United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1999-05-17 monographic deposited born digital 96 p. GA 1.13:RCED-99-154 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-154 P0b002ee1803a3af9 f:rc99154 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-154 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-154 RCED-99-154 Environmental policies Hydroelectric powerplants Electric power generation Cost effectiveness analysis Flood control management Water supply management Hydroelectric energy Inland waterways Chattanooga (TN) Knoxville (TN) Paducah (KY) Tennessee River (TN) TVA Flood Risk Reduction Program TVA Alternate Operations Evaluation Program Chapter Report RCED Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) management of its multipurpose tributary projects, focusing on: (1) the purposes served by TVA's multipurpose tributary projects and how TVA operates these projects within its integrated system; (2) the operational changes TVA made to these projects as a result of its December 1990 review of its project operations and the major factors influencing these changes; (3) the actions TVA has taken since the 1990 review to address requests for changes in the way it operates these projects; and (4) TVA's plans for any future changes in the way it operates these projects. GAO is also providing information on a selected update by TVA of its analysis performed in the 1990 review. GAO noted that: (1) the operation of the multipurpose tributary projects serves several purposes--primarily navigation and flood control, and to the extent consistent with these purposes, hydroelectric power production; (2) these three operating priorities are contained in the TVA Act of 1933; (3) TVA can permit operation of the projects for other purposes; (4) in operating its integrated system, TVA often finds that the multiple purposes served by the projects can conflict or compete with each other; (5) TVA attempts to balance the various purposes served to provide the greatest public benefits from the waters of the Tennessee River and its tributaries while adhering to the operating priorities; (6) a key change resulting from its December 1990 review of project operations was TVA's delaying the annual lake drawdown at the multipurpose tributary projects from Memorial Day to August 1; (7) the major factor influencing this change was that, of the seven alternatives examined in the 1990 review, this alternative had the least impact on TVA's systemwide cost of supplying electric power; (8) all of the alternatives reduced TVA's ability to generate hydroelectric power during periods of peak power demand; (9) TVA estimated that the selected alternative would require replacing some hydroelectric power with power from more expensive generation sources; (10) since the 1990 review, little has changed in how TVA operates its multipurpose tributary projects; (11) because it had been receiving an increasing number of requests to analyze changes in the lake levels for individual lakes, TVA determined that a piecemeal approach raised questions of fairness in how each lake would be treated within TVA's system; (12) therefore, in March 1997, TVA established a 4-year moratorium on making any changes in lake levels; (13) TVA has recognized that any future changes to its policies impacting lake levels require further study; (14) in July 1998, an internal TVA task force report recommended that TVA continue its moratorium and start reevaluating policies impacting lake levels within the next 2 to 4 years; (15) the task force also noted the complexities involved in carrying out such a study and identified several areas requiring further attention; and (16) among these are a proactive communication plan with the public and better evaluation methodologies for costs and benefits. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-154/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-154.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-154/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-154.pdf GAO/RCED-99-154 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-154 Chapter Report GAO/RCED-99-154; Tennessee Valley Authority: Future Study of Lake Levels; Environmental policies Hydroelectric powerplants Electric power generation Cost effectiveness analysis Flood control management Water supply management Hydroelectric energy Inland waterways Chattanooga (TN) Knoxville (TN) Paducah (KY) Tennessee River (TN) TVA Flood Risk Reduction Program TVA Alternate Operations Evaluation Program