Despite the opposition of some nearby property owners, a $300 million power control center planned by the Tennessee Valley Authority near Georgetown, Tennessee, is being welcomed by Meigs County government leaders.
Meigs County Mayor Bill James said the proposed facility, which TVA initially code named "Project Viper," will aid the development of the southern end of Meigs County. After reviewing some initial drawings for the facility and finding out more about the project from TVA, James said Wednesday he is impressed with the proposed complex and eager for it to be built.
"I think it's going to really help the economy of the southern end of our economy," James said. "The commissioners and myself as mayor are all supportive of this project and most people in our county want this to be built."
TVA bought 167 acres near Gunstocker Creek in southern Meigs County last year to build a new systems operations center to replace its existing control center located beneath TVA's Missionary Ridge building in the Chattanooga office Complex downtown. The new facility, which TVA hopes to have in full operations within four years, is part of one of TVA's biggest upgrades of its power grid in the utility's 85-year history.
The new 185,000-square-foot power control center would house about 175 employees who now work in downtown Chattanooga. The rural Meigs County site was chosen for the new system operations center to provide greater security than in the downtown site, making it less vulnerable to electromagnetic pulse attacks or other potential threats to TVA's power grid.
Greg Vital, president of Morning Pointe Senior Living and a landowner in southern Meigs County, joined with three other property owners last year to challenge TVA's use of eminent domain to gain access to their property to string high-voltage power lines to serve the new power load control center.
The court rejected that challenge, but Vital later complained to the TVA board that the utility was not transparent in developing the project and he worries it could harm Native American sites in the area.
"No one has ever questioned the need for Project Viper somewhere in the Tennessee Valley, but TVA has failed to address a single issue raised by citizens since last August," Vital said. "What other locations did TVA consider for Project Viper and why was this the most economical and feasible site?"
James said TVA has yet to calculate what additional payments it will make to Meigs County, but James said the county shouldn't incur major infrastructure costs from the facility. Savannah Valley Utility will provide water for the new power center, and TVA plans to build its own sewage treatment plant on the site.
James said Meigs County and TVA "have a long history of partnership from the rivers that run along the borders of our county, to the Watts Bar Hydro-Electric Dam."
Stanley lllelch, chairman of the Meigs County commission, also said the commission welcomes TVA's new investment.
"The governing body of Meigs County is diligently eager to assist Tennessee Valley Authority in any way possible with Project Viper," Illelch said.
James said most of the workers at the facility will come from Chattanooga where they now work, but he believes over time a bigger share of the center employees will decide to live in Meigs County.
In addition to the new jobs and workers brought to the county by the TVA power center, Meigs County could gain additional payments from TVA for the facility.
TVA allocates its in-lieu-of tax payments, which pay state and local governments the equivalent of 5 percent of TVA's revenues, based in part on the amount of TVA facilities in each jurisdiction. The new $300 million complex and 175 workers will boost what TVA allocates to Meigs County and the relocated facility could cut what TVA pays Hamilton County where the load center is now housed.
"We're a small rural county and any additional tax revenue can help us tremendously," James said.
Contact Dave Flessner dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.