By Steve Hunley

Congressman Burchett Is Right

Our own Congressman Tim Burchett didn't have any kind words for TVA following the rolling blackouts over the Christmas Holidays which saw Knoxville and East Tennessee struggling through brutally cold weather.  Burchett put up an article on his Twitter account critical of the agency.  The article detailed TVA's "failure" during a weather crisis.  Congressman Burchett added his own comment, stating, "We were failed once again by @TVAnews [TVA]."

Even congressmen were affected by the blackouts of periodically cutting off the power supply of consumers.  The pipes in Burchett's barn froze.  On Christmas Eve, Burchett tweeted, "TVA's rolling blackouts kicked our barn heaters off and our pipes froze in the barn."

TVA had previously issued a notice to the 153 utility and local power companies in Tennessee to "temporarily reduce power supplies to localized areas" as the massive cold front approached, which the utility giant thought would drive up the demand for power.  TVA reported last Monday that the cold broke records for energy demand.  The Saturday before last saw the "highest weekend peak power demand" in the agency's history.  TVA added a request for folks to reduce the temperatures in their homes to conserve energy.

According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Jeff Lyash, the lavishly well-paid CEO of TVA, admitted the agency "fell short" during the energy crisis.  More specifically, Lyash admitted TVA and local utility companies had fallen short in their effort not to interrupt the power of consumers.  Jeff Lyash confessed TVA could have done a better job of communicating with the 153 power companies and is undertaking to find out why "equipment failed after it invested hundreds of millions into reliability measures for extreme cold."

"It is TVA's very objective and that of our local power companies, each and every one of those 153 local power companies, never to interrupt your power," Lyash said during a conference call with elected offices from the seven-state region that comprises the TVA service area.

At a press conference, Doug McGowen, CEO of the Memphis Light, Gas and Water Company, wryly stated, "It is difficult to make a forecast when you have little notice about initiating the plan and even less notice about changing the plan."

It can hardly surprise anybody that a couple of leftist busybodies are huffing and puffing about Congressman Burchett making the suggestion we use more coal power to protect people and keep our power running.  That is a reference to Burchett having said he believes "putting more attention on coal energy may be part of a solution."

Naturally, the leftist busybodies have no solutions of their own, but they don't like the energy provided by coal.  No, indeed, coal isn't the answer and those wonderful engineers surely can devise some magical solution between now and the time when we are all cozy and comfortable through electricity created by solar power.

This is just a small taste of the energy policies already being implemented by Democrat-run woke states like California and New York.  Every year California seems about to burn down to the ground at some point and rolling blackouts have become part of the blissful lifestyle provided by Gavin Newsom and his fellow socialists.  New York State is now providing the same glorious experience to the folks living there and the good news is they want to bring that here, too.

Seems to me most folks have had a taste of it here and didn't like it.  They didn't like it at all.

Congressman Burchett is right of course.  Some mental midgets haven't thought about making certain something is in place to transition from one source of energy to another.  Otherwise, you're just jumping off a cliff and plunging into...  darkness.

Remembering Those Who Passed in 2022

Eric Schelzig, the publisher of the Tennessee Journal, always has an interesting piece in one of the best publications in the state.  Schelzig put together a list of prominent Tennesseans who we lost in 2022.  Those include former First Lady, Honey Alexander, wife of former Senator Lamar Alexander; Brown Ayres, who served in the Tennessee State Senate and was long a figure in and out of politics in Knox County; Larry Cole, the former clerk of the Tennessee House of Representatives; Barbara Cooper, the oldest member of the Tennessee General Assembly who died just before the general election; Loretta Lynn, a country music icon and living legend, known for her kindness and graciousness as much as for her music; Bryant Millsaps, another former clerk of the House of Representatives who served as Tennessee's Secretary of State following the suicide of incumbent Gentry Crowell; Millard Oakley, who was an attorney for the late Governor Ray Blanton and served in the Blanton administration as Tennessee's State Insurance Commissioner; Judge Charles D. Susano Jr., a former judge of Tennessee's State Court of Appeals and father of the Knox County Clerk of the Circuit Courts of the same name; Larry Wallace, who headed the Tennessee Highway Patrol before being named as director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation; John Everett Williams, a highly respected judge of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals (who was succeeded by Kyle Hixson of Knoxville); and Les Winningham, a former state representative.

Happy New Year

I would like to say everyone at The Focus wishes you and your family every good thing during 2023.  May God Bless you and America during the New Year!

The post Publisher"]Publisher's Correction re. February 2016 council meeting - The Knoxville Focus[/url]'s Positions appeared first on The Knoxville Focus.