Diferencia entre revisiones de «Autoridad del Valle del Tennessee»
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El [[25 de julio]] de [[2005]], con temperaturas atmosféricas cercanas a los 100 °F (38 °C) sobre gran parte de su área de operación, se informó que la TVA había generado más de 31.703 megawattios, marcando un nuevo récord diario. Al siguiente día, la TVA informó que había roto su récord al generar 31.935 megawattios. [http://www.wbir.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=27487] [http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_70021.asp] TVA ha mantenido un 99,999% de fiabilidad al atender sus clientes de energía en los últimos seis años. |
El [[25 de julio]] de [[2005]], con temperaturas atmosféricas cercanas a los 100 °F (38 °C) sobre gran parte de su área de operación, se informó que la TVA había generado más de 31.703 megawattios, marcando un nuevo récord diario. Al siguiente día, la TVA informó que había roto su récord al generar 31.935 megawattios. [http://www.wbir.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=27487] [http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_70021.asp] TVA ha mantenido un 99,999% de fiabilidad al atender sus clientes de energía en los últimos seis años. |
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El [[22 de septiembre]] de [[2005]], NuStart Energy Development LLC anunció que había seleccionado el emplazamiento de la TVA de [[Bellefonte Nuclear Generating Station|Bellefonte]] cerca de [[Scottsboro, Alabama]] como uno de los dos mejores emplazamientos en el país para una nueva planta nuclear y que solicitaría un permiso combinado de construcción y operación para la misma (ver [[Programa de energía nuclear 2010]]). |
El [[22 de septiembre]] de [[2005]], NuStart Energy Development LLC anunció que había seleccionado el emplazamiento de la TVA de [[Bellefonte Nuclear Generating Station|Bellefonte]] cerca de [[Scottsboro, Alabama]] como uno de los dos mejores emplazamientos en el país para una nueva planta nuclear y que solicitaría un permiso combinado de construcción y operación para la misma (ver [[Programa de energía nuclear 2010]]). |
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The story of the Tennessee Valley Authority starts with Muscle Shoals, a stretch of the Tennessee River where the river drops 140 feet in 30 miles. That drop in elevation created the rapids or "shoals" that the area is named for and made passage farther upstream impossible. The federal government acquired the land in 1916, with the intent of constructing a dam that would generate electricity needed to produce explosives for the World War I effort, but the war ended without a dam being built. |
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In the following years, efforts were made to sell the land back to the private sector. Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska fought to keep the land in public ownership, but his efforts to have it developed were defeated by the resistance of Republican administrations. Calvin Coolidge vetoed one bill in 1928 and Herbert Hoover vetoed another in 1931: |
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The real development of the resources and the industries of the Tennessee Valley can only be accomplished by the people in that valley themselves. Muscle Shoals can only be administered by the people upon the ground, responsible to their own communities, directing them solely for the benefit of their communities and not for purposes of pursuit of social theories or national politics. Any other course deprives them of liberty. |
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The election of Franklin D. Roosevelt altered the balance of power and finally led to action. On May 18, 1933, President Roosevelt signed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, as part of the flurry of legislation that marked Roosevelt`s first 100 days in office. |
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The TVA pledged to improve navigability on the Tennessee River, as well as provide flood control, reforest and improve marginal farm land, assist in industrial and agricultural development, and assist in the creation of a government nitrate and phosphorus manufacturing facility. The TVA was one of the most ambitious projects of the New Deal in its overall conception. |
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The TVA encountered many setbacks and failures and was involved in many controversies, but it brought electricity to thousands of people at an affordable price. It controlled the flood waters of the Tennessee River and improved navigation, as well as introduced modern agriculture techniques. |
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The Tennessee Valley, which drains the Tennessee River and its tributaries, includes parts of seven states: Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. |
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Prior to the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, the region was one of the most disadvantaged in the South. The TVA was given an assignment to improve the economic and social circumstances of the people living in the river basin. |
