New TVA board confirmations coming soon. Maybe?

The six new nominees appointed by President Bush for the expanded TVA board appeared before the Senate Public Works Committee yesterday. Their confirmations were expected to sail through the Senate with Bill Frist's steady hand at the helm.

But not so fast. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) says that he will "hold up" the confirmations (would that be like a filibuster or something?) if someone from Georgia is not appointed to the board. He says that customers in the 10 county area of Georgia served by TVA should have representation. Seems reasonable to me.

From the same article, Sen. Jim Jeffords ask nominee Susan Williams if she would pledge to increase TVA's output of green power. Her response? "I think it should be increased." Wow. That's a serious commitment to Bush's new foreign-oil-addiction-intervention if I've ever heard one.

In related news, Sen. Bill Frist defended Bush's decision to nominate mostly GOP insiders and campaign contributors with little or no utility experience:

"These highly qualified nominees possess the strong business skills and management expertise necessary to lead TVA into the 21st century. They have accomplished records of leadership in the business world and in their communities. Each understands the importance of TVA to the people of the Valley, and I am confident they will serve with distinction.

"I worked hard to pass legislation to modernize TVA's Board of Directors because I believed TVA needed leaders with more business and management experience. These nominees have the entrepreneurial backgrounds that will ensure the success of the new, part-time Board. I look forward to working with my colleagues to get these nominees confirmed as quickly as possible."

For more on these "highly qualified nominees", see this previous Facing South post.