'Oh my. Look at the timing,' Memphis city leaders call TVA study 'political,' not informative

Samuel Hardiman
Memphis Commercial Appeal

The Tennessee Valley Authority faced a tough crowd Tuesday.

More:As decision on departure looms, report says TVA brings an economic impact of more than $1 billion annually

When executives from the federal power provider left the Memphis City Council's chambers Tuesday morning, Councilman Chase Carlisle, who had just lambasted the company, turned to his colleagues and quipped, "My foot's sore." 

Carlisle and fellow councilmembers Jeff Warren, JB Smiley Jr. and Cheyenne Johnson hammered TVA and expressed skepticism that a report on the power provider's economic impact in the region was anything more than a political maneuver. 

TVA executive Mark Yates listens to tough questions from the Memphis City Council about TVA's regional economic impact. Memphis, Light, Gas and Water is considering leaving the Tennessee Valley Authority.

TVA paid the Greater Memphis Chamber $75,000 for the report. The report, released last week, claimed that TVA has had a $1 billion impact on the region's gross domestic product between 2016 to 2020. The report, which was produced last year but just became public, rubbed many members the wrong way. 

More:TVA CEO Jeff Lyash: Any savings Memphis could find outside of TVA are 'illusory'

Memphis, Light, Gas and Water, the city-owned utility, is in the midst of deciding whether it should leave TVA. MLGW buys all of its electricity from TVA for about $1 billion a year.

More than 20 private firms have bid on Memphis' power supply. The process is expected to conclude later this year. MLGW will present preliminary findings next month, though it is unclear how much information will be shared.

The City Council has the final vote on whether Memphis leaves TVA and, from the display Tuesday, it did not look like TVA had many friends on the city's legislative body. 

"Oh my. Look at the timing," Carlisle said of the impact study. He told TVA executives John Bradley and Mark Yates that they were better served not looking back and trying to demonstrate what the power provider had done in the past and, instead, communicating in writing what they were willing to do for Memphis, which is the company's largest customer. 

Johnson, who has spent the past several months trying to find an independent consultant to help inform the council on the power supply process, said the timing of the report was suspect and she questioned why it was coming now. She said it appeared an attempt to influence the power supply process. 

"Was that a question mark for anybody?," Johnson said. "You’ve been here for 80 years."

"The timing of this seems more political than informative," Councilman Jeff Warren said after he once again questioned TVA about its decision to take coal ash from the retired Allen Fossil Plant and move it to a Memphis landfill. 

"It is not politically motivated. It is to uphold, as we always do, our obligations," Yates said to the council.

Before TVA left, Smiley reminded TVA that Memphis is its largest customer and used the Memphis Grizzlies to do it. 

"Every time you come before this body, this body is going to assume its some sort of lobbying being done so we make some decision in your favor when it comes to the power supply contract," Smiley said. "At some point in time, TVA will stop treating us like a role player and start treating us like Ja Morant." 

TVA's allies on the city council — Councilman Martavius Jones and Councilwoman Patrice Robinson — tried to defuse the situation. Robinson said council members should be frustrated with her because she asked TVA to quantify its impact. 

"It is with me," Robinson said. "Hopefully, as we move forward, we will be more welcoming to the information." 

Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by email at samuel.hardiman@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter at @samhardiman.