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture, including the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, U.S. Forest Service, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and 1state agricultural experiment stations and extension services, were (and are) among the agencies that have worked with the TVA to carry out a well-rounded program of rehabilitation for both the land and its people. |
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Direction, dissent, and dams |
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The TVA was first presided over by a three-member board who held differing ideas about the direction the TVA should take. Arthur Morgan was an advocate of social planning, who saw in the TVA an opportunity to build a partnership between government and business. Morgan believed the higher purpose of the TVA was to eliminate poverty in the Tennessee Valley and to act as a model for national regional planning. |
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Harcourt Morgan supported southern commercial farmers and was suspicious of experiments in government planning. David Lilienthal was an outspoken promoter of public power who wanted the TVA to compete directly with private power interests. A battle between the three administrators went on from 1933 until March 1938, when President Roosevelt dismissed Arthur Morgan for his public criticisms of the TVA. |
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In October 1933, construction began on Norris Dam, named after Senator Norris, who had campaigned for the TVA`s creation. The TVA engaged in one of the largest hydropower construction programs ever undertaken in the United States. Sixteen dams and a steam plant were constructed by the TVA between 1933 and 1944. At its peak, a dozen hydroelectric projects and the steam plant were under construction at the same time, and design and construction employment reached a total of 28,000 workers. |
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Each dam along the Tennessee Valley is unique in its design, but the TVA dams can be divided into two general types. The higher dams were built on the tributaries to the Tennessee River. Those dams flooded large areas of land and created huge reservoirs. Norris was 285 feet tall, Hivassee 307 feet, and Fontana 460 feet. |
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The dams along the Tennessee River were lower and broader. They were designed to control navigation and flooding on the Tennessee River. Locks allowed ships to pass from one dam to the next, which opened up a 650-mile channel to Knoxville from the Ohio River. Tonnage of river market trade increased from 32 million ton-miles in 1933 to 161 million ton-miles in 1942. The TVA dams served another purpose as well. They were a popular destination for tourists. During the depression, 1,000 people a day visited Wilson, Wheeler, and Norris dams. |
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Channeling the power of water |
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In the 1930s, nearly 90 percent of urban dwellers had electricity, compared to only 10 percent of rural dwellers. Private utility companies, which supplied electric power to most of the nation`s consumers, argued that it was too expensive to string electric lines to isolated rural farmsteads. In addition, they argued that most farmers were too poor to afford electricity. |
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Rural electrification was based on the belief that affordable electricity would improve the standard of living and the economic competitiveness of the family farm. The Roosevelt Administration believed that if private enterprise could not supply electric power to the people, then it was the duty of the government to do it. |
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Most of the court cases involving the TVA during the 1930s concerned the government`s involvement in the public utilities industry. By 1941, the TVA had become the largest producer of electrical power in the United States. That led to strong opposition from power companies, who were angered by the cheaper energy available through TVA, and saw it as a threat to private development. |
|||
They charged that the federal government`s involvement in the power business was unconstitutional. During the 1930s, numerous court challenges were brought against the TVA. In the end, the Supreme Court ruled that the TVA had the authority to generate power, to sell the electricity, and to distribute that electricity. |
|||
Additionally, the TVA set up the Electric Home and Farm Authority to help farmers purchase major electric appliances. The EHFA made arrangements with appliance makers to supply electric ranges, refrigerators and water heaters at affordable prices, which were then sold at local power companies and electric cooperatives. A farmer could purchase appliances there with loans offered by the EHFA, which offered low-cost financing. |
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New farming methods |
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Farming practices in the Tennessee Valley, like those in other farming communities, attempted to pull as much productivity as possible out of fragile lands. Results were often destructive. Hillsides and valleys were plowed and planted, resulting in the loss of valuable topsoil. |
