: State Sen. Ken Yager, Tim Burchett, TVA, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen|2 Comments

Tennessee state lawmakers are considering a resolution to express support for a bill in Congress that would require TVA's Board of Directors to hold open meetings. State Sen. Ken Yager of Kingston is asking for a Senate resolution to support a bill in Congress to require TVA to hold open meetings that the public can attend. State Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston, explained Senate Joint Resolution 192 in a Senate committee meeting this week, in which the resolution won unanimous approval. "We all know, Mr. Chairman, that the TVA is the steward of billions of dollars of ratepayers money," Yager told members of the Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee this week. [...]

31 Jan, 2019

Burchett introduces bill to require open meetings of TVA board

By Deborah Fisher|2019-06-08T07:33:36-05:00January 31, 2019|Categories: US House of Representatives|Tags: open meetings, Tim Burchett, TVA, U.S House of Representatives|0 Comments

U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, has introduced legislation to require TVA board meetings to be open to the public. U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R- Knoxville, introduced legislation that would require that TVA's board meetings, and meetings of board subcommittees, be open to the public. The current law governing the board of the Tennessee Valley Authority, which was created by Congress in 1933, requires it to have four meetings a year. But there is no provision requiring that all of its meetings be open to the public, nor that minutes of meetings be publicly available. Burchett's legislation would require the board and subcommittees of the board to hold their [...]

13 Jan, 2015

TVA denies News Sentinel appeal to release incentives for auto-parts maker

By Deborah Fisher|2015-01-13T10:31:31-06:00January 13, 2015|Categories: economic development|Tags: economic development records, FOIA Exemption 5, Knoxville News Sentinel, public records, TVA, U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr.|0 Comments

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that TVA has rejected the newspaper's appeal to reveal the incentives given to a South Korean company to expand its auto-parts manufacturing plant in Clinton. The contract for the incentives is already signed, and the deal is done, but the government-owned utility said it would hurt its competitive advantage if it revealed how much money it gave SL Tennessee. Here is an excerpt from the story, written by reporter Bob Fowler, which can be found online at knoxnews.com. At issue is what types of lures TVA dangled before a South Korean company — SL Tennessee — in exchange for its announcement last summer that it [...]

3 Dec, 2014

News Sentinel: Congressman blasts TVA for refusing to disclose subsidies

By Deborah Fisher|2014-12-03T16:32:07-06:00December 3, 2014|Categories: economic development|Tags: Knoxville News Sentinel, TVA, U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr.|0 Comments

TVA's refusal to release how much it gave a South Korean auto parts maker in economic subsidies to locate in Clinton, Tennessee, has drawn fire from a congressman. The Knoxville News Sentinel made a public records request under the Freedom of Information Act for TVA documents that would outline the economic incentives for SL Tennessee, but the government utility refused to release them, saying it would harm their competitive position with other utilities who also recruit industry. In a story posted on its website today, the News Sentinel quotes U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. questioning why TVA would keep the deal secret, and even the wisdom of the incentives themselves. [...]