Obama takes TVA off the block

Sale of utility not in new budget

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration apparently has given up on selling the Tennessee Valley Authority

resident Ba rack Obama’s $4.1 trillion proposed budget for f iscal year 2017, submitted to Congress Tuesday, makes no mention of putting the public utility under state and local control — the first time in four years such language has been missing from the president’s spending plan.

The administration appeared to be backing away from its proposal to sell the TVA when it submitted last year’s budget.

At the time, the administration noted TVA had taken significant steps to improve its operating and financial performance, but said it would continue to monitor the utility’s progress toward achieving the goals in its long-term financial plan.

Regardless, the budget document for last year seemed to leave open the possibility that TVA could be sold.

“The administration continues to believe that reducing or eliminating the federal government’s role in programs such as TVA, which have achieved their original objectives, can help mitigate risk to taxpayers,” it said.

None of that language is in this year’s budget, signaling that the administration has finally put the proposal to rest.

“I am glad the Obama administration abandoned this ill-advised idea in last year’s budget proposal and that it didn’t resurface in this year’s proposal,” said U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on energy and water development.

Alexander, a Maryville Republican, had opposed selling TVA, arguing there is no federal taxpayer subsidy for the utility and that selling it to a profit-making entity could possibly leader to higher electricity rates.