|||
Such crops as corn, tobacco and cotton left the topsoil exposed during the winter months, which contributed to land erosion. The TVA developed programs to teach farmers how to improve crop yields, replant forests, and improve habitat for fish and wildlife. |
|||
The TVA worked to change old farming practices, and taught farmers to substitute nitrates with such plants as alfalfa and clover that naturally add nitrogen to the soil. TVA extension programs introduced contour plowing, crop rotation, the use of phosphate fertilizers, and the planting of cover crops for soil conservation. |
|||
TVA set up demonstration farms to teach farmers about new techniques and farm products. The farmers chosen to be demonstration farmers were often the area`s most successful, although African-American farmers were not even allowed to participate in the demonstration farm program. |
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TVA today |
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Today, the TVA ranks as America`s largest public power company, with a generating capacity of 31,658 megawatts. Seventeen thousand miles of transmission lines deliver power through 158 locally owned distributors to 8.5 million residents of the Tennessee Valley. |
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The TVA has become a major recreation provider as well. The reservoirs behind its dams provide opportunities for fishing, sailing, canoeing, and many other activities, while some 100 public campgrounds provide facilities close to the water`s edge. |
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1: State and agricultural experiment stations and extension services were so successful at the TVA that they became and are now, through state universities, an important service to rural America in every state. |
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== Referencias == |
== Referencias == |
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Revisión del 01:27 15 mar 2013
| Tennessee Valley Authority | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
 | ||
| Tipo | Corporación independiente adquirida por el Gobierno | |
| Industria | Energía eléctrica | |
| Fundación | 1933 | |
| Fundador |
Franklin D. Roosevelt George W. Norris | |
| Sede central | Knoxville, Tennessee, Estados Unidos | |
| Área de operación |
Tennessee Alabama Misisipi Kentucky Georgia Carolina del Norte Virginia | |
| CEO | Tom Kilgore | |
| Filiales | Mineral Research Laboratory | |
| Sitio web | tva.gov | |
La Autoridad del Valle del Tennessee es una agencia del New Deal creada para generar energía eléctrica y controlar las riadas del río Tennessee en una región que abarca siete estados de los Estados Unidos. El Presidente Franklin Delano Roosevelt firmó la Tennessee Valley Authority Act por la que se creaba la TVA el 18 de mayo de 1933. La agencia todavía existe y ha crecido hasta convertirse en la mayor compañía pública de energía de América.
La Autoridad, cuya sede está en Knoxville (Tennessee), es una corporación de propiedad del gobierno que ahora se autofinancia totalmente. TVA es básicamente un mayorista, que vende a 158 distribuidores de energía detallistas y, directamente, a varios clientes industriales o gubernamentales. Alguna controversia rodea a la TVA, puesto que unos medios de producción de propiedad gubernamental constituyen un estatismo, concepto al que algunos temen. Esta controversia viene arrastrándose desde su concepción.
Durante los años 20, y los de la Gran depresión el público de los Estados Unidos se mostró frustrado por la energía eléctrica de propiedad privada y empezó a apoyar el concepto de la propiedad gubernamental para las compañías de servicios públicos, y en particular para las instalaciones de energía hidroeléctrica. El concepto de instalaciones de generación eléctrica de propiedad gubernamental vendidas a instalaciones de distribución de propiedad pública fue un tema de controversia política. Muchos creyeron que las compañías de energía de propiedad privada no emplearían prácticas de funcionamiento justas y estarían sujetas a los abusos de sus propietarios, compañías holding, a expensas de los consumidores.
Mediante la formación de compañías holding, el sector privado controlaba el 94% de la generación en el año 1921, y de hecho estaban no reglamentadas, debido a que los Estados no podían reglamentar compañías holdings interestatales. (Esta situación dio lugar a la Public Utility Holding Company Act de 1935 (PUHCA)).
Por otro lado, había muchos que creían que el Gobierno no debía participar en el negocio de la generación eléctrica debido a que la propiedad gubernamental conduciría a la explotación de complejos hidroeléctricos. No obstante, la mayoría de los sistemas hidrológicos más grandes están gestionados por el gobierno federal. Los consumidores de energía regionales se benefician de la electricidad de más bajo costo suministrada por la red de 28 instalaciones hidroeléctrica de la TVA. Los favorables a la TVA, no obstante, destacan que la gestión de la agencia del sistema del río Tennessee sin los adecuados fondos federales, ahorran de pagar anualmente millones de dólares a los contribuyentes federales.
