Conn. v. American Electric, Memo in Support of Motion to Dismiss ...

TVA Is Charged by Statute With the Multipurpose Development
of the Resources of the Tennessee Valley Region.
Under the TVA Act, TVA is charged with broad responsibilities for the
multipurpose development of the Tennessee Valley region. As the Supreme Court stated in
United States ex rel. TVA v. Welch, 327 U.S. 546, 553 (1946):
The broad responsibilities placed on the Authority [by the TVA Act] relate to
navigability, flood control, reforestation, marginal lands, and agricultural
and industrial development of the whole Tennessee Valley. The T.V.A. was
empowered to make contracts, purchase and sell property deemed necessary or
convenient in the transaction of its business, and to build dams, reservoirs,
transmission lines, power houses, and other structures. . . . All of the
Authority’s actions in these respects were to be directed towards
“development of the natural resources of the Tennessee River drainage basin
and of such adjoining territory as may be related to or materially affected by
the development consequent to this Act . . . all for the general purpose of
fostering an orderly and proper physical, economic, and social development
of said areas . . .” To discharge its responsibilities the T.V.A. was granted “such
powers as may be necessary or appropriate” for their exercise. 8
Three of TVA’s major multipurpose development programs are in the areas of
electric power, river operations, and land management. These programs were recently
summarized in the Federal Register:
TVA is a multipurpose federal corporation with a mandate to foster
the social and economic well-being of the residents of the Tennessee Valley
region through the wise use, conservation, and development of its natural
resources. In carrying out this mission, TVA conducts a range of programs
and activities, including operating the Nation’s largest public power system,
serving almost nine million people in parts of seven southeastern states, and
operating a system of dams and reservoirs with associated facilities--its water
control system.
As directed by the TVA Act, TVA manages the Tennessee River and
reservoir system as an integrated water control system primarily for the purposes
of navigation, flood control, and power production. Consistent with those
purposes, TVA operates the system to improve water quality and water supply,
8 Emphasis added above and throughout this memorandum unless noted otherwise.
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