Tennessee Valley Authority
Natural Resource Plan
On June 15, 2009, TVA published a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement and to conduct a comprehensive study of its future energy and environmental stewardship needs to produce an Integrated Resource Plan. Since publishing the notice of intent, TVA has determined that planning processes for the Environmental Policy goals not closely tied to energy production and use, notably water resource protection and improvement, sustainable land use and natural resource management, would be better addressed in a separate study — the Natural Resource Plan and environmental impact statement.
Background
The Natural Resource Plan would evaluate the implementation of TVA’s reservoir lands planning, natural resource management, water resources management, and recreation processes and strategies. The content of this environmental impact statement would be consistent with TVA’s Environmental Policy and Land Policy and with the previous Shoreline Management Initiative environmental impact statement and Reservoir Operations Study environmental impact statement.
Stewardship activities associated with TVA’s aquatic plant management, mosquito management or reservoir releases improvement programs are not within the scope of the review. Similarly, this project would not result in potential changes to reservoir operations or river flows, to shoreline permitting activities or to opening more shoreline for residential development. These activities have been excluded because public input processes have already occurred, resulting in establishment of procedures to direct these activities.
TVA seeks through reservoir lands planning to integrate land and water stewardship objectives, provide for the optimum public benefit, and balance competing and sometimes conflicting resource uses. These competing interests and development pressures, coupled with today’s environmental awareness, underscore the necessity for a consistent approach to the management of TVA’s reservoir land and related resources. The drafting of the Natural Resource Plan represents an opportunity to evaluate the current planning process and land-use-allocation categories from the perspective of the entire region. This review would also be an opportunity to streamline the review efforts of future land plans.
The objective of TVA’s natural resource management is to implement sustainable practices to balance protection of natural and cultural resources while providing recreation opportunities across the region. The goal of TVA’s recreation strategy is to work with regional partners to enhance existing recreation opportunities and address unmet recreation needs, while managing resources on and along the Tennessee River system. The environmental impact statement will assess activities could be associated with the implementation the recreational strategy.
The water resources program encourages and helps implement efforts that protect and improve water resources for human health, fishing, swimming, boating, drinking, agricultural use, aquatic habitat and economic development. Throughout the region, TVA helps local citizens, organizations and agencies identify and quantify water quality problems and then works with them to develop and implement improvement plans.
In May 1997, TVA issued an environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact for activities associated with the clean water initiative activities (now called water resource activities). The Natural Resource Plan will include any changes to the types of activities and techniques evaluated in the previous environmental assessment, updates to the National Environmental Policy Act documentation required for site-specific activities, and an evaluation of TVA’s ability to issue grants for certain water resource activities.
Public Involvement
Public comment on the scope of the Natural Resource Plan was solicited via TVA’s Integrated Resource Plan from June 15 through August 14, 2009. An additional public scoping comment period was held from October 2 through November 2, 2009. The results of this public scoping are described in the Natural Resource Plan Scoping Report (PDF, 438KB).
In order to get specific and continuous guidance from a variety of Tennessee Valley residents, TVA has requested the Regional Resource Stewardship Council to provide recommendations and advice as TVA develops the Natural Resource Plan.
To be added to the Natural Resource Plan mailing list and receive future project announcements, such as the availability of the draft plan and environmental impact statement, please sign up here.
Please note that any comments received, including names and addresses, will become part of the project administrative record and will be available for public inspection.
Documents
Notice of Intent (PDF, 62KB)
Natural Resource Plan Scoping Report (PDF, 438 KB)
Regional Resource Stewardship Council Meeting Reports
Contacts
For more information on the environmental impact statement, contact:
Heather L. Montgomery
National Environmental Policy Act Specialist
Tennessee Valley Authority
Post Office Box 1010, CTR 2W
Muscle Shoals, AL 35662-1010
(256) 386-3803
NRP@tva.gov