En los años siguientes a la Gran Depresión, el Congreso de los Estados Unidos temió las medidas para aliviar la situación de los agricultores y los desempleados, y una de estas medidas fue el desarrollo de la energía de propiedad federal. Uno de los mayores esquemas se estableció en el río Tennessee al amparo de la Tennessee Valley Authority Act de 1933. Bajo esta ley el Gobierno Federal suministró energía eléctrica a los Estados, condados, municipios y cooperativas sin ánimo de lucro. Fue parte de las iniciativas federales para facilitar la navegación, el control de riadas, materiales estratégicos para la defensa nacional, energía eléctrica, alivio del desempleo y mejora de las condiciones de vida en las áreas rurales. La TVA fue más que un simple proveedor de energía.
En su papel de proveedor de energía se le dio permiso para suscribir contratos a largo plazo (20 años) para la venta de energía a las agencias gubernamentales y a las entidades privadas. También puede construir líneas de distribución de tendido eléctrico a áreas que de otro modo no recibirían el suministro y establecer reglas y regulaciones para el detall y la distribución de la electricidad. La TVA es a la vez proveedor y regulador.
Historia
Década de 1930
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Incluso para los niveles de la Depresión, el valle del Tennessee presentaba un triste panorama en 1933. Gran parte de la tierra había sido cultivada tan intensivamente y por tanto tiempo, que la tierra estaba erosionada y agotada. Los rendimientos de las cosechas habían caído junto con los ingresos agrícolas. Los mejores bosques habían sido cortados. La TVA desarrolló fertilizantes, enseñó a los agricultores a mejorar el rendimiento de las cosechas, ayudó a replantar bosques, controlar sus incendios, y mejorar el hábitat para la fauna terrestre y fluvial. El cambio más espectacular en la vida del valle procedió de la electricidad generada por los embalses de la TVA.
La luz y los modernos aparatos eléctricos hicieron la vida más fácil y las granjas más productivas. La electricidad también promovió la implantación de industrias en la región, proporcionando trabajos desesperadamente necesarios.
Nada de esto fue fácil. El desarrollo de los embalses supuso el traslado de personas de sus casas y la inundación de sus tierras. Esto naturalmente llevó a un resentimiento y un sentimiento anti-TVA entre algunas comunidades rurales. Los propietarios de tierras locales fueron naturalmente sospechosos de agencias gubernamentales. Pero la TVA introdujo con éxito nuevos métodos agrícolas en las comunidades tradicionales. Lo hicieron armonizando y buscando líderes locales.
Los agricultores de Tennessee no querían aceptar los consejos de los agentes en traje y corbata. La gente de TVA tenía que identificar los líderes en las comunidades y convencerles de que la rotación de cultivos y la aplicación juiciosa de fertilizantes eran los medios para recuperar la fertilidad de la tierra. Una vez habían convencido a los líderes, el resto les seguía.
Década de 1940
Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, los Estados Unidos necesitaron aluminio para construir bombas y aviones, y las plantas para la obtención de aluminio consumían electricidad. Para suministrar energía a estas industrias de guerra críticas, TVA se involucró en un gran programa de construcción de hidroenergía, sin precedentes en los Estados Unidos. Al principio de 1942, cuando el esfuerzo alcanzó su punto culminante, 12 proyectos hidroeléctricos y una planta de vapor estaban simultáneamente en construcción, y el empleo generado para su diseño y construcción alcanzaba un total de 28.000 trabajadores.
TVA también suministraba gran parte de la electricidad necesaria para separación de uranio utilizando Calutrones en el Complejo de Seguridad Nacional Y-12 en Oak Ridge, la cual era necesaria para el Proyecto Manhattan.
