Lessons from a Crisis Past

TVA's Coal-Filled Christmas Stocking

by Eric Seidel, CEO

The Media Trainers®

“The prescription for remedying any disaster is to demonstrate empathy and to communicate those concerns from those at the top of the organization.”

Bull’s-eye! The above quote comes from the June 3, 2009 blog posting (“Thinking the Unthinkable”) by Ken Silverstein, editor-in-chief of EnergyBiz Insider. It’s an excellent piece on preparing for a crisis before one hits.

Silverstein focuses on the Tennessee Valley Authority’s huge spill of 5 million cubic yards of coal ash shortly before Christmas. A crisis that continues resonating.

Late last year, after observing the first hours and days of that unimaginable catastrophe, Executive Rewind evaluated TVA’s initial crisis response. It was our contention that management was virtually invisible and seemingly inaccessible during the Christmas weekend while residents who either lost their homes, or were surrounded and trapped by the oozing mass, or frightened that the spill was heavily tainted with toxins, were left during that weekend to pretty much fend for themselves. There were no deaths, fortunately, but fears were confirmed when water tests indicated elevated levels of deadly pollutants that killed hundreds of fish.

Also, we made the point that this spill and its handling could not have come at a worse time for the utility industry. The new Obama Administration was less than a month away from taking power along with a heavily Democratic Congress, both with a very sensitive ear honed in on the anti-coal forces in Washington. (Silverstein alluded to these facts, as well, in a May 11, 2009 post entitled “Pouring on Coal Waste.”)

I second the advice Ken Silverstein offers in his blog. And, while his area of expertise is in the energy and utility industries, the wisdom of what he says is applicable to any organization/business, whether large or small. Your good name and continued prosperity might just depend on it.

TVA Dragged Through its Own Sludge

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The Tennessee Valley Authority’s wreckless handling of crisis communications following its Christmas-time sludge spill in the eastern end of the state continues to haunt the utility and call its leadership into question. This is the latest of many apparent sins and comes at an unfortunate time for the management as democrats, tuned in to environmental issues more than ever, have increased their hold on the House and Senate and now control the White House, too.

Immediately following the disaster that has ruined many lives and livelihoods, “Executive Rewind” (TVA Management Took a Holiday) noted the utter lack of senior management’s availability and presence on location to work with residents, clean-up teams and the news media.

TVA’s reluctance to communicate continues and it is getting a deserved drubbing in the press. Case in point, The Tennessean’s Brad Schrade’s lengthy and compelling indictment of the authority in a January 25th article entitled “TVA spill unleashes flood of questions.”

Schrade reports that the incident raises a host of “uwanted questions” for the Authority and quotes a democratic congressman who skewers TVA management for their hubris:

"In TVA's 70-year history they've gone from a yardstick for the world to a laughingstock with the nuclear problems (in the 1970s) to a run-of-the-mill, get-by-with-what-you-can utility," said U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, a Democrat from Nashville. "I told (TVA Chief Executive) Tom Kilgore and (TVA Chairman) Bill Sansom when they came up (to Washington) that 2008 was a disastrous year for TVA.

"They demanded whopping rate increases from every customer. Paid the top executives fat bonuses. Then virtually on Christmas Eve poured toxic sludge on a lot of good, hard-working Tennesseans and one of our most beautiful valleys. Oh, sure they're apologetic but it's tragic and disappointing that we don't have a first-rate, top-flight utility in the valley."

Rep. Jim Cooper, (Dem-Ten)

While TVA is defended in the article by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, it’s Cooper’s party that holds the cards today, and will likely make the Authority pay for its arrogance and poor communication policies.

The fact that a new sheriff is in charge in Washington, DC, should be a reason enough for TVA to change the way it deals with its customers by creating a new environment of access to and through the news media.

The Internet and the Rules for Handling a Crisis

The Internet presents businesses and organizations in crisis with many new challenges and lessons. Chief among them is that you cannot afford to be an absentee participant when it comes to crisis communications.

