Comments on: Tellico http://tommyacaldwell.com/blog/2008/04/13/tellico/ Welcome to the summer. Please leave your brain in your shoe. Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:40:47 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: tommy http://tommyacaldwell.com/blog/2008/04/13/tellico/comment-page-1/#comment-1120 tommy Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:17:59 +0000 http://tommyacaldwell.com/blog/?p=112#comment-1120 R. Neal - Yes, the dam is a bad return. Not much gain, and huge loss. Mickey - Neither am I. R. Neal -
Yes, the dam is a bad return. Not much gain, and huge loss.

Mickey -
Neither am I.

]]> By: mickey http://tommyacaldwell.com/blog/2008/04/13/tellico/comment-page-1/#comment-1101 mickey Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:55:07 +0000 http://tommyacaldwell.com/blog/?p=112#comment-1101 I agree with R. Neal, especially his point about the value of free flowing rivers. I can appreciate the relatively clean energy production a dam provides, but at what cost? Not a fan of the dams. I agree with R. Neal, especially his point about the value of free flowing rivers. I can appreciate the relatively clean energy production a dam provides, but at what cost? Not a fan of the dams.

]]> By: R. Neal http://tommyacaldwell.com/blog/2008/04/13/tellico/comment-page-1/#comment-1084 R. Neal Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:57:47 +0000 http://tommyacaldwell.com/blog/?p=112#comment-1084 You are smart to not be sure about it. There were a lot of issues involved. Taking of people's property and farmland, as you mentioned was one. The economic benefits (that some say have never materialized) were another. The flooding of ancient and historical American Indian gathering places and sacred burial grounds was yet another. Back in the 1930s, the Tennessee Valley Authority set out to "tame" the Tennessee River. The intent was to control flooding and generate power for a poverty stricken region. (Look up "rural electrification.") It was a generally believed to be a huge success at the time, credited with helping bring the region into the 20th century and put lots of people to work during depressed economic times. But some believe TVA didn't know when to quit. Today, the farmland would probably be more valuable than the small amount of power generated by diverting water from the Little Tennessee River into the turbines at Fort Loudon Dam. And while hydro-electric power is one of the cleanest ways to generate power, there are only so many rivers we can dam. At some point we should consider the value of a free-flowing river from a recreational, historic, and natural habitat point of view. (Although by that point Tellico Dam was built the Little T already had a series of dams, some built to power the Alcoa Aluminum factories.) You are smart to not be sure about it. There were a lot of issues involved. Taking of people’s property and farmland, as you mentioned was one. The economic benefits (that some say have never materialized) were another. The flooding of ancient and historical American Indian gathering places and sacred burial grounds was yet another.

Back in the 1930s, the Tennessee Valley Authority set out to “tame” the Tennessee River. The intent was to control flooding and generate power for a poverty stricken region. (Look up “rural electrification.”)

It was a generally believed to be a huge success at the time, credited with helping bring the region into the 20th century and put lots of people to work during depressed economic times.

But some believe TVA didn’t know when to quit.

Today, the farmland would probably be more valuable than the small amount of power generated by diverting water from the Little Tennessee River into the turbines at Fort Loudon Dam.

And while hydro-electric power is one of the cleanest ways to generate power, there are only so many rivers we can dam. At some point we should consider the value of a free-flowing river from a recreational, historic, and natural habitat point of view.

(Although by that point Tellico Dam was built the Little T already had a series of dams, some built to power the Alcoa Aluminum factories.)

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