Década de 1950
Al final de la guerra, la TVA había completado un canal de navegación de 650 millas (1.050 km) a lo largo del río Tennessee y pasó a ser el mayor proveedor de electricidad del país. A pesar de ello, la demanda de electricidad superó la capacidad de la TVA para producir electricidad a partir de embalses hidroeléctricos. Las interferencias políticas impidieron que la TVA obtuviera expropiaciones federales para construir plantas alimentadas con carbón, de modo que buscó la autorización para emitir bonos. En 1959 el Congreso aprobó la legislación para que las actividades de energía de la TVA fueran autofinanciadas, y a partir de este momento tuviera su propia gestión financiera.
Década de 1960
Los años 60 fueron de un crecimiento económico sin precedentes en el valle del Tennessee. Las explotaciones agrícolas y los bosques presentaban el mejor aspecto que habían tenido en generaciones. Las tarifas eléctricas estaban entre las más bajas de la nación y siguieron siendo bajas mientras la TVA compraba y ponía mayores y más eficientes unidades de generación. En previsión de que las necesidades de energía eléctrica del valle siguieran creciendo, la TVA empezó a construir reactores nucleares, como una nueva fuentes de energía económica.
Décadas de 1970 y 1980
En la economía del Valle del Tennessee y en la de toda la nación, se produjeron importantes cambios, derivados de un embargo internacional del petróleo en 1973 y disparando los costes del combustible en el resto de la década. El coste medio de la electricidad en el valle del Tennessee se multiplicó por cinco en el período comprendido entre los primeros años 70 y los primeros años 80. Con la demanda de energía cayendo y los costes de construcción subiendo, la TVA canceló la construcción de varias plantas nucleares, como hicieron otras compañías de todo el país.
Década de 1990
En cuanto la industria de generación eléctrica se desplazó hacia la reestructuración y la desregulación, la TVA empezó a prepararse para hacer frente a la competencia. Recortó los costes de funcionamiento en cerca de 800 millones de dólares por año, redujo su plantilla laboral a menos de la mitad, incrementó la capacidad de generación de sus plantas, paró la construcción de plantas nucleares, y desarrolló un plan para atender las necesidades del valle del Tennessee hasta el año 2020.
Década de los 2000
TVA ha sido recientemente noticia de nuevo por su reducción de plantilla y por iniciar nuevas campañas para mejorar su imagen. También ha recibido la aprobación de las organizaciones pro-nucleares al poner en funcionamiento de nuevo el reactor nuclear de Browns Ferry (unidad 1), que se encontraba cerrado para su desinstalación. (Con datos a 2005, la TVA era la propietaria y operadora de las plantas de energía nuclear de Browns Ferry, Sequoyah y Watts Bar.) En el 2004, TVA implementó las recomendaciones del Reservoir Operations Study (ROS), en el modo de funcionamiento del sistema del río Tennessee (el quinto más grande del país).
La TVA es uno de los mayores productores de electricidad en los Estados Unidos y actúa como un coordinador de la fiabilidad de la red regional. El conjunto energético de la TVA, al año 2004, era de 11 plantas alimentadas por combustible fósil, 29 embalses hidroeléctricos, 3 plantas de energía nuclear (con cinco reactores y uno para entrar en funcionamiento de nuevo) y seis plantas de combustión de turbina. Las plantas de combustible fósil produjeron alrededor del 61% del total generado en el año fiscal 2004, por la TVA. La energía nuclear produjo alrededor del 29%, y la hidroeléctrica el 9%. [1].
