Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise in response to a unanimous consent request from my good friend, the senior Senator from Tennessee, to consider the nomination of John L. Ryder of Tennessee to be a member of the board of directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority, known as TVA. As I mentioned in Mr. Ryder's confirmation hearing, I have long encouraged TVA to be an industry leader in the power sector, not a laggard, especially when it comes to clean energy and energy efficiency. While I am not prepared to object to Mr. Ryder's nomination at this time, I am quite concerned about TVA's handling of the December 2008 Kingston Fossil Fuel Power Plant coal ash spill clean-up efforts and would like to say a few words about my concerns. Last week, a Federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee found that the contractor used by TVA to clean up the coal ash spill, Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., did not adhere to worker safety or health requirements, potentially causing sickness and death. Although TVA was not on trial, there were troubling testimonies from workers that called into question TVA's conduct during and after the clean-up efforts. The court decision allows for the families of the workers affected to seek compensation for medical treatments and damages. To date, reports show that over 30 Jacobs Engineering Group workers have died since working on the Kingston coal ash clean-up efforts and 250 workers are sick. In his nomination hearing, I called on Mr.…”