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

http://www.themediatrainers.com/

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.