Tennessee Valley Authority Act (1933)
This act of May 18, 1933, created the Tennessee Valley Authority to oversee the construction of dams to control flooding, improve navigation, and create cheap electric power in the Tennessee Valley basin. The TVA is a Federal public power corporation that happens to be the largest public power company in the United States. It serves 80,000 square miles in the southeastern United States and runs the nation’s fifth-largest river system in order to control flooding, make rivers easier to travel, provide recreation, and protect water quality. It runs facilities for generating electric power including 29 hydroelectric dams, 11 coal-fired plants, and 3 nuclear power plants. The TVA is another exception to generally held beliefs concerning capitalism and communism.