In the 1930's, our country, as well as the rest of the world was plagued by the Great Depression that ensued after the Stock Market Crash of 1929. This Depression forever changed the world as people knew it. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the New Deal. The New Deal was a very large series of acts and attempts to try and get America back on its feet. The New Deal’s main function was designed to get money back into the economy and millions of people back into the workplace.Roosevelt wanted something big to really get the New Deal going. He came up with the idea for a new organization that could do what the government couldn’t. He asked Congress to create “a corporation clothed with the power of government but possessed of the flexibility and initiative of a private enterprise.” On May 18, 1933, Congress passed the TVA Act. TVA stands for Tennessee Valley Authority.The name of the act was based on the Tennessee Valley where the land and people of the land were in very desperate need of assistance. The valley had been stripped away of most of its forests, the land was nearly depleted of its nutrients due to aggressive, over farming, and farmers were faring very poorly from lack of sufficient crop yields.The TVA immediately set to work to aid this region. The TVA was equipped with a wide range off intellectuals and doers who were able to take in many situations and problems and find a solution to them that would work quickly in the present, and continue to work for years and years to come. This far-sighted approach to the work is one of the reasons why the TVA is still a large and prosperous organization to this day.For the problems in the Tennessee Valley, the TVA conservation team (though I don’t think that’s what it was called back then but that is just what I am going to call it because it’s basically what they were) produced new and safer fertilizers and helped the farmers produce better crop yield without decimating the land. The forests were being rebuilt as thousands and thousands of new trees were planted and the wildlife and fish habitats were renewed and improved.Dams and other electricity producing plants were also built in the valley and surrounding region which improved the lives of the residents and farmers, and brought many new jobs into the area.In the 1940’s, during World War II, metal factories and industries needed to produce sufficient metal for bombs, weapons, planes, and other instruments of war at a very fast rate. The TVA supplied enough electricity for these plants to build for the war. The TVA built 12 new hydroelectric plants and a steam plant to meet demands. The employment for all of these plants was at least 28,000.
In the 1950’s, the TVA had become the nation’s largest electricity supplier. However, the nation was still in demand for more electricity than the TVA was able to produce at the time. Interference in the government prevented the TVA from proper progression that would allow them to expand as much as they wanted to keep up with the demand for electricity. Congress passed the law that would make the TVA self sustaining. This meant that the TVA would pay for its own expenses and could abound by itself.From the 1960’s to the 1980’s, the TVA experienced some great growth as well as some tough times. In the 60’s, electricity rates were extremely low. The forests were plentiful and healthier than they had been in a long time. The TVA was also building nuclear power plants to improve efficiency in an environmentally safe way. Throughout the late 70’s and 80’s however, the TVA had to cut construction for several nuclear power plants to compensate for the rise in power rates. They were able to cut costs while also being more efficient.In the 1990’s, TVA was able to cut production costs by at least $800 million a year. They also cut employment by half and improved efficiency. They were able to then focus on reducing pollutants in the air. They created plants that would reduce air emissions. They pushed for stricter emissions laws and became leaders in clean air policies.From 2000 to the present, the TVA has continued to help the Tennessee Valley as well as the rest of America to become a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable country. TVA was able to achieve a level of 99.99% reliability for consumers since 1999. They reopened several nuclear power plants that have increased the power supply exponentially. In 2005, they were succeeded in their mission to reduce nitrogen emissions in the ozone to below 1995 levels which is a drop of more than 80% of emissions.By this year, 2010, the TVA has also tried reducing sulfur dioxide emissions by nearly 90% which would bring the levels of those emissions under that of the emissions of 1977. In the years to come, the Tennessee Valley Authority will continue to grow by leaps and bounds. They have proven in the past that they are capable of leading America into a new age of efficiency and a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable environment for all to enjoy.I am personally shocked that I have never actually heard of the TVA until I was assigned to blog about them. I can tell you now though, after doing my research on the matter, I am a new fan of the TVA and the great things that they have done for our country and have promised to continue to do for our country in the years to come.http://www.tva.gov/abouttva/history.htmhttp://newdeal.feri.org/
It actually was one of the most controversial New deal programs because everyone had to pay taxes to support it but yet it only benefited a small portion of the country.
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