El 25 de julio de 2005, con temperaturas atmosféricas cercanas a los 100 °F (38 °C) sobre gran parte de su área de operación, se informó que la TVA había generado más de 31.703 megawattios, marcando un nuevo récord diario. Al siguiente día, la TVA informó que había roto su récord al generar 31.935 megawattios. [2] [3] TVA ha mantenido un 99,999% de fiabilidad al atender sus clientes de energía en los últimos seis años. El 22 de septiembre de 2005, NuStart Energy Development LLC anunció que había seleccionado el emplazamiento de la TVA de Bellefonte cerca de Scottsboro, Alabama como uno de los dos mejores emplazamientos en el país para una nueva planta nuclear y que solicitaría un permiso combinado de construcción y operación para la misma (ver Programa de energía nuclear 2010). The story of the Tennessee Valley Authority starts with Muscle Shoals, a stretch of the Tennessee River where the river drops 140 feet in 30 miles. That drop in elevation created the rapids or "shoals" that the area is named for and made passage farther upstream impossible. The federal government acquired the land in 1916, with the intent of constructing a dam that would generate electricity needed to produce explosives for the World War I effort, but the war ended without a dam being built.
In the following years, efforts were made to sell the land back to the private sector. Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska fought to keep the land in public ownership, but his efforts to have it developed were defeated by the resistance of Republican administrations. Calvin Coolidge vetoed one bill in 1928 and Herbert Hoover vetoed another in 1931:
The real development of the resources and the industries of the Tennessee Valley can only be accomplished by the people in that valley themselves. Muscle Shoals can only be administered by the people upon the ground, responsible to their own communities, directing them solely for the benefit of their communities and not for purposes of pursuit of social theories or national politics. Any other course deprives them of liberty.
The election of Franklin D. Roosevelt altered the balance of power and finally led to action. On May 18, 1933, President Roosevelt signed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, as part of the flurry of legislation that marked Roosevelt`s first 100 days in office.
The TVA pledged to improve navigability on the Tennessee River, as well as provide flood control, reforest and improve marginal farm land, assist in industrial and agricultural development, and assist in the creation of a government nitrate and phosphorus manufacturing facility. The TVA was one of the most ambitious projects of the New Deal in its overall conception.
The TVA encountered many setbacks and failures and was involved in many controversies, but it brought electricity to thousands of people at an affordable price. It controlled the flood waters of the Tennessee River and improved navigation, as well as introduced modern agriculture techniques.
The Tennessee Valley, which drains the Tennessee River and its tributaries, includes parts of seven states: Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.
Prior to the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, the region was one of the most disadvantaged in the South. The TVA was given an assignment to improve the economic and social circumstances of the people living in the river basin.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, including the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, U.S. Forest Service, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and 1state agricultural experiment stations and extension services, were (and are) among the agencies that have worked with the TVA to carry out a well-rounded program of rehabilitation for both the land and its people.
Direction, dissent, and dams
The TVA was first presided over by a three-member board who held differing ideas about the direction the TVA should take. Arthur Morgan was an advocate of social planning, who saw in the TVA an opportunity to build a partnership between government and business. Morgan believed the higher purpose of the TVA was to eliminate poverty in the Tennessee Valley and to act as a model for national regional planning.
Harcourt Morgan supported southern commercial farmers and was suspicious of experiments in government planning. David Lilienthal was an outspoken promoter of public power who wanted the TVA to compete directly with private power interests. A battle between the three administrators went on from 1933 until March 1938, when President Roosevelt dismissed Arthur Morgan for his public criticisms of the TVA.
In October 1933, construction began on Norris Dam, named after Senator Norris, who had campaigned for the TVA`s creation. The TVA engaged in one of the largest hydropower construction programs ever undertaken in the United States. Sixteen dams and a steam plant were constructed by the TVA between 1933 and 1944. At its peak, a dozen hydroelectric projects and the steam plant were under construction at the same time, and design and construction employment reached a total of 28,000 workers.
Each dam along the Tennessee Valley is unique in its design, but the TVA dams can be divided into two general types. The higher dams were built on the tributaries to the Tennessee River. Those dams flooded large areas of land and created huge reservoirs. Norris was 285 feet tall, Hivassee 307 feet, and Fontana 460 feet.
The dams along the Tennessee River were lower and broader. They were designed to control navigation and flooding on the Tennessee River. Locks allowed ships to pass from one dam to the next, which opened up a 650-mile channel to Knoxville from the Ohio River. Tonnage of river market trade increased from 32 million ton-miles in 1933 to 161 million ton-miles in 1942. The TVA dams served another purpose as well. They were a popular destination for tourists. During the depression, 1,000 people a day visited Wilson, Wheeler, and Norris dams.
