“It wasn’t till last week that I had water UNDER my pier,” Triplett said.

The fluctuating water level of High Rock Lake represented one of a host of issues placed before federal officials Monday night by people opposed to Alcoa Power Generating Inc.’s Shoreline Management Plan.

Hundreds of stakeholders along the High Rock, Tuckertown, Narrows (Badin Lake) and Falls reservoirs asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to consider drastically rewriting or rejecting the shoreline plan altogether.

Larry Potts, chairman of the Davidson County Board of Commissioners, said the rules being considered would affect county tax revenues and the quality of life for generations to come. He told representatives of the federal agency that they’re “going to be in Washington, D.C., 500 miles away, but we’re going to be here living with” the rules.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hosted the meeting at the Stanly County Agri-Civic Center, and more than 40 people, not counting local government officials and state legislators, signed up to speak at the hearing.

All five members of the Davidson County Board of Commissioners attended.

Loud applause followed virtually every speaker criticizing the shoreline plan or questioning the policies of Alcoa Power, formerly Yadkin Inc.

The federal agency licenses the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project, which consists of the four reservoirs, dams and powerhouses along a 38-mile stretch of the Yadkin River, touching on five counties: Rowan, Davidson, Davie, Stanly and Montgomery.

The reservoirs provide 54 percent of the power used by Alcoa’s smelting plant in Badin. Alcoa represents the largest property owner along the reservoirs and the biggest taxpayer in Rowan, Davidson and Stanly counties.

Yadkin Inc., the name most speakers referred to Monday night, submitted its Shoreline Management Plan to federal officials last July as an amendment to its current 50-year license, which expires in 2008. Yadkin claimed that development pressures for new homes along the project’s shorelines, especially along Badin and High Rock lakes, led to the need for the plan.

Planned subdivisions would add hundreds of additional homes, Yadkin Inc. said, anticipating that with each home would come requests for private access to project lands and pier access to project waters.

The development pressures challenge Yadkin Inc.’s ability to find a balance among the project’s power production, recreation and environmental responsibilities, according to the federal power agency’s draft assessment. Yadkin described the shoreline plan as an attempt “to provide clear, precise guidance to developers, adjacent property owners and the general public.”

Federal spokesman Steve Hocking said Monday night that the power agency’s staff has given a preliminary recommendation to approve the plan. The agency’s 61-page assessment concludes that the shoreline plan “is a reasonable plan for protecting the project’s scenic, recreational and environmental values, while at the same time providing adequate opportunities for private access to project lands and waters.”

The full commission makes the final determination, and the agency has extended the deadline for written comments to April 17.

Speakers Monday night gave federal officials plenty to consider. Repeatedly, speakers:

• Cited inconsistency in what Alcoa Power permits and rejects along the shorelines and repairs it allows without following new guidelines.

“The history has been atrocious,” said Brady Dickson, chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. “... In the past, it’s who you know as to what you get.”

Another property owner said normal repairs should not require permits.

• Objected to the maximum pier length of 75 feet to reach a minimum water depth of 8 feet. It’s often impossible to reach any water in that distance on High Rock Lake because of the fluctuating water levels, opponents said.

At one point, R.V. Blackwelder, a 26-year lake resident, asked Hocking whether the federal agency has had any control of water levels.

Hocking said the license allows High Rock Lake to fluctuate a maximum of 30 feet, though it averages 12 to 15 feet at most and up to 5 feet during the recreation season. But, yes, the permit allows the lake level to fluctuate, Hocking explained.

“Well, we’re screwed then,” Blackwelder said.

• Challenged the plan’s prohibition against the removing lap trees, which are considered good fish habitat.

“Let the property owner be the judge,” said Henry Booke, president of the High Rock Lake Association. He said the fallen trees pose hazards in the water.

• Called for separate shoreline plans for each reservoir, especially because of the fluctuating water level on High Rock. One woman recommended an arbitration committee to settle disputes between Alcoa Power and property owners.
  
• Lodged several complaints about the inconvenient meeting location. Most of the comments came from stakeholders along High Rock Lake, about an hour’s drive from Albemarle.

Overall, many of the people making comments Monday night said they represented the best stewards of the reservoirs because they live there. They complained of arbitrary rules outlined in the plan that one Badin Lake property owner said “don’t make a lot of sense to us.”

Representatives of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission spoke briefly in support of the plan.

Ron Horton, a High Rock Lake resident from Rowan County, questioned whether those agencies have a real concern for fish and game.

“If you bring a lake up and down 10 feet, how can you agree that’s good for wildlife?” Horton asked. He said the lake is filling up with silt, and Alcoa contributes the problem by changing the water levels so much.

Davidson County Commissioner Fred McClure said property owners should be allowed to remove silt accumulating off their shorelines. It’s not land that Alcoa actually owns, he said, arguing that property owners should at least be allowed to return to the water depth they once had.

Gene Ellis, environmental and natural resource manager for Alcoa Power, noted that the company has been operating under the new guidelines since last July. Since then, it has issued 40 new pier permits, 15 excavation permits, four erosion control permits and 12 irrigation systems.

In addition, the company has transferred 300 pier permits and approved 8-slip and 2-slip boat docks.