By Bruce Henderson
bhenderson@charlotteobserver.com
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Alcoa wins water permit for Yadkin
N.C. officials today issued a water-quality certificate that Alcoa Power Generating Inc. needed to renew its federal hydroelectric license on the Yadkin River.
Federal regulators have granted Gov. Bev Perdue the right to intervene in the license renewal. Perdue supports state legislation, adopted by the N.C. Senate on Wednesday, that would create a state trust to take over Alcoa's license.
The aluminum maker's Stanly County smelter, once powered by Yadkin hydropower, has closed. Perdue and others argue that revenues from Alcoa's four dams should serve local needs instead of the multinational corporation.
Alcoa calls the move an attempt by government to seize private property.
The water certificate issued by the N.C. Division of Water Quality requires a number of measures meant to protect the Yadkin, including monitoring of the discharge from Alcoa's dams and of contaminated sediment in Badin Lake, near Alcoa's smelting plant.
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