House ethics committee clears NC Rep. Shuler in probe of TVA water-access application

Ethics panel clears NC Rep. Shuler in TVA probe

RALEIGH, N.C. — Congressional ethics investigators have concluded that North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler did not act inappropriately while a residential development that he was involved in sought lake-access rights from the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Top lawmakers on the House Ethics Committee said in a letter to Shuler released Thursday that it was closing the matter after reviewing a TVA investigative report. The lawmakers said that report concluded TVA’s inspector general found no evidence that Shuler, a Democrat, or his staff used his position to exert influence over the approval process.

“The Standards Committee, after thorough review, has determined that your actions in these matters were not improper in any way and did not violate House Rules,” Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Joe Bonner, R-Ala., said in a letter to Shuler.

Shuler was once a member of a House committee with oversight of TVA. He is an investor in The Cove development at Blackberry Ridge LLC that has a deal pending with TVA for 145 feet of water-access rights on Watts Bar Lake near Knoxville, Tenn. That application, filed in 2007, remains on hold with TVA.

TVA is the nation’s largest public utility, providing electricity to nearly 9 million consumers in the South.

The ethics panel said the TVA inspector general stated that the Blackberry development was actually held to a higher standard than others to avoid the appearance of partiality. The inspector general also reported that the FBI looked into the matter and found no criminal violations.

Shuler, once a star quarterback at the University of Tennessee who was elected to represent his western North Carolina district in 2006, said he has always held himself to the highest ethical standard and maintained that through all his interactions with TVA.

“I have never and will never attempt to use my office for personal gain,” Shuler said in a statement.