Establishment of federal yardsticks throughout the country
What did the Bureau of Reclamations’ mission change to after the New Deal?
“From water to water and power.” (100)
How did the government fund the electrification of the countryside?
The Rural Electrification Act (REA) (113)
Generally, why were public power companies and municipalization a threat to private electric companies?
Public companies can charge lower rates
Fill in the blanks: “President Roosevelt viewed ____ modernization as critical for _____ modernization”
“President Roosevelt viewed electric modernization as critical for social modernization” (130)
Name two organizations that provided power during the war effort
The BPA (Bonneville Power Administration) and the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) (136)
Who did the secretary of the interior, Ray Wilbur, give the right to use the Bolder Dam’s falling water to?
Third Parties (102)
How did earlier electric co-ops cut costs on sending out monthly bills?
By using an honor system in which customers would read their own meter and send the correct amount of money as payment (118)
What is the original cost method of determining power rates?
Using the actual cost of what it took to construct power systems and adding a fair return to determine a base rate (129)
What is one specific way electricity changed farming?
Electric light allowed for work to be done at night, electric brooding improved egg production, refrigerators improved milk production, and overall “the operations became more efficient and productive while his home life became more comfortable” (132)
The war caused a loss of labor, especially in agriculture. How did the TVA and/or rural electrification help agriculture?
Manufacturing of fertilizers, electric milking machines, refrigeration, and an overall increase in output. BONUS 50 POINTS: Name the exact percentage of output increase (138)
What was the agreement Lilienthal and Willkie agreed to on January 4, 1943?
Commonwealth & Southern would cede certain territories in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee to the TVA and would not attempt to sell power there. (104)
What percentage of federally funded electrification was by rural electric cooperatives?
90% (119)
Name the two ways New Deal power policies lowered electric rates in cities.
Federal support for municipal utilities
Improved regulation of investor-owned utilities (124)
What other organization did the work of the REA (rural electrification administration) overlap with and reinforce? How?
The EHFA (Electric Home and Farm Authority). Overlap occurred both geographically (farmers in rural areas) and through loans, developing lower cost appliances, and reimagining farming as a whole (132).
The production of what electricity intensive material was particularly tight during war time? Hint: Used in planes and military vehicles.
Aluminum (138)
After Willkie sold the TEPCO properties to Lilienthal (TVA), where could the TVA’s service territory reach?
As far north as Pittsburgh, as far west as St.Louis, as far east as Atlanta, and as far south as the Gulf Coast. (108)
What was it called when private utility companies only focused on building power lines in rural areas with affluent farmers?
Cream-skimming (113)
How did the Federal Power Commission promote yardstick competition?
By putting together a “typical bill” to compare rates from different systems, which exposed some organizations’ unfairly high rates (127)
What is the critical complement to federal power?
The federalization of housing policy (133)
Name two ways that rural electrification aided the war effort
REA funded centers provided energy for troop training centers, aluminum plants, lumber mills, airports, chemical factories, mines, and munition works (137)
Federal multipurpose dams did not wipe out the private power industry, but they did affect local communities and natural ecosystems. Describe an example of these destructive effects specifically mentioned in the reading.
TVA’s Norris Dam, built on Clinch River: Flooded thousands of acres of farmland, displaced residents, and destroyed communities
Grand Coulee Dam: Disrupted spawning of salmon, harming Indigenous communities
Dams constructed on the Missouri River: Inundated several reservations - “Pick-Sloan Plan was, without doubt, the single most destructive act ever perpetrated on any tribe by the US government”. (112-113)
How many electric cooperatives were there across the United States by 1953?
More than 900 (123)
What court case mandated that electric regulators set rates based on the “fair value” of the regulator’s property?
Smyth v. Ames (128)
In what ways was the administration of the FHA exclusionary?
“Racially restrictive covenants barred Asian, Black, Middle Eastern, and Jewish families from purchasing properties in all white neighborhoods” (134).
During the 1940s, the TVA grew rapidly to support a growing war effort, including building the controversial Douglas Dam. Why was the dam controversial?
The dam inundated (flooded) thousands of acres of fertile farmland (136-137)