The following highlights are from the "public listening session" following the formal board meeting.
"I expect a federal agency to do a better job protecting the environment than a private, profit-making corporation. And I expect TVA to make decisions that are sustainable for 100 years. I'm shocked that TVA had a non-sustainable approach to ash storage and ignored the warning signs that the dam could break."
--David Reister, Head of the Knoxville Chapter of the Sierra Club
"I live along the Emory River. I've been there 30 years, and I've had to get out of there in 10 minutes. Everyone who lives along that river knows how much rain can come ...The thought that this ash might increase the flooding there is kind of terrifying ... What if the hundred-year flood occurs? And if the ash is not cleaned up by then, what's it going to do to my town?"
--Barbara Majors, Harriman resident
"If you want to make a lot of money capitalizing on cost-to-risk ratios, move to Las Vegas and stop gambling with our lives and our land ... You have been serving us devastation in the form of costly and ready electricity, and this must change. You should be ashamed of yourselves and your PR machine."
--Amanda Cagle, Chattanooga Earth First and Mountain Justice
(Note: Cagle also presented the board with an open letter to TVA and President Obama, a call for a "green new deal" and a call for Kingston disaster relief. If or when she sends these documents to me, I'll post them here.)
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