Channeling the power of water
In the 1930s, nearly 90 percent of urban dwellers had electricity, compared to only 10 percent of rural dwellers. Private utility companies, which supplied electric power to most of the nation`s consumers, argued that it was too expensive to string electric lines to isolated rural farmsteads. In addition, they argued that most farmers were too poor to afford electricity.
Rural electrification was based on the belief that affordable electricity would improve the standard of living and the economic competitiveness of the family farm. The Roosevelt Administration believed that if private enterprise could not supply electric power to the people, then it was the duty of the government to do it.
Most of the court cases involving the TVA during the 1930s concerned the government`s involvement in the public utilities industry. By 1941, the TVA had become the largest producer of electrical power in the United States. That led to strong opposition from power companies, who were angered by the cheaper energy available through TVA, and saw it as a threat to private development.
They charged that the federal government`s involvement in the power business was unconstitutional. During the 1930s, numerous court challenges were brought against the TVA. In the end, the Supreme Court ruled that the TVA had the authority to generate power, to sell the electricity, and to distribute that electricity.
Additionally, the TVA set up the Electric Home and Farm Authority to help farmers purchase major electric appliances. The EHFA made arrangements with appliance makers to supply electric ranges, refrigerators and water heaters at affordable prices, which were then sold at local power companies and electric cooperatives. A farmer could purchase appliances there with loans offered by the EHFA, which offered low-cost financing.
New farming methods
Farming practices in the Tennessee Valley, like those in other farming communities, attempted to pull as much productivity as possible out of fragile lands. Results were often destructive. Hillsides and valleys were plowed and planted, resulting in the loss of valuable topsoil.
Such crops as corn, tobacco and cotton left the topsoil exposed during the winter months, which contributed to land erosion. The TVA developed programs to teach farmers how to improve crop yields, replant forests, and improve habitat for fish and wildlife.
The TVA worked to change old farming practices, and taught farmers to substitute nitrates with such plants as alfalfa and clover that naturally add nitrogen to the soil. TVA extension programs introduced contour plowing, crop rotation, the use of phosphate fertilizers, and the planting of cover crops for soil conservation.
TVA set up demonstration farms to teach farmers about new techniques and farm products. The farmers chosen to be demonstration farmers were often the area`s most successful, although African-American farmers were not even allowed to participate in the demonstration farm program.
TVA today
Today, the TVA ranks as America`s largest public power company, with a generating capacity of 31,658 megawatts. Seventeen thousand miles of transmission lines deliver power through 158 locally owned distributors to 8.5 million residents of the Tennessee Valley.
The TVA has become a major recreation provider as well. The reservoirs behind its dams provide opportunities for fishing, sailing, canoeing, and many other activities, while some 100 public campgrounds provide facilities close to the water`s edge.
1: State and agricultural experiment stations and extension services were so successful at the TVA that they became and are now, through state universities, an important service to rural America in every state.
Referencias
(en inglés):
- David Ekbladh, "'Mr. TVA': Grass-Roots Development, David Lilienthal, and the Rise and Fall of the Tennessee Valley Authority as a Symbol for U.S. Overseas Development, 1933–1973" Diplomatic History Summer 2002 Vol. 26 Issue 3 pp 335-374 (“Mr. TVA: Desarrollo de las raíces de la hierbam David Llienthal y el ascenso y caída de la TVA como un símbolo del Desarrollo mundial de USA, 1933-1973”. “Historia Diplomática” Verano 2002, Vol.26, Número 3 pp.335-374.
- Arthur E. Morgan. The Making of the TVA (1974) por su primer Presidente.
- Philip Selznick. TVA and the Grass Roots: A Study in the Sociology of Formal Organization (1949)
Enlaces externos
Wikimedia Commons alberga una galería multimedia sobre Autoridad del Valle del Tennessee.
(en inglés):