‘TVA does a very good job’ says Lamar Alexander after Trump fires chair

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - United States Senator Lamar Alexander responded to President Trump’s reprimanding of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s leadership Monday by saying he believes the company is “doing a good job.”

“TVA may have shown poor judgment hiring foreign companies during a pandemic, but, on most counts, it does a very good job of producing large amounts of low-cost, reliable electricity. Residential electric rates are among the 25 percent lowest in the country, and industrial rates are among the lowest 10 percent. TVA’s debt is the lowest in 30 years, its pension fund is stronger and TVA leads the country in new nuclear power plants,” said Alexander in an official statement. “According to TVA, the annual total compensation of TVA’s CEO is in the bottom fourth of what the CEOs of other big utilities earn and is set strictly according to requirements of federal law. TVA receives no federal tax dollars.”

TVA issued a response to the order by President Trump saying, “Collectively, our 10,000 employees across several states are committed - each and every day- to improving the lives of the 10 million people we serve.”

President Trump said the company had “betrayed American workers” by hiring foreign employees.

He also said the TVA board must immediately hire a new chief executive officer who “puts the interests of Americans first.”

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