Commission begins study of Alcoa's plans for Yadkin River

October 22, 2008

Legislative researchers have begun studying a private power company's request to continue operating a hydroelectric project on the Yadkin River.

Last month, staff and counsel for the General Assembly's bipartisan Environmental Review Commission visited the dams operated by a subsidiary of aluminum producer Alcoa.

Both Alcoa and the county have submitted documents outlining their positions.

The company wants a 50-year renewal of its federal license to generate power and more than $8 million in annual profits from four dams and reservoirs along a 38-mile stretch of the river.

The county is opposing the company's application by arguing it no longer operates in the public interest. Cabarrus is among six counties that have joined Stanly in opposition.

Some of the company's opponents have advocated for government officials to consider seizing the project to create a public power authority under the 1920 federal law that governs the relicensing process.

In July, the General Assembly charged the commission with evaluating how Alcoa's pending application to federal regulators would affect the state.

George Givens, an attorney for the commission who has led stakeholders through negotiations on other complex environmental issues, is organizing a similar process in an effort to resolve this matter.

There's no official format for such negotiations, but Givens said he normally meets with both sides of a dispute at the same time and tries to forge a resolution.

"This stakeholder negotiation process doesn't come with any guarantee of success," Givens said. "It has to do with how willing people are to be reasonable."

The commission could schedule a meeting in the area to solicit public input, Givens said, but he didn't commit to doing so.

Both sides continue to lobby legislators.

Lindsey Dunevant, a Stanly County commissioner, was in Raleigh recently to visit an elected official.

When he left the office, Dunevant said, "two Alcoa people were next in line."

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