That lesson comes through loud and clear in the TVA’s pre-Christmas coal sludge spill in eastern Tennessee. The extent of the flood of gook and the issues and concerns that remain unresolved demand a continued presence by a representative of senior management, on or near the scene and providing regular updates. Yet, TVA CEO Tom Kilgore apparently has managed only two appearances thus far, at a briefing shortly after the containment pool was breached, and then a community meeting a couple of days after Christmas (1st video below). Otherwise, the few bit parts TVA played in media reports were handled by spokespersons and management from the Kingston Power Plant, source of the sludge. Title and media access at a fixed location would’ve afforded a senior manager more of a role in news stories.

In the interim, real and self-appointed environmentalists and some agents of fear were allowed to dominate either through mainstream media or online. On youtube.com, for example, you can find a number of videos. Some are actual news stories from “mainstream” media. But the “library” of videos also includes amateur “reports” that can leave very damaging impressions.

For instance, the nine minute video (2nd video below), apparently of two men in a car confronting a sheriff’s deputy at a road block. They say they want to go through in order to deliver printed warnings and advisories to residents along the river about the potential dangers to their drinking water. They talk about people who have become ill from the water. But, they offer no facts, only rumors and conjecture. In fact, they are not even from the area. They claim they’re from Indiana. We don’t even see them until one makes an on-camera appearance late in the video. (His image is reminiscent of a character from the movie Deliverance, and I’m not referring to Burt Reynolds and friends in the rafting party. On looks, alone, this guy is not someone you would immediately rely on for help or information.)

Cyberspace represents a playing field without boundaries or ground rules. And, while legitimate journalists and others who are guided by a sense of ethics and balance participate, so, too, do many, many others who can “report” without being edited or controlled in any way. Indeed, even the bonafide media give access to anyone with a camera. For instance, CNN’s iReport.com includes this disclaimer: “iReport.com is a user-generated site. That means the stories submitted by users are not edited, fact-checked or screened before they post. Only stories marked ‘On CNN’ have been vetted for use in CNN news coverage.”

It appears TVA treated this as a local story that, unlike the pool of sludge, could be contained. But nothing is local any longer. The Internet has guaranteed that. Plus, this spill led a number of national newscasts shortly after it happened.

You need to take ownership of the crisis in representing your organization. The news media always will chase third party and eye witness comments. Those elements can leave lasting, damaging and incorrect impressions. There’s no question that this sludge spill is a major story and the long-term effects remain to be seen. But TVA’s low level participation has allowed the prominence of many damaging impressions, real or perceived, that may never be fully erased by an industry that can ill afford them.

TVA Management Took a Holiday

www.themediatrainers.com

While residents of Harriman, TN, spent the Christmas holiday digging out from several feet of coal ash and sludge, TVA’s senior management was on holiday and apparently unavailable.

Management’s absence once the media reached the scene and started feeding back startling pictures and in-depth stories left huge opportunities for dominant roles by environmental critics and angry, dislocated residents.

This was a lesson in how not to handle a crisis. Basic steps seemingly were either abandoned, or never even considered. They certainly have not been evident.

After a press conference by TVA CEO Tom Kilgore earlier in the week, the giant government-owned utility was represented in news stories by an apparently midlevel spokesmen and clean up crew members. Environmental critics and those living through this nightmare “own” media news stories. For instance, on the morning after Christmas story on NBC’s Today Show (click on video at bottom).

Did TVA establish a command center for regular media updates? Hard to say, but the evidence indicates the Authority did not. With a crisis this large, why wasn’t a senior management representative on scene throughout to provide updates? Did TVA recognize just how big a story this is, especially during a major holiday? As a significant coal consumer, and with a much more environmental-friendly Congress and administration braced to take control of Washington, what, if any, thought was given to the ramifications of this story and the need to maintain a primary role in news reports?

Residents swamped by the goo lost their Christmas and some even lost their homes. All are concerned about the long term environmental and health effects. Early assurances that tests indicate no threats are qualified and more tests are promised. When they hear about things like mercury and arsenic, they are alarmed. And the future threat this sludge has on the drinking water of tens of thousands still is unclear.

TVA's apologies and preliminary reports on tests of the sludge don't do much. Harriman residents and all TVA customers needed to see and hear from senior management on a regular basis, from the scene.

Meanwhile, the energy industry’s controversial case for coal as a fuel for electric generation has been dealt a serious blow. TVA’s low level and low key participation in this situation has handed new ammunition to the arguments of environmentalists opposed to coal in any form and might strengthen their case for a renewables-only portfolio.