NCACC Adopts Resolution Urging Environmental Review Commission to Study Yadkin Licensing Options

The North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (NCACC) has unanimously passed a resolution supporting the state’s Environmental Review Commission (ERC) study to examine the effects of the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project relicensing on issues vital to North Carolina’s future clean water supply. The resolution urges the ERC to study all available options to the State of North Carolina, including the recapture provisions under federal law, as it reviews the impacts on the State if Alcoa’s application for a new 50-year license for generating hydroelectric power on the Yadkin River, also known as the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project, is granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

The resolution was adopted at the 101st NCACC Annual Conference in New Bern, N.C. on August 22. In July, both the General Assembly and Governor Mike Easley charged the ERC with the task of studying and developing proposals in connection with the federal relicensing proceeding, which will govern if Alcoa receives an exclusive license for the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project located in Central North Carolina. At stake is an estimated $45 million in annual electric power revenue and water rights that Alcoa’s opponents across the state believe should be subject to the control for the people, not for the benefit of a private multinational corporation. The water rights to generate electricity over the next 50 years are conservatively valued in excess of $10 billion.

Over the last six months, resolutions opposing Alcoa’s operation of the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project have been signed by Davidson, Randolph, Iredell, Anson, Cabarrus and Union County Boards of Commissioners, and the Centralina Council of Governments. The Yadkin Hydroelectric Project has four hydroelectric stations, dams and reservoirs along a 38-mile stretch of the Yadkin River, one of the longest rivers in North Carolina and one of its greatest natural resources. The four water reservoirs are High Rock, Tuckertown, Narrows and Falls. The Yadkin-Pee Dee Watershed as a whole includes 21 counties and contains 93 state municipalities.

Alcoa’s 1958 FERC license expired on April 30, 2008. Instead of granting Alcoa another 50-year license, FERC decided only to allow the corporation a one-year extension. The ERC is expected to issue its final report by Feb. 1, 2009.

The NCACC was established for the betterment of county government in North Carolina and all 100 counties are represented by the organization. The NCACC serves as the counties’ advocate before the executive, legislative and judicial branches of state government. The full text of the resolution adopted by the NCACC is as follows:

WHEREAS, the North Carolina General Assembly through Senate Bill 1046 has directed the Environmental Review Commission to study the impacts on the State of North Carolina of the potential issuance of a fifty-year license by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the operation of the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project by Alcoa; and

WHEREAS, many of the Counties located within the Yadkin-Pee Dee Watershed have requested the State of North Carolina to intervene in the ongoing licensing process before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in opposition to a fifty-year license being granted to Alcoa; and

WHEREAS, fifty years ago, the federal government allowed Alcoa to use the public water to generate electricity and create jobs but now, Alcoa has essentially disappeared as a major employer and provider of jobs, but wants to continue to reap the benefits of the water that rightly belongs to the people; and

WHEREAS, if the federal government renews Alcoa’s license, it will allow Alcoa to generate power not for job creation but to be sold in the open electricity market for a substantial profit; and

WHEREAS, essentially, if Alcoa obtains the license renewal, a public river will be used for the next fifty years solely to maximize Alcoa’s profits; and

WHEREAS, in addition to the economic issues, Stanly County is especially concerned about the history of environmental contamination caused by Alcoa’s operations in Badin;

WHEREAS, all 100 Counties in North Carolina have experienced first hand the impacts of a drought and given the continued severity of North Carolina’s drought, our state and local leaders must have the ability to make timely and event-specific decisions about our water supply; and

WHEREAS, if Alcoa is granted another fifty-year license, and the State of North Carolina wanted to make reasonable use of a reservoir licensed to Alcoa for the purpose of protecting the public water supply, the State could be required to seek permission from Alcoa or some other foreign or domestic entity that may acquire Alcoa’s license; and

WHEREAS, the Counties located within the Yadkin-Pee Dee Watershed are faced with the single most important issue they have known with regard to their environmental and economic future, the likes of which we will not see for another generation; and

WHEREAS, the Counties located within the Yadkin-Pee Dee Watershed needs our support in order to ensure a prosperous and more importantly healthy future for their children and those yet to come;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners urges the Environmental Review Commission to study all available options to the State of North Carolina, including the recapture provisions under federal law, when it reviews: (1) the socioeconomic impacts of Alcoa's decision to discontinue its job-producing manufacturing activities at its Badin facility that relied on the use of low cost power from the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project; (2) the assurance of an adequate, clean future water supply for the region; and (3) the allocation of water for non power uses from the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project.

Quotes:
"It is a powerful statement for the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners to make in encouraging the state to examine all available options related to the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project relicensing and show respect for our water rights and public resources," said Stanly County Manager Jerry Myers. "We are very appreciative of this resolution, and we hope that members of the Environmental Review Commission study how all counties in the watershed are and will be adversely affected on many levels by this relicensing if Alcoa retains its monopoly on power from the Yadkin River."

Related Links:
www.ncacc.org
www.ncwaterrights.com
www.mmimarketing.com/blog/?c=Yadkin-Hydroelectric-Project

About This Effort:
In 1958, Alcoa, the world’s leading producer of primary aluminum, secured a federal hydroelectric license for the Yadkin Project on the Yadkin River in Stanly, Davidson, Montgomery and Rowan Counties in the Central Piedmont. In return, Alcoa promised aluminum manufacturing jobs for Stanly County for years to come. Alcoa has now essentially disappeared as a major employer in the region and shut down its manufacturing plants, but it wants to continue reaping the benefits of the Yadkin River after its license expired in April of this year. In addition, Alcoa discharged hazardous pollutants into North Carolina air and waterways for decades while harvesting immense profits from the Yadkin River, but has yet to finish cleaning up that contamination. It has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to obtain another 50-year license. If Alcoa is successful, one of North Carolina’s most valuable water resources will be used to maximize Alcoa’s profits, instead of being used to benefit the people of North Carolina, who themselves are in dire need of affordable electricity, local economic development, and clean, adequate drinking water.

Patty Briguglio
MMI Associates, Inc.
(919) 233-6600
patty@mmimarketing.com
PR Firms Raleigh, NC