KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Tennessee Valley Authority's top executive has testified there were "missed opportunities" to avoid the utility's huge coal ash spill, but mostly before he took the job in 2005.
TVA President and CEO Tom Kilgore during two hours of testimony at a federal trial on lawsuits seeking damages from the December 2008 dam collapse and spill said there were missed opportunities in the early 1950s and in 1985 to correct the design of the dike that breached at its Kingston Plant. Kilgore said dike blowouts in 2003 and 2005 at Kingston were not so significant.
During questioning Wednesday by plaintiff attorney Jeff Friedman, Kilgore watched a recording of another TVA executive saying on a "60 Minutes" television interview that there were red flags and "we missed them."
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